Are there any gardeners here?

Blest said:
Not me Chuck----sorry---I just do not have a green thumb.
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Hey Chuck,

Check this out. 20 years ago I had a 60 foot retaining wall built for my wife so she could plant roses. She ended up planting potato buds and when they began to sprout, raccoons and possums ate them in the middle of the night.

Then when I planted flower seeds I had to prune around the buds but she wouldn't allow me because she said it all looked beautiful. I told her they were American weeds! They ended up choking the flower buds and that was the end of my green thumb and gardening days.

lol!
 
Via dolarossa said:
What are you going to grow?
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We have some garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, chives, onion, potatoes, horseradish, Brussel sprouts, chard, lettuce growing in our winter garden along with our herb garden. This spring we will plant beans, tomatoes, corn, more herbs, squash, pumpkin, rhubarb, hot peppers, romaine, and a few other vegetables. My wife always adds something. :)

When I'm done there will be 24 boxes, 10 are done right now and 6 are ready to be built now.
 
bobinfaith said:
Hey Chuck,

Check this out. 20 years ago I had a 60 foot retaining wall built for my wife so she could plant roses. She ended up planting potato buds and when they began to sprout, raccoons and possums ate them in the middle of the night.

Then when I planted flower seeds I had to prune around the buds but she wouldn't allow me because she said it all looked beautiful. I told her they were American weeds! They ended up choking the flower buds and that was the end of my green thumb and gardening days.

lol!
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I decided to build these boxes primarily because of the rabbits. They were eating all of our garlic chives (our favorite), kale, any lettuce, among other things. The boxes have helped a lot. Still have crows that like to pick at the young plants, amazing how much they dig in the garden and how many plants they will pull up. I finally had to put a netting on the one box.

The rabbits also were eating all of our strawberries :( rabbit stew was really sounding more and more tasty.

The raccoons love our figs fortunately they leave plenty. The crows often eat our cherries and the figs they peck chunks out of. not sure what the possums eat, but we have several of those as well. Fortunately we don't have a deer problem they will mow down berries, flowers, and a lot of the garden. We have to watch out for the moles as well.

Over time we have come up with some solutions and this past year we were able to eat more of our hard work.

Sorry to hear that you had to surrender the war. I'm hoping we have finally turned the tide of the war. Rabbits 50 Humans 2

cp
 
Bob, I’ve just realised you too also gawped at the photo😂

ok, well, Jesus fed the 5,000, off 5 loaves and some fish...
Imagine how much more food will come from this garden!

now I know why Jesus said


John 14:12
New International Version
​

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes(A) in me will do the works I have been doing,(B) and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
 
Via dolarossa said:
Bob, I’ve just realised you too also gawped at the photo😂

ok, well, Jesus fed the 5,000, off 5 loaves and some fish...
Imagine how much more food will come from this garden!

now I know why Jesus said


John 14:12​

New International Version​

​

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes(A) in me will do the works I have been doing,(B) and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
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Yes, I did. lol!

I'm looking forward to seeing the project when completed.

Chuck, when you're done with your yard, can you imagine having a barbeque gathering, and how far you have to go because someone at the other end didn't get a plate?

🍴 😎 🥄
 
Wow cool
Yep I garden. Though getting soil in my area is a mission as developers stripped it all away. We've got clay. So have to make compost. If you've got money you can buy it all back, but most people don't have heaps to spend on soil and carting it back and forth.

Some people out east are blessed with volcanic soil. Would love to garden in a rich area but then maybe the challenge would be gone and I'd take it for granted lol.
 
Lanolin said:
Wow cool
Yep I garden. Though getting soil in my area is a mission as developers stripped it all away. We've got clay. So have to make compost. If you've got money you can buy it all back, but most people don't have heaps to spend on soil and carting it back and forth.

Some people out east are blessed with volcanic soil. Would love to garden in a rich area but then maybe the challenge would be gone and I'd take it for granted lol.
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Sorry to hear that. What did the developers do with the soil? Did they sell it?

We were blessed to get this place some 20 years ago now. It's been a lot of work, but worth the effort.

cp
 
CPerkins said:
Sorry to hear that. What did the developers do with the soil? Did they sell it?

We were blessed to get this place some 20 years ago now. It's been a lot of work, but worth the effort.

cp
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Probably. You see a lot of top soil being sold at landscape places. You wonder where they get it from.
They should just put it back on the property for the people to make gardens with but they don't.
 
Lanolin said:
Probably. You see a lot of top soil being sold at landscape places. You wonder where they get it from.
They should just put it back on the property for the people to make gardens with but they don't.
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Here it is possible to get low or no cost soil brought in by the truck load. I'm also able to get 10 yard loads of wood chips delivered at low to no charge. Is anything like that possible in NZ?

cp
 
CPerkins said:
Here it is possible to get low or no cost soil brought in by the truck load. I'm also able to get 10 yard loads of wood chips delivered at low to no charge. Is anything like that possible in NZ?

cp
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Depends on who you know.
I once got free tree mulch (chipped up trees) from a garden company. They just tipped it from their chipper truck to my friend's place. Otherwise they just end up dumping it and it costs to dump green waste.

Don't know about soil though. You probably need to know a digger or excavator or someone with a truck.
 
Lanolin said:
Depends on who you know.
I once got free tree mulch (chipped up trees) from a garden company. They just tipped it from their chipper truck to my friend's place. Otherwise they just end up dumping it and it costs to dump green waste.

Don't know about soil though. You probably need to know a digger or excavator or someone with a truck.
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Where I live, there are many tree services / landscapers that end up with a full truck of chips and need a place to dispose of it. Chipdrop.com became an online service to help these companies find a cheap alternative for disposing of their chips and reducing the amount that goes to landfills. A win-win. It cost the company ten US dollars for each load they drop through this service. Those that receive these load can donate or not to the company.

Like chips occasionally contractors are clearing land or preparing to build a new structure and have dump truck loads of dirt they need to dispose of. If one's home is near one of these sites it's possible they will deliver it to a person's yard assuming it accessible enough to allow for a truck to dump on the property.

cp
 
sounds like a good idea.
At my community garden, we had council contractors dump a lot of seaweed they cleaned off the beach, and also we get horse manure from pony club, and from time to time mulch which is usually tree chippings. We used to get what was called nutrasoil but not sure where that came from, though we make our own compost too.

I used to collect coffee grounds from a cafe, though to get food scraps from the supermarkets I think needs to be done on a regular basis. Ideal if you actually work in a cafe/grocers/market as well cos you can just deliver, whereas if you don't know them you need to arrange your own delivery. People don't always have the time.

Another good thing to get is fish guts, although can be smelly - plants love it.
Ideally every company ought to be composting and recycling their waste - or be zero waste. Some factories have their own gardens onsite, as do some restaurants.
 
CPerkins said:
Where I live, there are many tree services / landscapers that end up with a full truck of chips and need a place to dispose of it. Chipdrop.com became an online service to help these companies find a cheap alternative for disposing of their chips and reducing the amount that goes to landfills. A win-win. It cost the company ten US dollars for each load they drop through this service. Those that receive these load can donate or not to the company.

Like chips occasionally contractors are clearing land or preparing to build a new structure and have dump truck loads of dirt they need to dispose of. If one's home is near one of these sites it's possible they will deliver it to a person's yard assuming it accessible enough to allow for a truck to dump on the property.

cp
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Lanolin said:
sounds like a good idea.
At my community garden, we had council contractors dump a lot of seaweed they cleaned off the beach, and also we get horse manure from pony club, and from time to time mulch which is usually tree chippings. We used to get what was called nutrasoil but not sure where that came from, though we make our own compost too.

I used to collect coffee grounds from a cafe, though to get food scraps from the supermarkets I think needs to be done on a regular basis. Ideal if you actually work in a cafe/grocers/market as well cos you can just deliver, whereas if you don't know them you need to arrange your own delivery. People don't always have the time.

Another good thing to get is fish guts, although can be smelly - plants love it.
Ideally every company ought to be composting and recycling their waste - or be zero waste. Some factories have their own gardens onsite, as do some restaurants.
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Hello Chuck and Lanolin;

From reading your posts I am amazed how seaweed (is seaweed good for gardening?), horse manure, salvaging tree chips, coffee grinds that benefit gardening and landscapes.

Pray tell, where do you find the energy (love for) and knowledge (study or hands on experience) to learn all this?

I appreciate good gardening and landscaping, but honestly I couldn't make the time to learn these two wonderful projects.

God bless you and your families.
 
bobinfaith said:
Hello Chuck and Lanolin;

From reading your posts I am amazed how seaweed (is seaweed good for gardening?), horse manure, salvaging tree chips, coffee grinds that benefit gardening and landscapes.

Pray tell, where do you find the energy (love for) and knowledge (study or hands on experience) to learn all this?

I appreciate good gardening and landscaping, but honestly I couldn't make the time to learn these two wonderful projects.

God bless you and your families.
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I have a wonderful helper that loves to read and listen to all things healthy. She lovingly shares and adds to my honey do's. Bless her. :) Two hands often make the load easier and I do feel blessed that I have my wife and that she tolerates me.

Many times I'll have specific questions and will do my own searches and over the years among the treasures I've found from second hand sources I've collected many good books on home improvement, gardening, landscaping and other things often to my wife's serious groans. I've researched things like how to propagate blueberries and other plants and shrubs, when to plant, and how to compost.

As far as energy goes I do run out of steam at times and will do something else for awhile. Sometimes trading off a physical task with a mental task like bible study and my conversations here. :)

cp
 
well my story is God wanted me to take a sabbatical from library work and that's how I got into gardening. But always loved plants and wanted to learn more. I did some (free) courses on them. You always learning something with gardening.

I learned with a community garden, as my parents weren't really into gardening that much. In my own garden I do most of it, dad just mows the lawns and clips the edges. It's not huge, and I don't have giant earthworks like CP seems to be doing!

Op shops are great to scour for gardening books. You need to be careful though, I look for nz titles because the seasons in other parts of the world are different.

CP if you want to listen to my garden radio show I can PM you the link. Its no ads, its just half an hour of garden talk! We do plant of the week most times where we find out about a plant. It's great fun.
 
Lanolin said:
well my story is God wanted me to take a sabbatical from library work and that's how I got into gardening. But always loved plants and wanted to learn more. I did some (free) courses on them. You always learning something with gardening.

I learned with a community garden, as my parents weren't really into gardening that much. In my own garden I do most of it, dad just mows the lawns and clips the edges. It's not huge, and I don't have giant earthworks like CP seems to be doing!

Op shops are great to scour for gardening books. You need to be careful though, I look for nz titles because the seasons in other parts of the world are different.

CP if you want to listen to my garden radio show I can PM you the link. Its no ads, its just half an hour of garden talk! We do plant of the week most times where we find out about a plant. It's great fun.
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Thanks for the reminder Lanolin,

I should also say that I learned some things about gardening from my mother who had a large garden when I was growing up. I can't say that I learned a lot, but I did learn somethings from her. Gardening work was part of our chores. Weeding, watering and handling the manure.

I'll never forget the cherry tree that died out of ignorance. We piled a truckload of cow manure near the garden, which happened to be at the base of a large old cherry. That tree got to much of a good thing and died.

The old man within me was often filled with manure and now the new man Christ has raised has to sift through that manure. I hope in the sifting there is something left. :) I wouldn't want Christ to say sorry you where just too full of manure there was nothing left.

cp
 
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