The Blogger's Garden

I've got four different varieties of hops vines on the way, and due this weekend, so it is time to buy some 4" x 4" x 8' posts and sink them into the ground at either end of two of my garden beds, and set up the wire trellises. I'll foot them 18" into some Quickcrete.

There are all sorts of bad things that can happen when you garden. You can step on the end of hoe and it will come up and wack you in the face. You can hurt your back lugging heavy pots and rocks around or by pulling weeds. I've heard of people having heart attacks while gardening. I have had all of the above happen to me, except the heart attack part.

And my status as America’s Worst Gardener (word to the wise: do your gardening in a public garden, not at your own house, if you’re not all the proficient) is solid. Short season gardening is hard to get used to. I really need a calendar/timeline of what needs to be done when in the early going, or I stay behind for the whole season.

The first one is to be aired on Sunday 8 July (that’s today!), with 2 more segments to follow in future weeks. This first segment is on the history of heirloom gardening before WWII. The next segments are on changes that took place during and after WWII, and where to find heirloom varieties to grow in your garden today.

If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you will know that I Love Hydroponic Gardening. I got my start using The Guide to Hydroponics- Growing Without Soil. I highly recommend you visit this website for the free special report on hydroponic gardens.

When you’ve taken the time, and money to plant flowers, shrubs, or a vegetable garden, you want to keep them safe from nibbling deer. How do you do it? Well here’s five simple tips to remember when deciding on using deer repellent.

Today I spent time with my youngest daughter working in the garden. It sure can use the work. My daughter quickly found some earthworms, we were pulling out weeds, and more worms kept popping out. Earthworms are welcome guest to my garden, soon we had 4 worms wiggling away, right where we were trying to weed. You could still catch a whiff of honeysuckle that grows wild by the fence.

Something a little more serious this morning….In more than 24 states across the country, bees are disappearing at an alarming rate. According to Ann Johansson of the New York Times and other journalists across the country, this is not only threatening the livelihood of beekeepers, but is also a threat to many of our important crops, such as the almond industry in CA. Not to mention our entire food supply!

Well, it has been a bumper weekend. Saturday morning saw us up with the blackbirds and off to the garden centre with Grandma, then a spring fair to hunt for books, Wildwood (more on that soon), then to see our friend David in an excellent production of Kiss Me Kate. Yesterday, pao had a horrible tummy ache when he woke up so we skipped church until that passed but then went on a bumper shopping trip for lots of garden things - we bought masses of plants and some bird feeders then spent quite a bit of time planting and afixing in the afternoon.

Massive gardening day yesterday, constructed my potato barrel, doused beds with nematode juice, mowed shaggy grass, planted out refugee hyacinths, sowed rocket, basil, calendula, spinach beet, sprouting broccoli (hang on, it says April. Is it April yet? Yeah, fraid so, looks like April, feels like April. . .

The value of e-catalogues is debated in this month’s issue of Multi-channel Marketing magazine. Dan Croxen-John of gardening supplies firm Bradshaw Direct argues that their value is questionable.

MSN reports about "garden fatigue" where people have grown tired of the constant work and not-so-subtle competition with their neighbors — particularly when the goal of having a nice yard was an improved lifestyle: actually being able to relax and enjoy it.

A very diverse group with many interests and agendas. Some want to plant flowers in grey/concrete spaces. Others want to grow food in abandoned spaces and community gardens. Some have access to garden and growing space while others don’t.

OK, finally, a GARDENING post! Had the arborist here to look at a couple of the cedars and the world’s largest weed cherry, and he gave me a bid of $2K to remove the cherry and grind out the stump. It’s a lot, but I’m not climbing that 75 foot, 3-trunked hydra to do battle. He also recommended removing the cedars damaged in the storm, but I’m going to have them cleaned up and lightened and see how that goes. Like most things in the yard, the previous owner never pruned them, and they’re doomed. Still, I hate to take them out until I have a good idea of how to replace them.

Positively inspiring. Visit this site and see how they grow their own food and more in Pasadena, CA!