Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Gardening for Dumbies

I want a nice garden. I really do. And by "really do" I mean if I don't have to actually do anything to garden.

I hate weeding, ridiculous.

I never remember to water.

We don't actually have "dirt", we have clay.

Plants are expensive!

I guess I just have a black thumb, or I'm lazy. Either one.

How about you? Do you like to garden? Give me some easy gardening tips, please! (And by easy, I mean no work!)

18 comments:

  1. I have a black thumb. And I hate leafy things.

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  2. We're planting a small garden this year. Mostly tomatoes, peppers and cute little lemon cucumbers.

    I'm like the other animals in the little red hen story. I don't want to actually do the work, just reap the benefits. So, I'm letting my mom do the dirty work (she likes it!).

    So, if you don't have anyone to do your dirty work (so sorry, my mom's not available), I suggest container gardening. Tomatoes only require deep watering every few days. Or grow zucchini, I understand they're not much work, and make you feel like you actually grew something!

    Good luck!

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  3. I want a garden, I don't mind doing the work. Set up a drip system that is on a timer for your garden so you don't have to remember to water. ALSO, a good weed barrier... news paper. If you get the paper, separate the black and white newsprint from the pages with color. DO NOT use the color pages. Lay the paper down an put dirt on it. It also breaks down and acts like a mulch for the soil.

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  4. A garden is hard work. If I didn't love the results (I don't actually like doing it unlike many hard core gardeners) I would just skip it. We have clay here, too. You have to amend the soil with sand, or better yet, special expensive dirt that comes in packages. Weeding: spray them with weed killer, don't water them and before you know it, they're gone, esp as the heat of the summer moves in for good. In the meantime, I just live with them. If you plant enough real stuff, it shades out the weeds, anyway. (the fact that you get rain during hte summer could be a problem). So, I guess you could just put that cocoa ground cover on the dirt (its chocolate brown and made of cocoa shells or something--you could use something else, I just really love how the cocoa bark stuff looks) and do what Val said--just plant up a couple of nice pots with lots of color and put them in a place that will distract from the bare parts of the yard. Watering is a huge time suck up and you can never leave for more than a day unless you put in one of those drip systems. They're great!

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  5. We are just letting our weeds grow and then shaping them to look like dogs to scare off the cat that uses our sandbox backyard as it's personal bathroom. So that's one idea:)

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  6. Start off small. Use containers first and see how well you do with them. I'm growing herbs, it's easy and then I'll move on up to tomatoes.

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  7. We have a huge garden this year...my vote? Go to the store and buy your dang tomatoes! Too much work!!!!!

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  8. I've really got nothing for ya, but the whole "black thumb" reminded me of that movie, "A Troll in Central Park". You know that movie?

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  9. I'm the same way. I'd love to have the spoils but not sure if I'm cut out for the work. I've never had the chance to try. Good luck!

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  10. Sorry no HELP here... I don't like it much... or at all. So I guess that means I have a BLACK thumb???

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  11. All I know about gardening is that if you don't water the plants enough, they die.

    I hope this helps.

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  12. I start a garden Every year. . . then I remember why I don't garden.

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  13. I laughed at this post because JUST YESTERDAY I was thinking the same thing! I saw a field of corn and thought how nice it would be to have fresh corn. Then I thought about snakes. I hate snakes and they like gardens (don't they?). And then I thought about canning all of the vegetables that I would grow. I have a fear of pressure cookers (go figure - I can handle clowns and pressure cookers frighten me). So I talked myself right out of wanting a garden.

    Maybe I should have just blogged about it instead of leaving a post length comment? :)

    Lady, me thinks we are much alike.

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  14. Sorry. I am right there with you. Wondering how to have a garden without any work and then wishing my husband would just take over those responsiblites!

    A girl can dream, can't she?

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  15. If you mean vegetable garden, I always want one but never get to it. If you mean flower garden, I always want one but never get to it.

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  16. Totally off topic, but Fablehaven is one of my favorite series out there. I bought book four the first week.

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  17. ONCE YOU FIGURE THAT OUT ---let ME know. I love, crave a beautiful garden ----but I too have a black thumb. Plants HATE me. they mock me. but I keep trying.

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  18. I like weeding. I'd even consider weeding your weeds if we were neighbors.

    Yes, plants are expensive. Something I strangely never realized until I was a grown adult with my own empty, dirt yard to fill, till and beautify.

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I'm mysteriously judging whether or not you're going to comment or not...you know you want to.