Monday, April 9, 2012

An Enjoyable Weekend in the Garden

Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination.  ~Mrs. C.W. Earle, Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, 1897

I am so content right now because of the beautiful weather and positive experiences I had this past weekend.  After searching for an active community garden for years, I found one a block away from my home.  It is relatively small and is tended by a lovely couple who have generously donated a small plot of their yard for the garden.  Naturally, I offered to donate a few hours a week, some supplies and of course seeds for their garden.

I had a chance to work in the garden today with my husband (a miracle, I know).  We sawed up the tree I mentioned in a previous post and cut back our invasive 8-feet-tall Japanese knotweed (often mistaken for bamboo) that the previous owner of our house generously introduced to the backyard.

We also noticed several of our neighbors yards have dandelions showing up.  Not good. We applied corn gluten meal to our lawn a few weeks ago and hopefully our grass will be healthy enough to deter them.  We divided Shasta daisy plants and day lilies to give to my BFF Randy for his family’s new garden.  Busy day, but it was wonderful!

The hubby and I found some great items in a newly opened thrift store yesterday for our garden and he suggested I start including pictures and ideas in my future posts. As you know, I love a bargain and like introducing new ornaments to my garden. A great idea I think and because I have the hankering to cook lately (hubby is the active cook in our home), I am going to include pictures of my experiments and recipes. But please don't be too criticalgo easy on me, since I'm not much of a cook (remember, I was outside playing in the dirt and climbing trees while my mom and grandmother were in the kitchen). LOL. :-)

Well, I hope you have a great week and thank you for reading.

Angela

P.S. I have included a link for more information about knotweed here:

15 comments:

  1. You had a busy weekend !
    Good on you, to find a community garden, the most rewarding kind of gardening...sharing.
    ~Jo

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  2. Your goals look super! Hope to see photos of your progress within the garden. All the best, Kelli, Northern Ireland.

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    1. You will and thank you for visiting my blog.

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  3. We also use cornmeal as a crabgrass and weed preventative. It works very well, except when the birds eat most of it. :) That just seems to be one of the 'joys' of gardening. I enjoy your blog very much, and so I have nominated you for the Sunshine Award. I hope you enjoy it. http://www.thesagebutterfly.blogspot.com/2012/04/natural-garden-recipes-for-pest-and.html

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  4. Thrift stores are soooo rewarding! I share your thinking on gardening. Nice to share - thanks.

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  5. Hello Angela
    Seems to be popular I hear, community gardens in New York. I wonder if they are the same as our allottments here where one can rent a piece of ground for growing on a large plot where others do the same.

    We have the dreaded Japanese Knotweed taking over our river banks here.

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    1. Most community gardens here are silimlar to the allotments there. I read up on allotment history and it's fascinating!

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  6. Hello, Angela,

    Seems I 'stumbled' upon your blog and garden and so pleased to have done so. It is wonderful that you have a garden plot. I cannot imagine life without some dirt in which to play. ;) I'm looking forward to your posts.

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  7. Hello Angela,

    I love your posts--especially the pictures ;). That reminds me...I have to remove the nasty henbits and dandelions which are starting to enjoy too much in the garden.

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    1. Hello Robert. Thank you for visiting my blog. I had to pluck a few dandelions from my yard this week but I am fortunate. All of my neighbors lawns have been invaded with hundreds of them! Totally unbelievable!

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  8. Angela, I love your blog!Great information. I'll have to try the corn gluten meal on the lawn.

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  9. I'm glad you like it and thanks for stopping by! Be sure to let me know if the corn gluten meal works for you.

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