Ever go to a garden center and already have everything they are selling?

[bleedingheart]

boy that can be depressing...but it helps the budget....

;-)

I now have to lurk about speciality outfits to get the good stuff.....

[Blue Gardener]

1. That's why you keep going back

To see what kind of new stuff they got in. I can't wait until Spring!

[bleedingheart]

4. Yep...it is an addiction

I went a few weeks ago and the woman who operates this one little outfit was walking me around and said..."how about"...and I would either say..."have it" or "tried it..didn't like it"...

it was funny...but then again I have been gardening for about 11 years at my house so in that time I have tried a bunch of stuff.

[NJCher]

2. what's worse is to go to the seed section

And have every packet they have!!




Cher

[bleedingheart]

5. I always joke that I am going to save money by planting from seeds

but then when I go to add up what I spent on seeds my husband looks at me and says..."oh yeah...saving money..." and rolls his eyes.

[Kolesar]

3. If anybody comes upon any ads for "row covers" at a discount...

...please let me know. Better pm me. I want to start my garden earlier next year.

[Gato Moteado]

6. no, but i've been to a garden center and not wanted anything they...

...were selling.

that was the more typical scenario for me.

my garden in austin was full of rare or hard-to-find plants, native plants that many nurseries didn't bother selling, or plants from climates so different than texas that nobody in their right mind would try growing them (mainly tropical rainforest stuff).

for example, i had a kapok tree. try finding one of those in austin. if you live there you can either drive by my old house and walk along the train tracks behind the back yard and see it (i'm sure GOPisEvil will take you there if you ask him nicely) or you can go check the collection at zilker park botanical gardens and see if theirs is still there. aside from those two kapok trees, i only know of one other in texas and it's in the garden of the guy who gave me a cutting to start mine. they're from the tropical rainforest...austin is a place that can go the whole summer without rain and winter can produce some chilling freezes.

i had 8 or 10 species of palm trees and some different cycads in the garden too...several that many books claimed would not grow in austin.

i also had a eucalyptus globulus and a couple of other eucs.

i also had a bauhinia purpurea, a tropical orchid tree from asia that not only survived the winters (something supposedly impossible in austin) but even produced flowers in the spring if the winter was mild.

i had some exotic, tropical aristolochias and passifloras and all kinds of other stuff that i collected on my travels.

nurseries and garden centers usually had stuff like zinnias, marigolds, roses, and other common stuff. so you can see why garden centers usually didn't impress me.

if anyone actually does go by my old garden, let me know how it looks. i sold the house over 2 years ago and i wonder if the new owners realized what kind of a botanical collection they had and if they kept it up.

[bleedingheart]

7. what you described is why I really do not want to move from my home

...I have put so much time and love into my garden that to move would break my heart because I know a lot of people would not appreciate the effort and work.

[Gato Moteado]

8. yeah, i understand what you mean......

but for me it was easy.

i was trying to recreate a tropical rainforest in a desert, basically. and, while i did a pretty damn good job, i was able to purchase a 50 acre rainforest with the money i made from selling the house. so it was a no brainer for me. traded hot, drought ridden, dusty texas for lush, green, biodiverse costa rica.

now i have kapok trees and palm trees out the ying yang...along with orchids, bromeliads, 300-year-old tropical hardwoods, fruit trees, toucans, monkeys, macaws, waterfalls, crystal clear streams and views of the pacific ocean. so, i certainly don't miss my back yard in texas.

that said, it would be interesting to know how the old garden is doing. it was a lot of work keeping the hackberry trees and other invasive stuff at bay. i'm willing to bet it's too big of a task for the new owners and they probably let it turn into an unkempt jungle. the palm trees are fairly trouble free, though, and i'll bet the washingtonia filifera, livistona chinensis, and the trachycarpus fortunei are getting huge.

[Kolesar]

9. Were you a native Spanish-speaker?

I have met a few DUers who had moved to Central American countries. The idea intriques me. Myself, I am only an English speaker. (Three years of Latin in high school took me nowhere).

[Gato Moteado]

10. nah, my spanish is average

unfortunately, i'm not pushed to practice every day because my job doesn't require it. but, i live in a neighborhood free of gringoes so i get to speak spanish with my neighbors and friends.

i hope i will be fluent by the time i am living on my rainforest property because it will be a necessity then.

yeah, central america is great if you like to garden. there's not much you can't grow here. if you prefer the temperate climate plants over the tropicals, just move up into the mountains. you can get up to 12,000 feet here. i prefer the tropicals myself.

what kind of stuff are you growing?

[Kolesar]

11. The brussel sprouts are still growing; the cayenne &pepperoncini need pick

...picked. We put in an ambitious vegetable garden with 500 sq ft of raised beds. The green beans had a great yield: we boiled and froze several bags of them. I pickled 7 pints of pepperoncini a month ago. There are still broccoli florets to be cut. We have onions and beets still growing. July was hot and wet and by the end of the month we were harvesting. Had a bit of a problem with cabbage moths and the japanese beetles attacked the corn. Don't use Murphy's Oil Soap as an insecticide. It was a real learning experience. Every minute out there with my sun hat on listening to the birds sing was pure joy.

[Gato Moteado]

12. wow.....sounds like you have a small farm going!

very nice.