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rouge21_gw

You know you have have the garden bug when you....

My residential property isnt large and due to the configuration we have several small perennial garden plots scattered about. They are edged with stone. The past week I 'expanded' a couple of these gardens by removing some lawn with the edger and then moving the edging stone border outwards. But between you and I this 'expansion' ranged from about 6" to at most 12" (depending where one is on the arc). But gaining overall only a couple of square feet here and there still made me very happy. Crazy eh?

What do you do or have done that only a rabid gardener would understand?

Comments (11)

  • mistascott
    11 years ago

    I have moved some plants a half dozen times each during the same season.

  • lisanti07028
    11 years ago

    We had a perennial bed in the middle of the back lawn - it was there when we moved in and it always annoyed me so I finally closed it up; since we were gaining so much lawn area (@ 20' x 10') I expanded the nearby rose garden by 4 feet and the rose garden on the other side of the property by 7 feet, for a net loss of lawn of 1 foot x 30 feet (I had to even the gardens up, didn't I?). It still makes me happy, and my husband just rolls his eyes and laughs.

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I would kill for an additional 30 square feet lisanti....lucky you!

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    11 years ago

    I keep trying to replant areas the dogs have wrecked as they run and play. This last time, I finally came upon a possible solution to my problem. I have moved all the deck and patio furniture to surround the shrubs so they aren't crushed during the wild frolicking. Love my gardens, love my dogs...wish they co-existed more peacefully. ;)

  • ninamarie
    11 years ago

    We filled up a half-acre property, then planted the surrounding ditches and fields. When that failed (and it did) we moved to a 36-acre property.
    But I still have less space than I would want. At least, I have less quickly available arable space.

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    We filled up a half-acre property, then planted the surrounding ditches and fields.

    One so has the bug when one plants on property not their own!

  • ninamarie
    11 years ago

    Yes, but it made for some beautiful ditches. We used to throw our thugs in there and watch them duke it out. And planting in ditches and "waste" areas allowed me a riot of colour that would have overwhelmed the gardens - screaming pinks and reds and oranges. Subtle doesn't do ditches.
    And I have had this "bug" for a long time. It doesn't diminish, but its symptoms change.
    And I know you have a particularly strong case, as do so many here.

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    And I know you have a particularly strong case, as do so many here.

    Hmm...thank you? ;)

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    ...when you solicit other people's organic material to mulch the "new" areas you've reclaimed from lawn. A couple months ago, I saw a guy trimming all of the hedges at the bank across the street. Next thing you know, he's backed his pickup truck into my yard and he's helping me haul this stuff here'n'there. That was great stuff! Fresh, tender growth from the shrubs mixed with the leaves he had raked off of the mulch.

    Then there's the trunk-loads of trimmings I've brought here many times from my Mom's house (she refuses to compost,) bags of sawdust from honey's work, bags of peanut shells from a friend's chicken farm, and bags of pine needles from honey's Mom's house. ...all happily composting in a giant pile near the back fence, waiting to be dumped on a new lasagna bed next weekend.

    ...when you spend an hour putting potted plants in the yard to get rained on, then an hour getting wet & icky putting them back on the porch.

    ...when there's a rainy morning in the summer and you go to work outside, since that's the only time it's not too hot.

    ...when you've timed a move so it will be a good time to dig up your plants and bring them to the new place too.

    ...when you hear yourself thinking, "If this grass was mowed, the beds would show up better."

    ...when you realize you've been absent-mindedly deadheading someone's plants while you're at their house visiting.

    ...when you end up with so many pots of cuttings that you don't even have anywhere to plant them.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    11 years ago

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    ken

    Here is a link that might be useful: link

  • katob Z6ish, NE Pa
    11 years ago

    I really can't think of anything I do that might be considered out of the ordinary. I might spend a little more time outside, but since I don't really care much about football or baseball what else am I going to do on a weekend afternoon?

    This past mother's day the flower from preschool was given to daddy. I think he's on to me.

    So I might have a bug huh? Maybe I should try and watch a little football this Saturday? I could invite a couple people over but I'm worried that as soon as things got started word would leak out the colchicums are blooming. Before you know it we'll all miss the kickoff because everyone is out back on their third beer asking what kinds I'm growing, how long they've been flowering, if I ever tried starting them from seed.... you know.