The Orchid Garden

rec.gardens.veg??

Question:

 Gardeners who don’t like weeding aren’t very avid Gardeners. So There! (snip)

 Not only do I not like to weed, but I do not like to dig either!  I am very lazy!  However, I do these things anyway, because I love my garden. I think that this might be on a par with the idea that the bravest people

 are those who do what needs to be done despite being afraid (as opposed to  those people who aren’t afraid). Interesting analogy.  I too love my garden, and frankly, I don’t much like digging either.  Perhaps that is because my soil is 100% clay and digging is really a lot of work.  Like you, though, that doesn’t mean that I don’t dig.  In the two years I have lived in this house I have created three large flower gardens and one large vegetable garden.  It was a huge amount of work as I broke sod and dug in compost in each bed.  I dug every day for months to  accomplish that, but now the soil is MUCH better and digging in them is now a pleasure.  If I would tell my neighbors that I don’t like to dig, they probably wouldn’t believe me as I began digging almost the first day after moving here.  I know how important good soil is for a successful garden, and I LOVE gardening, so like you I do what it takes. Cindy in Indy

Response:

Interesting analogy.  I too love my garden, and frankly, I don’t much like digging either.  Perhaps that is because my soil is 100% clay and digging is really a lot of work.  Like you, though, that doesn’t mean that I don’t dig.  In the two years I have lived in this house I have created three large flower gardens and one large vegetable garden.  It was a huge amount of work as I broke sod and dug in compost in each bed.  I dug every day for months to  accomplish that, but now the soil is MUCH better and digging in them is now a pleasure.  If I would tell my neighbors that I don’t like to dig, they probably wouldn’t believe me as I began digging almost the first day after moving here.  I know how important good soil is for a successful garden, and I LOVE gardening, so like you I do what it takes.

I love to dig! In fact, when I borrow a neighbor’s tiller, I feel I’m cheating. My shovels and spades are worn and thin. My grub-hoe is kind of blunt from all the excavating and boulders I’ve unearthed. Weeding is fun, especially when you "get it all" and a long root comes up. Heck I even like cutting the lawn: the tedium makes for interesting meditation… Oh, to feel the earth again… I’m stuck inside just *itching* to do something, anything in the yard. Hurry April! — John (staring out the window at the permafrost in east central Minnesota) "Pro meo lingua graeca est!" .

Response:

I am an avid gardner to. However,using a Midas rototiller(sp) makes it alot easier.In regards to the digging and weeding. It is worth the little bit of extra time to put black plastic mulch wherever u can. On a hot summer day and the humidity is 100% u will be soo glad u did this when all u have to do is turn on the water and enjoy how beautiful your garden looks from a sitting position rather than a bending over position. Happy gardening (-: Feb23111

Response:

Gardeners who don’t like weeding aren’t very avid Gardeners. So There!

That is nonsense. if you cant think of anything more intelligent to say than that why bother? I just have better things to do with my time,  like harvest .  My garden is 120′ by 100 ‘ intensively cultivated, mostly by hand, and all organic.  

Response:

 Gardeners who don’t like weeding aren’t very avid Gardeners. So There! (snip)  Not only do I not like to weed, but I do not like to dig either!  I am  very lazy!  However, I do these things anyway, because I love my garden.   I think that this might be on a par with the idea that the bravest people  are those who do what needs to be done despite being afraid (as opposed to  those people who aren’t afraid).  I also argue that if you had to deal  with my weeds and soil while working a job that runs over 40 hours a week,  you might also dislike doing these things.  My vegetable garden is the  only place where I amend soil right now.  In five years, it is finally  beginning to be a soil that is easier to turn.  On the other hand, I  suspect that some of my dryland plants would not grow well in a "good"  soil — and I love them dearly.  So I live with the weeding and the clay.  CEL  PS:  Other people in my area have said the same thing about the digging.  I am not the only one. . .  –  Zone 5/6 (sometimes even 7),  intermountain region, Western USA  What this means is dry, with extremes in temp!  "I am a professional.  Do not try this in your own home." — Zone 5/6 (sometimes even 7),  intermountain region, Western USA What this means is dry, with extremes in temp! "I am a professional.  Do not try this in your own home."

Response:

Gardeners who don’t like weeding aren’t very avid Gardeners. So There!

Not only do I not like to weed, but I do not like to dig either!  I am very lazy!  However, I do these things anyway, because I love my garden.   I think that this might be on a par with the idea that the bravest people are those who do what needs to be done despite being afraid (as opposed to those people who aren’t afraid).  I also argue that if you had to deal with my weeds and soil while working a job that runs over 40 hours a week, you might also dislike doing these things.  My vegetable garden is the only place where I amend soil right now.  In five years, it is finally beginning to be a soil that is easier to turn.  On the other hand, I suspect that some of my dryland plants would not grow well in a "good" soil — and I love them dearly.  So I live with the weeding and the clay. CEL PS:  Other people in my area have said the same thing about the digging. I am not the only one. . . — Zone 5/6 (sometimes even 7),  intermountain region, Western USA What this means is dry, with extremes in temp! "I am a professional.  Do not try this in your own home."

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -lanet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!205.198.116.15!bett y.bway.net!dial78.bway.net!user peas split the group i grow edible crops and would defintely read and contribute to a edibles group i dont like weeding through all the stuff about ornamentals, its time consuming, and to me very boring. While I understand that it might be a drag to weed through info you might not want to read, there remains the problem that almost all general gardening practices are the same for both ‘edibles’ and ‘ornamentals’. Where do questions about composting, soil amendments, insect control go? Or do they need to go to both groups, creating even more posting? Harvey SKID  zone 6  CT  USA

Gardeners who don’t like weeding aren’t very avid Gardeners. So There! — Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars.

Response:

The only split I ever saw as logical was the one purposed by the anti-chemical people who wanted a place where they could discuss their methods of organic gardening without being flamed. They were squashed like a bug. On this veg one, I vote no. Donna Bonchin

IMHO, it makes a great deal of sense to organize by general plant types. There are folks that grow fruits and vegetables that have no interest in ornamentals, and there are folks that grow ornamentals that have no interest in fruits and vegetables. (And of course, there are those that grow both) But no matter what they grow, there are folks that grow "organically" (however you define that) and folks that swear by "chemicals" (however you define that) and then there’s the rather silent majority who are willing to try whatever works and is reasonably safe and don’t give a damn about what’s "pc". So trying to separate into two (or more) groups by methodology seems to me to make less sense than dividing up by crop type. There is already precedent for successful division by crop type, witness rec.gardens.roses and rec.gardens.orchids. As a subscriber to rec.gardens.roses I can truthfully say that we discuss both "chemical" and "organic" methods of growing roses without anybody flaming anyone else for their choice of methodology (additionally, most rosarians seem to use a combination of the two approaches). We rosarians have a "live and let live" mentality and a deep and abiding respect for one another. A shame that much of what one sees here in rec.gardens is "you wouldn’t let me have *my* way, so I’m not going to let you have *yours*!". Looks like a bunch of children having a schoolyard squabble. I never encountered a gardener that treated another gardener hatefully until I subscribed to rec.gardens. Why don’t we leave the schoolyard bullying and the hate-filled, goosestepping ideology for other arenas and just concentrate on coming up with a division that works well for *most* people, and not let the Hitlerish few override the wills of decent, friendly folk? Just so you’ll know who you are, you Hitler-types are the ones that are *certain* that *your* hierarchy scheme is the perfect one, *your* methodology is the only holy one, and anyone who doesn’t see it your way should be sent to the virtual gas-chambers, or at the very least, excommunicated from the group of true believers. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most intolerant and selfish of them all?

Response:

The only split I ever saw as logical was the one purposed by the anti-chemical people who wanted a place where they could discuss their methods of organic gardening without being flamed. They were squashed like a bug. On this veg one, I vote no. Donna Bonchin

Response:

I never encountered a gardener that treated another gardener hatefully until I subscribed to rec.gardens.

That’s too bad.  Many of us try to squash (without bullying) this type of behavior.  In fact, rec.gardens is much better than many of the other newsgroups that I have read.   CEL — zone 5/6 (and on occasion even seven) USDA, Western USA — intermountain reagion (meaning dry, dry, dry). It’s not always dry, where it’s dry. . .

Response:

peas split the group i grow edible crops and would defintely read and contribute to a edibles group i dont like weeding through all the stuff about ornamentals, its time consuming, and to me very boring.

Response:

peas split the group i grow edible crops and would defintely read and contribute to a edibles group i dont like weeding through all the stuff about ornamentals, its time consuming, and to me very boring.

I agree–there’s a WHOLE lot of traffic in this group, and I’d rather read about the ornamentals, anyway.   Deb.

Response:

peas split the group i grow edible crops and would defintely read and contribute to a edibles group i dont like weeding through all the stuff about ornamentals, its time consuming, and to me very boring.

While I understand that it might be a drag to weed through info you might not want to read, there remains the problem that almost all general gardening practices are the same for both ‘edibles’ and ‘ornamentals’. Where do questions about composting, soil amendments, insect control go? Or do they need to go to both groups, creating even more posting? Harvey SKID  zone 6  CT  USA

Response:

<snip There is already precedent for successful division by crop type, witness rec.gardens.roses and rec.gardens.orchids.

<snip 1: It would be best to do this discussing in news.groups, the only place it officially counts. 2: Roses and orchids are not crop *types*, they are specific ‘crops’. ‘Vegetables’ or ‘edibles’ is  NOT a crop, it’s a very loose category (open to lots of interpretation), depending on point of view. Bill & Harvey SKID  zone 6  CT  USA

Response:

The only split I ever saw as logical was the one purposed by the anti-chemical people who wanted a place where they could discuss their methods of organic gardening without being flamed. They were squashed like a bug. On this veg one, I vote no. Donna Bonchin

Donna – we weren’t squashed completely, just a little dented. We are working on the 2nd RFD. . . Bill

Response:

Filed under: Orchids Gardens

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