Since it's February the garden is mostly inactive, but I do have a couple of rows of young Spinach which were planted back in Nov for an extra early Spring harvest sometime in mid-March. Spinach is very hardy and can take the worse of winters, these 2 rows below were hit with 3 snowstorms, an ice storm, and at least 3 nights where the low temp dipped down to 10F....

....well, they're under there somewhere, nyuk. Pic above was taken a week ago. Mostly at their first true leaf stage. Heading outside now to get a recent pic after the ice melt and a little thinning out. as seen below....

Lost my post. Anyway, cannot wait to see your garden!

It's a nice hobby for those who find it appealing. One that produces benefits to enjoy.

Neither my wife nor I have ever had a particular interest in gardening and so our yards have mostly been restricted to grass (before water restrictions were imposed) and drought tolerant hedges, and shrubs. Flowering shrubs are nice. We tinkered with a small vegetable garden when the kids were growing up but stopped it when they lost interest.

We've always paid a service for weekly maintenance and cleanup, it's something neither of us has ever wanted to do. He plants annuals at the front of the house and looks after them. Probably compared to where many of you live, the maintenance workload is light.

My grandparents on both sides handed down a love of gardening, so it runs in our family. I have just a small balcony now, and have crammed a couple of Earthboxes and many small pots out there - mostly herbs and salad greens, since it gets limited sun. I'm really missing growing tomatoes and pole beans - along with fruit trees, but I definitely appreciate being able to pick lettuce and other greens and make salads or season dishes with fresh herbs.

I know I'm not the only gardener here - somebody on the floor above us has what appears to be a jungle on their balcony, and sometimes it looks like it's raining when they water their plants 😄

"Gardening, to me, even on a small scale, nourishes the soul and beautifies one's surroundings."

Yes, it does. I've been an avid gardener since I bought my first house three decades ago. The glory of God is evidenced in nature.

I do a lot of potted seasonal plants on my deck and front walkway; couple perennials, too. Those I have to haul into the barn for the winter, but everything survives just fine and DH helps me pull them out in the spring.

I have a large vegetable plot, but I have scaled back how much I grow quite a bit and will be switching over to raised beds in another year or two. I'm still planning it out...dragging my feet but scaling back has helped me consider how many beds I will actually need...but where do I put all the small fruit...fencing and other decisions -- I'll get there in the next year or two. Right now I'm going through the square foot gardening book and DH is going to make a sample raised bed for me this spring to see how well this system actually works ;0)

I have also taken to growing fruit trees since I moved to this house, have a small orchard out back. I figure even if I don't get a tremendous harvest at least they'll grow into nice trees. Growing tree fruit well is A LOT of work, but if you're up for it it can be tastily rewarding. I'm still young enough to be up for it and when I'm not like I said they make nice trees.

I am not a gardener. Plants that come to me pretty much become hospice patients. I look after them with love and care but their end is inevitable.

Anything that I have planted around my house has to be tough as nails. My mother in-in-law, who was an excellent gardener always said that hops were impossible to kill, so I thought that sounded like the plant for me. They have worked out.🤠 Oh, and I’m pretty good with rhubarb.

Other than that, drought resistant perenniels are pretty much all that I have.

My husband is becoming a gardener. A couple of years ago, he dug a small garden into our old horse pasture. It’s become his baby. He loves it.

My favourite yardwork is cutting grass.

I envy those with a green thumb.

I've been neglecting my garden this winter. I still need to clear last year's plants out several raised beds. The asparagus beds need to be cleared ASAP as the abnormally warm weather we've had so far predicts an early sprouting of spears in March instead of the usual April.

I'm expecting a delivery of seeds today. The broccolini and broccoli will get seeded under lights in a week or so to be planted out in early to mid April.

I don't have enough sun for any real kind of gardening. I mostly just have perinneals. I did buy two 5 gallon buckets that were decked out to allow water to drain and I grew a couple of tomato plants. Unfortunately I have deer and squirrels that always beat me to it. I put these buckets on bases like movers use so I could have the plants follow whatever sun was available. But the animals were the true downfall of this experiment for me.

I have 23 rose bushes. About half are in huge pots due to space layouts. The pots are actually black or dark green plastic that i drill holes in the bottoms. They hold 17.5 gallons or 70 quarts. They have worked really well for many years.

I agree with many of you that gardening nourishes the soul, lifts our spirits, and beautifies our environment. I garden year round. Currently, I have five different tropical plants blooming in the sunroom, as well as fruit on my kumquat and lime trees. I also grow tomatoes most years, along with herbs and vegetables. But my real passion has been roses, and after many years of growing them, I can confidently say I'm getting good at it.

Wow Palisades they are beautiful!!

I have been out working in the yard all day, and I feel great. About a year and a half ago, we had a devastating flash flood. Lots of damage to the house and the yard. I can finally see an end in sight to getting the yard back where it was. I'm looking forward to a Sunday just puttering around out there without any heavy lifing.

" I've been an avid gardener since I bought my first house three decades ago. The glory of God is evidenced in nature. "

Yes, it is Porkchop, after all, it all began in a garden so perhaps that where we should be too, right? ;-) Those peaches look great, or apricots? My 2 peach trees, and 2 plum trees are now history, too many diseases attack pitted fruits, and I do not spray our fruit trees other than with dormant oil early on.

As Murraysmom mentioned squirrels are the worst, esp for fruit trees. My best luck with squirrels is that for the most part they will ignore our persimmons, pears, and figs. Pears are too hard for them until Sept, they don't like figs too much, and they don't seem to know what a persimmon is, ha. But they'll go after green apples and all pitted fruits, blueberries too, little varmints. Right now is the best time to trap them when food sources are scarce and before the fruits are set, it pays to thin them out now and relocate. Cheap apples from the store work well in hav-a-hart traps. Here's some pics of our most squirrel resistant trees.......

BTW, one of the best things about growing your own fruits & veggies is that they are vine ripened to perfection, and you know what has (not) been sprayed on them, pesticides, wax, etc.

Oh elm! I think you are wrong.

I don’t sense any haughty attitudes at all. Just folks talking about gardening. 🤷

There’s a lot of ways to nourish the soul. Gardening is just one way and the great thing about it, is that you get your exercise as well.

I love gardening. The absolute satisfaction it brings is wonderful. It can be frustrating at times certainly, when things do not work out as planned. But it is one of those hobbies that one can do on a large or small scale, and in a variety of ways. Container, raised bed, in ground, hydroponic, greenhouse, etc. Flowers, edible crops or just trying to have the prettiest lawn in the neighborhood. The reward for all the work is immense once you know what you are doing. And it is ever evolving and there are always new things to learn, and always things to do.

My love for gardening started young. My mother grew roses and I loved them. I would "help" her care for them. Then she cleared out a tiny spot in our backyard, had my dad put up some wood planks to make it into a garden, and would always let me plant whatever I wanted every year. There is NOTHING like a homegrown, sun ripened tomato.

Elmer, that is a strange impulse you have acted on, to come into a thread discussing how happy and fulfilling one hobby is, only to suggest that other people do not like it but would rather do something else. Of course, duh. What's your point?

As far as nurturing the soul goes, I have learned over the years that the make or break thing for me is to wait until the weather is right (not cold, not wet) and my energy level is high (for whatever reason). This makes a huge difference. A vigorous, satisfying project vs an awful chore to just get done and over with. It's well worth it to wait until the time is right. The nice thing is gardening tends to be forgiving this way, and will patiently wait for me.

I am better at growing flowers than vegetables. As I said earlier, it's a battle when you have a lot of squirrels, rabbits and deer. There are pretty good choices when it comes to flowers, bushes and trees. I love sitting on my front porch surrounded by beautiful flowers. At least the deer don't come up on my porch. It truly is a joy to see all those great colors and interesting plants.

I'm loving the pictures here. Thank you to all taking the time to post them.

I do flowers and plants and my husband does the veggie garden. For about ten years, AMES, which had its headquarters here in our town, made available 150 garden plots for free. There was a shed with their tools, which were manufactured there and even underground water with hoses connected in various places. In the middle was a wooden gazebo with flowers all around. Walking around the gardens was fun as everyone had their own touch. We planted asparagus, tomatoes, zuchini and kale. Then it all ended when Ames sold the property, which still stands empty, and bulldozed and their manufacturing went overseas.

At our house, we have 1/2 acre but many trees and two ponds, and there is just one spot that gets enough sun, so the same veggies are planted there, minus the kale and squash.

I do container gardening in antique urns, hanging baskets and pots throughout the yard. I like mixing annuals in colorful patterns.

I have 23 rose bushes. About half are in huge pots

I envy you, so many beautiful roses! They are so worthwhile, even though watering the ones in containers must take a bit of time.

Glad you like the pics Lucillle, here's a few more from this past growing season...

Not being "haughty" Elmer, just passionate about our hobby.

I have never felt better than when I used to garden outside on a beautiful day, then drag myself inside and have a Pepsi. Can't do as much anymore, but still get my fingers dirty.

It is wonderful to plant seeds, tubers and just plants in general and then watch them grow and flourish. I even enjoy the challenge of finding the plants that will do well when there are so many to choose from. Even taking a once flourishing but now languishing garden back to grass that will be much easier to take care of was satisfying. It also makes taking walks in the neighborhood very delightful to see what everyone else is doing.

These are a few from my backyard back in 2017.

"I have never felt better than when I used to garden outside on a beautiful day, then drag myself inside and have a Pepsi."

Diet Pepsi here!

Pepsi, coke or root beer will do.

Lucille, plants can definitely liven up a space.

Every year, I hang colourful plants on my small front porch. Love them. 💕

Also, if you have heavy planters that may need moving to different spots you can get little wheelie dealies that go under the pot.

And I just have to show you this lucille! A plumbing shop in a small town that I often drive through has given a whole new meaning to potted plants. I laugh every time I see them.

Here are some more eye candies for y’all except elmer can sit on the sidelines and be “haughty”.

potted plants

LOL!

Ha-Ha. I will have an ice cold 7up.

palisades, I was in a nursery yesterday and they had limes, lemons and orange trees that they say can be grown indoors. Is that plant yours and can you tell me if it is feasible? Thanks.

Murraysmom, yes that is my kumquat tree 6 years old. I also have a Kefir lime tree loaded with fruits now in a big pot. You surely can grow citrus trees in pots and winterize them indoors in a sunny spot or under grow lights. Have fun with them.

Another eye candy from my garden, Endless summer hydrangeas and hyacinth bean arrangement.

Well, to be fair to Elmer, ....he was right about being wrong ;-)

We like our hydrangeas too...

It took a few years of adding sulfur pellets to the soil to get them this blue. I fear that this winter's super cold temps may have damaged their future buds, it has happened before and left us bloomless.

Vgkg, due to our acidic clay soil, the majority of my hydrangea bushes produce blue color blooms without adding sulfur, but some bushes will have a mix from blue to lavender to pink, probably due to my fertilizer, and lime pellets scattered over from the lawn area.

Would you categorize a person with 46 houseplants as suffering from OCD? Blame Trader Joe's because I have to walk through their lobby every Monday and am tempted. And so far, none have died. The craziest plant is the one my mother-in-law sent me after my daughter's birth many, many decades ago.

Some of my seedlings from this year. This is about the stage they get to before they so south but I am hoping this year will be different.

Just to share the frustrating side of gardening, the most annoying thing happened. Years ago, when I started working my current job, I planted some roses in some empty raised beds surrounding my building. They do well out here and people comment all the time about how lovely they are, in the middle of the desolate landscape we work in.

Well, for some reason, the rootstock took over 5 of my older roses last year. So 2 blue girls, a neil diamond, a tropicana and a red one I do not remember the name of were all overtaken and essentailly replaced with the Dr. Huey rootstock. It was so weird, it happened all at once. I wonder WHAT in the world I did wrong to make it happen. So anyway, I tried to dig down and remove the shoots growing from the root underground, but alas, Dr. Huey won the war. So last night, I dug them all up. The original roses were pretty much dead anyway, and I do not want the rootstock running amuck. I am so sad.

BUT,bright side, at least now I get to buy new roses. I am even going to try to propagate some in my shiny new greenhouse from my roses at home. One of my roses at home also got overtaken by the demon Dr. Huey, which makes me think it DEFINITLEY was something I was doing, or not doing, regarding their care that caused it. The local nurseries around here have all pretty much decided to only carry knockout roses and their aren't really any people that are knowledgeable enough to help my trouble shoot. I asked last year at 4 different nurseries. Their advice was that hybrid teas (Which are my favorite and will NOT stop growing) were too finicky and I should just get knockouts. I have knockouts too, but I want to know what I did to my Hybrid teas to make them turn on me so.

So, both highly frustrating, yet exciting because I get new plants! Gardening in a nutshell.

lily, I am quite familiar with your situation. I had 53 houseplants at one time and had to do an intervention on myself. I kept the ones I loved the most and were the healthiest and gave the rest away. It was very freeing. Now there are 15 plants, all on one floor. So much easier to care for. My house is small, so it was nice to thin the herd.

Amy, here is a nice rose company. They sell own root roses in bands which is a small pot.

https://roguevalleyroses.com/

What a great (mostly, lol) thread, sharing the joys of gardening and nurturing plants.

I love gardening so much, but have been limited as I age because of severe arthritis andnow carpal tunnel in my hands. But I still delight in seeing all the wonderful, some unusual plants that still thrive in my yard. One of my favorite things to do is visit nurseries in search of new to me exciting plants and varieties. We have so many small specialty nurseries in the PNW, it's always a pleasure to visit them. The owners are always so passionate about what they do.

I always feel sad when I see sterile, lifeless yards with nothing but shrubs shaved into unnatural, joyless shapes that indicates no love for the natural world (or at least as it relates to that surrounding a home). Poison the weeds, kill any living thing that dares "intrude". Luckily, there are enough people growing all varieties of things that everyone can benefit from the beauty.

So true, Olychick. That was my parents' yard. Fertilized till the whole lawn was like a putting green. He even cringed when my kids ran around playing games. And his rose garden was so sterile in rows in a rectangular plot and sprayed every week with pesticides. I don't have a blade of grass. We have tan bark in the yard with ivy, pachysandra, myrtle, with flagstone paths everywhere. No spraying ever and when it rains, I go out and see the earthworms crawling around. My mother once said to me..."funny I never see earthworms". Wonder why.

Agreed, Olychick and Lily. Many people in my neighborhood have lawn service people that come and spray. I have always had animals so I never did that. My one neighbor did up until the time she got her German Shorthair Pointer, Gunnar. Now their yard looks like mine with clover and dandelions. I love seeing the bees come around. I, too, have a harder time trying to keep the gardens up but I do have a neighbor down the street that started her own side gig and she has a little crew that can come when I need something done. I much prefer a natural looking yard than a manicured one.

Over 25 years ago, many nurseries started offering own-root roses that do well without relying on spraying. Still, you need to select varieties with high disease resistance for your particular climate. All of my 100+ roses are on their own roots and are not sprayed. The varieties range from minis and hybrid teas to floribundas and large climbers. I also don’t apply chemical treatments to my lawn. I pope dandelions and remove weeds using a hand weeder tool. There are plenty of bees, earthworms, spiders, and other beneficial insects to keep things balanced and beautiful - not to mention avoiding the cancer risks associated with exposure to pesticides sprayed weekly or monthly.

You can grow beautiful, healthy roses with no spray.

We live in a community of "detached condos" and our yard is (by design) tiny. However, we do make space for a garden every spring, and we grow tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, okra, peas, green beans, and occasionally some sort of squash. Our yard, itself, is mowed and trimmed weekly, but we do not treat it with chemicals so our "grass" is a mishmash of actual grass, dandelions (to feed the bees), clover (also bees), crabgrass, and other "volunteer" things that decide to grow. It's nice and green, and we are not polluting the earth or our groundwater with poisons. We also do not treat our garden for pests, and we weed by hand. Fertilizer is our own homemade compost.

We are actively searching for our next house in North Wales, and having an appropriate garden (in the British sense - a backyard in the American sense) is one of the non-negotiables. We intend to continue our practice of feeding ourselves (and friends/neighbors) as long as we are able.

All that said - I don't particularly enjoy gardening, but I do enjoy the results.

@palisades_ what a gorgeous photo! With 23 rose bushes (mostly floribunda and English roses), I decided years ago to never spray. Roses can be a lot of work without adding even more to the party. My modus operandi has mainly been researching a rose before buying, and watering a lot, applying organic fert. once a year, and when black spot eventually shows up (as it always does) I just live with it. Perfection has never been my goal here. I keep my attention in line with my motivation. Any more starts to feel like a home work assignment. Boo. Again, love the photo!! Thanks for sharing.

One of the things I really miss these days is gardening. I had hundreds of old roses, Mosses and Gallicas, Albas, Rugosas, lots of climbers all mostly on their own root. I loved vegetable gardening but this property was never good for that.

Amylou, since you love the Hybrid Teas replacing plants is just part of the deal with them. Dr Huey is an aggressive rootstock plus a good deal of grafted roses have Rose Mosaic Virus and will decline as a result. Other countries have a better choice in rootstock. Hybrid Teas often do not prosper on their own roots though some do. Floribundas might be a good compromise. The flowers are similar though not so perfect in shape and they tend to be heavy bloomers and long lived. In anycase you should be checking regularly around the base of your grafted roses for shoots. You grab them and yank downward to pull them off. Cutting only encourages them.

I used to have a little side gig of rooting roses from my many plants. It is great fun. I had a mister made from a patio cooler-tubbing with little sprayer bits that cool down your patio-on a timer. Cheaper than the regular systems. Youtube will be your friend. A useful bit of often not recognized info is that the roots will grow from callus-sort of looks like cauliflower- from the underside of the green inner bark next to the wood. So when you make your cuts through the outer bark you slice three cuts exposing the inner wood and the roots will grow around the edges those slices. People make the mistake of only exposing the outsider of the inner green bark. Do not over do your rooting hormone.

Another ex gardener here. And I totally agree with the 'gardening nourishes the soul' line of thought.

I grew up on a farm, a 120 acre family farm, back in the 40's and 50's, not the gigantic commercial type farm of this day and age. Growing things was a way of life. I spent more time in the fields, garden and barns than I did in the house. To this day, I love the feel of good soil running through my fingers. I've had a small back yard vegetable garden almost all of my married life. Also flower gardens and house plants. Real gardening is no longer possible for me, due to age and some physical disabilities. Plus we are in a very severe drought here so watering is restricted. All the brown lawns around here are really sad and kind of depressing. I've never been very successful with growing vegetables in containers, but I've always had some decorative plants in containers. Currently I'm down to just one.

Thank you, Lucille, for starting this thread. And to everyone posting pictures. I'm enjoying all the gardening comments very much.

Rusty

Patriciae, the old roses (climbers) I grow came from Antique Rose Emporium. I posted a photo of them up thread. Over the years some of them showed signs of RMV, although the offsprings that I propagated from have been looking clean and doing great. I just keep an eye on them.

Hobbitmom, it’s fun to research roses, particularly newer ones that come out each year. Hybridizers have realized people want no fuss roses so newer hybridized varieties favors strong vigorous root system, highly disease resistant roses that can do well on their own root. Not many hybrid teas are clean of black spots, although I have never seen black spots on Dark Desire and Savannah Sunbelt here. Highly fragrant. Love them