Spring weeding - figuratively
 

"During this season of rebirth and renewal, take a few moments to consider spring cleaning. Not just your home, but also your thoughts, emotions and overall well- being. After a long winter, a good spring cleaning can lift your spirits, and open your mind to new experiences, and new possibilities for joy and containment.

First, find a way to sort out the old, negative thoughts that are no longer working for you; write them down in a journal or notebook; share your thoughts with your family or try meditating upon them in a quiet place.

If you choose to write your thoughts down, after sufficient time, put them away, rip them up, throw them out - let them go. On the other hand, if you prefer to keep them as a record of your life's journey, you can revisit them later for a reminder of how far you have come.

Then, look for a new activity or hobby that better suits this season of renewal. Plant some new seeds of change, figuratively or literally. Granted there are certain things we can't change, but others are just habits. Often, an unfamiliar experience or activity can provide motivation and inspiration. Come out of hibernation, and experience something new!

Examples:

* Subscribe to a new magazine
* Work on a jiggsaw puzzle - start easy
* Learn how to play Sudoku or a card game
* Select an author you like and read some of his/her books

Another option is to allow yourself experience something old in a new way. For example, old friendship can be renewed, old thoughts can be reframed, and old wounds can be reviewed through healing eyes for a fresh new perspective.

Of course after you are finished with your internal spring cleaning, treat yourself to a reward. Enjoy a luscious dessert, go to a matinee, take a walk in the spring fresh air. You deserve it!
After all cleaning, of any kind, is hard work."

American Brain Tumor Association, 2720 River Road, Des Plaines, IL 60018
TEL: 800.886.2282 Email: info@abta.org
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Spring Gardens
 

Good thinking Steph.

Thanks goodness for Rhodies
 

Well , one thing I do well is grow happy Rhododendrons.

Can't eat it, but they are nice to look at. This one is over 20 years old and getting quite large. It is the early bloomer.

http://her2support.org/vbulletin/cus...ilepic85_1.gif

Steph, is that rhodie taller than you????

Chrisy -
Yes, that rhodie is beyond my reach to prune and deadhead the top now. I have kept it this "low" by selective pruning, but did not do such a good job in the worse years of my cancer fight.

We have a REALLY big one in the front that is cream with purple inside. It is a later bloomer. Red is next.

In the photo I was having a hard time with the sun in my face. It was very bright!

Spring Gardens
 

Nice picture StephN

OK - so how are we doing with the gardens, whether they be hanging, potted or in ground??

We know Harrie is not home so some critters may be getting to her lettuces.

How about the gals in the cooler north? Getting any interesting ideas for your "summer environment"??

My chore today is to finish fiddling with my Dahlia bulbs. There is a problem with lilac roots too close to where I had them last year. So, I have to shift some strawberry plants and maybe have the Dahlias in two "clumps" rather than one big splash of colors. Also did not dig up the Dahlia bulbs last year so lost about half due to the ground being too wet.

Today is sunny, tomorrow calls for rain ...

Delaware is having a cool, rainy spring. I harvested great broccoli and swiss chard. Bleeding heart was beautiful and columbines are very fine this year. Rabbit already ate one pepper and one eggplant seedling; however there are a few leaves left on the stems and I think they will come back. How are your irises. Mine didn't last long. Are irises usually short-lived, or is it the weather.

My daffodills and peonies didn't bloom at all this year. The irises did well for a while. Roses did OK. And I am waiting for the plantain (canna indica) on the westside wall to bloom.

Spring Gardens
 

I am hanging in there with my spring garden. I am getting some more potting soil tonight, so I can plant some Swiss Chard.

dried out enough i could get my flower seeds in.

Is it Spring yet? I hope so. I've planted a few plants of the following: tomatoes (diff. types of lg. and some grape tomatoes), green bell peppers, orange bells, sweet banana peppers (I had one bush in VA that gave me 100 peppers!), cucumbers, bok choy, spinach, swiss chard, radishes, carrots, zuchinni, squash, pumpkin, acorn squash. I still need to plant some beet and turnip seeds, and a bunch of mixed greens. I've got a new oregano bucket started here. Does anyone know if basil is a perennial, too? The oregano gets bigger and better each year, but right now, the basil is just growing in the kitchen window. I'm not a good herb farmer. Hope y'alls gardens are fruitful. (by the way, Steph, dandelion greens, I'm sure you know, are edible and very rich in nutrients. Much like chard and spinach)

Yes, Bill, my hubby is a Frenchman and reminds me that they do eat dandelion greens. But theirs are different and taste better. He does not eat ours!

Basil is an annual as far as I know. But I usually harvest all of mine and there is nothing left to try to bring back.

Just came in from picking a heap (actually about a 1/2 gallon) of strawberries from my long patch. Came back from my trip to find there had not been a drop of rain the whole time I was in Italy! Having record dry and heat for June. So that is good as the first pick of the strawberries is normally a bit tart from the damp, cool weather. Not the case, they smell so good!

Going to fix some fruit dessert with some of the berries and melon in a little sweet wine. Yum!

Spring Gardens
 

I can practically smell those lovely strawberries over here !!

This is my swiss chard. I tried to get my head underneath it ... like
Bill did .... no go ....

Attachment 624

LOL! Wow, Pinkie, you're gonna have a nice supply of Swiss Chard soon. When Spring hits Canada, that stuff'll really take off.

I don't know if this qualifies as a garden but I've been busy: Top=Before Bottom: After

Yeah, Joe, I think that qualifies! Nice job!

Spring Gardens
 

Nice looking spring chard. Beautiful garden !!!!!!!!!!

Believe....I have been caring for my deceased father's roses since 2002. I agree with whoever said Roses aren't plants. They're pets. It think this is the first year I haven't been afraid of the roses. They're doing fine. They have black spot. One looks spindly. I don't care any more. I have added many plants to the garden, but not one rose.Demanding, difficult little things!!

wow i like it!

Does anyone know anything about the 'Sourwood Tree'? It is a ever-changing leaf coloring with like a grape-cluster flowering blossom. Ed and I have planted one at our burial site and it is simply spectacular.

We had to have the caretaker plant it and it has not even been in the ground there for more than a year. This spring we noticed that part of a lower branch did not grow leaves, that part is dead of course. It also has a mold on it that most trees get no matter how great the care.

I am not so sure the cemetary caretaker knows how to care for it. During the evening some night I plan to address the branch if he does not. If it dies they will replace it once more. Problem is they are not caring for it properly and I am getting pee'd off now.

I will try to take a picture of the fungus, it is the green 1-2" circular mold/fungus I speak of.

What can I do??

Dang storm last week nearly took out my corn! But today, it's standing straight and tall again! It's amazing how resilient it is!

in the foreground are my 'maters, in the back back are the green beans, in between, is my huge cuc patch. *not pictured here* is the HUGE watermelons and a much smaller cantelope patch.

This is my first year for a garden. I guess it helps that my husband grew up a farmers son!

Hey, that's a nice looking garden Terri. The one and only time I tried to grow corn it all fell over, so I went out there and staked it back up, stalk by God-forsaken stalk, individually, thinking, "Damn, I must be a bad corn-farmer. Nobody has to stake their corn. What's up with that?"

Bill,

I tried corn several times with mixed success. One year we got a mole in the garden (the animal, not a spy) and he tunneled under the entire row of corn so the roots were dangling in a big hole...just before they keeled over.

But there was another time where I had such a great crop and literally would get the water boiling then go pick the corn and RUN to put it in the pot!

Yum!

Yeah Bill, that was the SECOND storm that had knocked my corn down. It's AMAZING that it has come back TWICE without stakes! *snicker*

It's a lot of work, though. My husband felt like he needed to plant a half-acre garden, and he's gone all week (truck driver) so its up to me to harvest and water every two days! I'm yielding a bushel of cucumbers every two days! WHEW! The sweat is rolling!

You'd think I'd lose some of this caboose, but NO SUCH LUCK>:

thump the watermelons with your knuckles...if it resonates like a good drum...ripe, if it thuds...not That's what the "old timers" told me!!!

Wish I could help, Terri, but I'm still trying to perfect the cantaloupe-smelling thing and eye-balling an avocado to see if they're ripe. Let me know what you find out about the watermelons!

Summer harvest
 

Hi - Terri, I don't have the "is it ripe" problem with my berries and fruits. But I feel your pain on the watermelon. Guy at the farmer's market said they will also be a bit soft at the stem area like other melons. I still like to "knock" on them. Your hubby really wanted to keep you busy this summer - 1/2 acre is more than our whole place!

Here are my pickings from Sunday. Blueberries about done as well as the strawberries. Raspberries - I get a cup or so every day - enough for us to eat in various ways.

NO comice pears this year - the trees were attacked with something that I have to find out about by taking some leaves to the nursery man. First year we have no pears. http://her2support.org/vbulletin/images/icons/icon8.gif

Spring Gardens
 

Boy Steph, your photos make me very hungry. I am still struggling along with the Swiss chard and other greens I started.

Re: Spring Gardens
 

So, what is the latest with everyone's gardens?
Terri - are you through eating all the corn & watermelons? Or do you have critters that get into them?

Bill's "leafy" adventures are on another thread.

The ladies in Hawaii hopefully have been able to harvest before the big rains hit.

The birds have been munching on the remainder of my raspberries. They get tired of the feed the lady next door puts out.

Having no rain to speak of for 60 days here, the ground is baked so hard that I have to just break the weeds off at the top. They went to seed much faster this year with the heat and sun. Dang! Got to get some more Preen. Weather brough my landscaping projects to a halt and yesterday the rain started. Hope to get my new plants in by week's end!

Re: Spring Gardens
 

I've got plenty of cucumbers rolling in, with some squash and zuchinni (enough for a few side dishes per week). In another week or so we should have dozens of ripe tomatoes for fresh eating and some home-made salsa. Got a few nice sweet banana pepper plants producing well. Can't keep up with the radish planting right now, so that's tapering off. (You should plant more radish seeds every week as it only takes 4-5 weeks for them to mature). Containers give us enough spinach and chard and mustard greens to supplement salads and cooked greens. I can't wait for my acorn squash to mature. I'm not a good carrot farmer, but I've got some almost ready to pluck. I might plant parsnips next year. I just tried some for the first time a few weeks ago and loved them. How's your garden?

Re: Spring Gardens
 

I am still picking tons of cucumbers. I'm starting to get the hang of the watermelon picking and cantelopes too. Some guy at work said I had very nice melons! ;)

We've had so much rain down here that I haven't had to water since sometime in early July! It's crazy, but it is making bad tomatoes. they split open before they get good.

Re: Spring Gardens
 

I moved my plants in containers into a protected area in case the hurricane arrived, but all we got was rain here on Oahu. I am going shopping tomorrow for more starter plants and seeds. We are lucky over here, because we can have two crops in the year. I wonder how Harrie's garden is over there on the Big Island?