I was on another forum, where posters are agonizing over the brown/green ratio in compost piles; wondering if there is a use for "liquid marbles" (?) in the garden; trying to figure out the ratio of soil to plant in hanging planters; and a dozen other esoteric gardening questions. Maybe I'm simple (okay, no maybe about it) but I figure if you've got dirt, plants, some fertilizer like aged manure, and a spot in the sun, go for it! When did gardening become an activity that requires a PhD. in chemistry, botany, and several other fields? Why is something so terribly enjoyable and which gives you and your friends great produce a source of anxiety? Anyone else just a simple old dirt gardener who enjoys getting dirty, sweaty, and doesn't worry overmuch about anything?
Oh ME!! I like to enjoy my garden and not worry about PH levels, ratios or anything complicated. It's worked for me for over thirty years so I'm not about to change any time soon. I mulch with bark chippings, make my own compost and weed by hand. Do I enjoy it? YES.
Yahoooo !! Another like minded person. I stopped going to one group for that exact same reason. I can`t, for the life of me, figure out why people want to make it difficult. I have no idea what the PH of my soil is, but I know what does well and what does not simply from trial and error. If they would chunk all the books and spend more time outside in the garden, they might do better !
Hey mart, I'm with you and Eileen... gardening is not a big complicated mystery for me. I don't like to get caught up in design principles and such. I prefer to do my work the way my dad taught me. I love my manual tools, and I certainly must not mind being sweaty or dirty.
Gardening books and magazines that were like that group are what kept me from becoming a gardener for almost 13 years after we bought this house. It scared me to even think about all I would have to do to start gardening, no one to ask because all the books and mags said the same thing about pH levels and gave lists of dozens of amendments that we couldn't possibly afford. So I sat inside wishing I could garden. Until one day in about 2000 I thought to myself...."Self" I said "how would your great-great-grandmother have gardened?" and I answered myself..."She would have bought seeds or dug up a plant from the wild or taken a plant offered to her by a neighbor, then she would have dug a hole and put it in. Then watered and weeded and found more seeds or plants and done the same thing" So I did and that's how I do it now.
Count me in as a simple gardener. I started working in a garden as soon as I could tell a weed from a vegetable plant. We picked potato bugs and put them in a jar of "coal oil." We picked peas and beans and whatever else we wanted for dinner. I don't think I've ever not had a garden. I have a lot of gardening books but dr will tell you the set on the shelf and collect dust. dooley
I'm just a simple old gardener too. I couldn't care less what the pH of my soil is...I don't need to 'make' things grow here. If plants can't live in my garden without a big fuss, I don't grow them. Simple.
Count me in... I love to garden, I never bother with anything complicated, it is just too much aggravation for me. I do not, however, like to be dirty and sweaty and get a cold shower as soon as I can. I always end up dirty and sweaty no matter how hard I try. If I have been outdoors working, I look dirty and sweaty, not like I just stepped out of a beauty salon. [At my last job, my supervisor always managed to look freshly showered and coifed.] Even when plants do grow here, there is no guarantee that my horses or other critters won't eat the. I remember coal! My aunt used to heat her home with coal, and we were forbidden to play in the coal bin.
I loved reading all the posts in agreement with this subject. I was on another forum and even posted a few times, but the people on this site seem so much more down to earth (pardon the pun) with gardening. A couple of days ago my husband and I were in a store that sold gardening magazines. I picked one up and took it home. Later, we were sitting on the front patio enjoying the evening, and I started to read the magazine. And it went way over my head. I started reading some of it to my husband and I think he could tell it was exasperating me. Finally he just said, "Honey, is your garden growing?" Yes, it's growing just fine. I gave the magazine to my neighbor.
I have a lovely subscription for a garden magazine. It has beautiful photos, etc, but I will let the sub lapse the end of the year. It is too 'scientific' oriented-- how much green stuff, how much brown stuff, soil pH tests, etc... Besides, they are not totally organic and recommend things like Roundup which I do not believe in using. I do enjoy the pics in it... Just not $20 a year worth.
I am also an old (36) gardener! Don't use anything that nature doesn't provide. I don't even know what pH is... I just have a clue. And I don't have any idea what peat, vermiculite, sphagnum LOOK LIKE. I use soil (well, sometimes I buy it... a bit better than the one in the garden) and mix it with sand (fine gravel) and there it is! And I weed a lot... LOL
Count me in as a simple gardener too. I try to plant them the right location and give them the right amount of water and food. That's it. And you can tell that I don't much... just look at my answers in the Daily Quiz!
I myself am a very simple gardner, I tend to get plants that do not need much in the way of "tending", I am enjoying some of the information I have found on the web when it comes to the quizes and I am so happy that I can share that with you but I will try to keep it lively and fun, not so nit picky on the "how to do it right". I love this site and I have found so much interesting information here!
I find there is still a lot to learn in the simple gardening category! I enjoy that tremendously but don't get too hung up beyond the basics. Scientific? No thanks, although sometimes it's interesting reading in small doses.
