My Garden Interview - Part 3

...A continuation of my hypothetical interview...

***i'm currently reading an older garden book titled, "Gardening From The Heart - Why Gardeners Garden" by Carol Olwell. The reason for this book is interesting, because, as she points out, gardening is hard work,

considered pretty much low grade manual labor, and is rarely lucrative -

so why do we do it? She compiles the story of many gardeners who were interviewed for this book. i am barely past the introduction, but i feel compelled to put into words how i myself came to be a gardener, and why....***

Q: Any garden organizations?

i became involved at that time in the Master Gardener program - the very first year it was offered in my area (1991). It was a wonderful program, and i got to "shmooze" with fellow gardeners! The only downside was that most of my fellow "students" were retired folks - and i was in my thirties! i thought it was a good deal - the fee was $25, for the

literature and instructors (there wasn't anything offered online in THOSE days!), and you agreed to give back so many hours in volunteer time, i believe it was around 20 hours back then. It quickly became a very popular program, and a lot more people became involved with it. Later it was decided that you had to give so many hours each year to

"recertify", which i just did not have time for in the growing season. NOW the fee is up to $175, you have to volunteer 50 hours, and need 10 hrs. of volunteer work plus 6 continuing education hours annually to recertify! Whew! So, even though i have not recertified, i do still call myself a "Master Gardener" anyway - seniority ought to count for

something!

Q: Any funny stories?

We sold our first little house in '97 to a very young couple who were not even in their 20's yet, it was November, but they were very impressed by the gardens. I had taken photos and had a few enlarged to show prospective buyers. Unfortunately, they both had jobs and went to school, and had no clue how much work that was gonna be! i did take starts of my favorite plants to go to the new house with me, but left just about everything.

The following July, i received a phone call from my former neighbor. All she said was, "Oh my God, Nanci, they're tearing out all your plants and throwing them away!" i was there within 10 minutes, on the pretense of visiting said neighbor. The young people weren't QUITE throwing away everything, but threatening to, and i could see why. When i had lived

there, i walked around virtually every day, automatically weeding, deadheading, pruning...they had done none of that. The Hollyhocks were 7 feet tall, the vines had literally absorbed part of the yard, the groundcovers were covering WAY too much ground, my arbor that i painstakingly created from PVC pipe was broken and laying in the vegetable garden space - it looked like an abandoned property! To their credit, the new owners were very considerate and told me i could dig up

everything i wanted to, so i borrowed a shovel from my friend next door and started digging in the 90 degree heat. An hour later, after i had filled the trunk AND back seat of my car, i called my husband and told him to come over with his pickup truck and more tools! When we came home with the plants, i had no idea what i was going to do with them - it was early July, in the middle of a heat wave.These plants were my

BABIES! Now that i had rescued them i was NOT going to lose them! So we shoved them all into our 2 garbage cans filled with water and i spent the next week or so finding spaces for them. Now, planting in weather like that should only be done in emergencies (like this was), but - it CAN be done.Out of about 40 plants, only 2 did not make it, i am proud

to say!

 One more unfortunate thing - about a month after that, I

discovered that the vinyl lattice we had put up all along the fence row was gone - the young couple had taken it down and put it out for the garbage pickup - all five hundred dollars worth of it!! i almost cried over that - wish i had known. BUT, to this day, i really have no idea what i could have used that for at the new house! It was such a waste,

though...

Plants On The Ground ....

OK, i couldn't resist! Actually, i guess the correct title should be "Plants IN The Ground", but, whatever!

i had a small revelation yesterday - i realized i hardly ever plant plants the "normal" way anymore; that is, planting the seeds directly in the ground, keeping them watered, and having them sprout right where they need to be! i have started plants from seed for years, but indoors, to transplant at the proper time. OR (file this under "lazy") - i just buy plants!

So i never get the fun little thrill anymore of seeing those first few seedlings breaking out of the ground, which actually was one of my favorite memories at the very beginning of my gardening life. i had almost forgotten that feeling....so this year, i planted a row of early spring veggies - 2 kinds of spinach, 4 types of lettuce, white, purple, and black radishes, as well as carrots that are supposed to be a mix of 4 colors! That was two days ago, and i am impatiently looking at that patch every day, and watering it (using a watering can, the old fashioned way, so i can feel more connected with the earth).

i have lost touch with my garden somewhat in the past few years, partly because of a job change, which gives me much less vacation time than i used to have, along with my garden sculpture business that takes up most of the REST of my time! i'm not complaining about either situation, but still i'm not giving my treasured plants the attention they need!


The tomato plants, which used to reach 3-4 feet tall, have ended up in the past two years as scrawny,weed choked, foot tall things that had a half dozen small fruits on them at the most! i just lose track - BUT i am now making a middle of the year resolution to give the veggie garden some TLC this year - i'll update you about this later!

First Seed Swap Of 2010 - How It Turned Out

Why do i swap seeds? Partly because i like to get something for relatively nothing - yes, i do a little work to prepare, but i'm still not handing anyone money for what i get. It's also partly for something to do during the "worst" time of the winter; that is - when it's STILL winter, but you want it to be Spring so badly that it's almost a physical pain.

But a day like today reminds me of why i really do it. It's certainly not wanting to crowd into a roomful of people and having to wait several minutes at times just to MOVE 3 feet! It's because of what kind of people they ARE - gardeners! Almost everyone had the same look in their eyes - here we all are(the day after a snowstorm), surrounded by seed packets, seedlings, plants, plant paraphernalia, and although we do know a new season is very near, an event like this reinforces that promise. Did anyone complain about being crowded? No. Everyone was pleasant, considerate and smiling. We were all given paper grocery bags, and as we collected packets, bags or cups of what we wanted and put them into our bags, several of us could be heard commenting that we felt like we were collecting goodies at Halloween!

Didn't take my camera, but this looks close to our swap - just add about 50 more people into this picture!

Because this, 20 days before the first day of Spring, was a happy day for all of us!

Some of my "take" today, laying in a large cast Tobacco leaf i just finished. That package of black radish seed touts, "Popular Snack With Beer and Dips" - although i got nothing against beer, radishes sure wouldn't be my first choice as an accompaniment! i now have seeds of Resurrection Lily, "Rose" and "Cherokee Purple" tomatoes, an "experimental" variety of snap bean, and "Rattlesnake Master" Eryngium. Plus quite a few red Canna rhizomes that i promised i would get for my friend Diana, who is still recovering from cancer treatment, and, as a result, probably hasn't got the best of immune systems and i'm sure wouldn't have wanted to get into a crowd like that!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like.....MARCH?!

i love my job! I'm wrong most of the time, and i'm still well paid. i can make errors weekly, even daily, and nobody cares! Oh, wait, that's not me - that's our weather forecasters! (Although it COULD describe my General Manager at work....but i digress..).

 i've been looking forward to the seed swap tomorrow, so three days ago they were telling us we would get about an inch of snow today and it would be partly sunny tomorrow. Well, it ain't working out QUITE the way they predicted - it has snowed 4-5 inches today alone, and it's showing no signs of stopping! Then the weather folks are getting sneaky lately - they won't say, "This storm may generate 6-8 inches of snow". No, NOW they tell us, "It should snow 1-2 inches.....today. THEN 2-3 inches.....overnight. THEN 1-2 inches.....tomorrow morning"! If you're not listening very closely you'll end up VERY surprised!

At least the days are longer - the landscape lights are starting to come on before it gets dark!

i was shoveling this evening with a Robin complaining to me from the crabapple tree - didn't i just mention Robins coming in just before a big storm? Don't worry - a little snowstorm won't stop ME from a seed swap! Maybe it will deter all but us diehard gardeners...

First Seed Swap Of 2010

As i've whined about before, our area does not host many seed/plant swaps. BUT, there are a few, and this one is a good one! Held in previous years (this is the 6th annual) at the Toledo Botanical Garden at their Conference Center, it has grown enough that it has outgrown the space, and we seed swappers would wait, packed in tight corridors like

livestock (mooooo?) just to have the chance to push and squeeze past other seed hungry citizens to glance at the varied packages of seeds or bulbs or baby Kalanchoes (those would be mine!) and possibly find a little treasure or two. So this year i was happy to find out that they

have expanded quite a bit, and moved the swap to a new location! The Ward Pavilion is very nice - i have been there in the past during their Xmas Craft Bazaar with my cement leaves. Maybe we'll have breathing room this time!

If you are in the Toledo area, stop by! i have copied the particulars below. But, as i have said before, you really should BRING SOMETHING TO SWAP! They will let you pick up some seeds if you don't, but i really think that's inappropriate and inconsiderate! We swappers collect our

own seeds, package them up, write or print up instructions, and transport them there - that's a lot of work! Plus the folks at the Gardens also collect and compile thousands of packets of seeds for our planting pleasure, and volunteers put in a lot of time to coordinate this swap. Even if you're a newbie, there's no reason you can't go to your local hardware or dollar store and grab a few packets of flower or veggie seeds to bring. It's only fair!

One small disclaimer - i am not speaking for the Botanical Gardens - my opinion (about bringing something to swap if you're going to participate) is mine alone. The Gardens advertise this as totally free, i just feel, as someone who has been in a lot of seed and plant swaps, that, really, if you go to a swap, it's not a giveaway - it's a swap!

So here's the poop:

(Please note, the Seed Swap will be held at the Ward Pavilion, Wildwood Metropark and the workshops will be held at Toledo Botanical Garden)

Seed Swap

Saturday, February 27, 2010

12:00 - 3:00 PM

Wildwood Metropark

Ward Pavilion

5100 W. Central Ave.

Toledo, OH 43615

Free and open to the public!

Diversify your garden by exchanging seeds and learning new skills! No

matter your gardening ability, you’ll enjoy the chance to interact with other gardeners, while swapping favorite seeds.

Live entertainment by the Root Cellar String Band and activities for kids!

Workshops

Saturday, February 27, 2010

at Toledo Botanical Garden

10:00 - 11:30AM From Plant to Plate: Easy, Tasty Vegetables to Grow

(TBG Conference Center)

10:00 - 11:30AM All About Gourds (Children’s Ed Building)

10:00 - 11:30AM Bugs & Birds in the Garden (TBG Conference Center)

1:30 - 3:00PM A Creative Approach to Herbal Gardening (Children’s Ed

Building)

1:30 - 3:00PM Troubleshooting Your Vegetable Garden (TBG Conference

Center)

1:30 - 3:00PM Container Gardening (TBG Conference Center)

3:30 - 5:00PM Preserving the Harvest (Children’s Ed Building)

3:30 - 5:00PM Gourmet Vegetables for Fun & Profit (TBG Conference

Center)

3:30 - 5:00PM Raising Chickens (TBG Conference Center)

***

! RANT !- PLANT SWAPS

i have attended quite a few plant and seed swaps in my day, at least, as many as i can find (alas, this is not a popular area for gardening enthusiasts)! But there are some things that bother me...First off, if you want plants or seeds and show up at my garden, i will probably give you more plants than you can carry away! We gardeners are like that. But, when i attend a SWAP (i.e., TRADE), i expect everyone to bring something in exchange for the other items they are interested in. Well, in my city, the plant and seed swaps also welcome people who bring nothing to swap (and there are many folks around here who want something for nothing), i believe primarily to promote this wonderful hobby/lifestyle, which i am all for. So i am happy to see folks show up who are beginners, or people who just don't want to bother to bring anything, that is, IF there is a time period provided for the 'swappers' to swap first -the ones who actually have dug the plants up, divided them, potted them, watered them and labeled them, and/or collected seeds, dried them, packaged them, labeled them and transported them to the swap! That is a lot of work, but for the possibility of finding something cool or rare or pretty at the swap, it's worth it to me.But don't show up with nothing, run in ahead of me and grab the only variegated lilac, or Butterbur,or speckled violet that i had been looking for, when you don't even know what it is and didn't do anything to warrant your having it! Plus most beginners don't realize that if two or three of you want one plant, most of them can be divided! But the "something for nothing" people just grab a huge bag of Cannas or grasses and run, not realizing that a lot of gardeners just bring them in that way, thinking everyone will take a part of them. So it has bothered me enough that i have contacted the people who organize these swaps and given them my opinion on this (whether they wanted it or not- LOL).

AND it always seems like those are the people who complain the most- "Oh, it's awfully crowded", "Why doesn't this have growing instructions?", "This is an older packet of seeds, someone's trying to rip us off!" All actually heard from a young (non swapping) couple near me at the last swap!

Please, if you don't have plants or seeds and want to go to a swap, at least go to the local dollar store and buy a few packets of seeds, or ask a gardening neighbor if they have anything extra you could bring. It's only the considerate thing to do.