Poll | 04/25/2009 12:00 am

Spring is in the air! Tell us: Do you garden?

Read more about: Activity, Dining, Fitness, Food, Fruits, Gardening, Health, Hobbies, Vegetables

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I do veggies, but flowers, flowers and more flowers. Right not the Hot Flash garden is coming into it’s own in shocking pink and fuschia. But also have Shasta Daisies, delphinium, Irish Bells, fuschia petunias, mahogany and peaches and cream nasturtiums, lavender, pink and orange/bronze bulbs, lavenders and sages, Fritillaria, gladiolus, pink Cleome, 17 rose bushes and lots more I can’t remember, anywhere a flower will fit. If I pass by a nursery my car goes on auto-drive right into the parking lot. It is a lot of work, but i love it.

Right now a lot is coming up, but many others wait for their turn. I have timed it that way so that I always have bloom. The summers get so hot and dry here that by mid july everything but the heat hardy flowers looked fried and tired.

The best is watching them grow and bloom, the stretch towards the light and let ladybugs dance on them. The hummingbirds descend and zoom without worry that the nectar will run out. Did you know that hummingbirds have a nectar memory. They know when a blossom has replenished it’s nectar, and the remember which ones are empty. Amazing.

By Frannie Em on 04/25/2009 12:55 am

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I used to have a real ‘English Garden’ in my home in Chevy Chase prior my divorce. I loved it! There were beautiful flowers blooming year round. I also kept many varieties of potted flowers on my porches and patios.

Now that I live in an apartment, there is nowhere to grow flowers. Instead, I purchase potted flowers and plants, and I treat myself to fresh cut flowers [preferably, long stemmed varieties] as often as possible, to appease my aesthetic sensibilities. In fact, having fresh cut flowers in a beautiful vase has become my favorite indulgence.

By Maizie James on 04/25/2009 2:56 am

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we have been at our new place almost a year and we will be planting flowers outside the front door and side of the house. we are in a community where we have to do as the complex says about plants. but i will be planting at least one rose bush and am happy with some of the plants previously planted by the last tenants (we are renters). hopefully i will do a good job as i’ve mostly done indoor plants over the years and am not sure how green my thumb is. so i’m in the other category so far. lol!

By Nancy Pea on 04/25/2009 3:16 am

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I do both veggies and flowers each year and take pride in it. I grew up with a large garden and each spring and summer spent lots of time in it with my parents. Like them, my boys can be found in the garden with me.

By Laurie Deer on 04/25/2009 5:16 am

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Unfortunately, the deer, rabbits and other critters love my garden, too, so I’m limited in what I can plant. I spray with animal repellant, but it doesn’t always help. So I have lots of marigolds, which they won’t touch.

I also grow tomatoes in pots on the patio, and have to cover them with nets and plastic fencing to keep the animals away. But there’s nothing more delicious than eating fresh-picked tomatoes you’ve grown yourself. I also make my own spaghetti sauce, and freeze a batch. I still have a couple of containers from last summer.

By Babette dYveine on 04/25/2009 7:06 am

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Babette! I have a secret weapon that you can use on your ornamental plants! Beat one egg, pour it into a gallon jug of water, then put it outside and let it get good and rotten. Spray this on the plants you don’t want the deer to eat.

We live in a deer area and I am able to grow tulips and day lilies with no problem. I just spray the rotten egg on in the evenings every few days, or after a rain. Once spring is past, they are pretty much "trained" to avoid your plants.

Now if I could just figure out what to do about the tomato hornworms…

By Lila Kuh on 04/25/2009 8:11 am

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Thanks, Lila — I’ll have to try it. I use Bobbex, which helps sometimes, but this sounds like a good idea. Anything you can suggest for rabbits and woodchucks?

By Babette dYveine on 04/25/2009 8:25 am

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Lila - plant marigolds around your tomato plants. They act as a perfect pest repellant! I haven’t seen one of those nasty hornworms since introducing the marigolds.

I love growing my own tomatoes and basil. I have a ‘shelf’ outside my deck that I keep my 5gallon tomato buckets on - I use bungee cords to keep them from falling. My husband came up with the shelf idea because he loves the homegrown tomatoes but didn’t like the space taken up on the deck!

By Green Tears on 04/26/2009 2:59 pm

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I love tomatoes too, Babette. Have you grown tomatoes in those new upside-down hanging growers? I’ve seen them on TV and wonder if it really works. Has anyone tried it?

By Patrice Baldwin on 04/25/2009 10:12 pm

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For worms, try placing crushed eggshells around your veggies. Before tomates ripen, hang red Christmas ornaments on the plants. By the time tomatoes ripen, the birds will have given up. For rabbits, have you tried sprinkling hot pepper around the garden?

By Maggie W on 04/25/2009 8:36 am

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I don’t get out in the yard. We live near the river on the other side of the road. We have snakes. Yeah. And I am deathly afraid of them. I see one, even a dead one and I become paralyzed. And some of them aren’t so little either. I would love to plant tulips on the south side of my new room built onto the house over a year ago, but I can’t bring myself to do that.

I envy those of you that can go outside and enjoy gardening and planting flowers.

By jules verne on 04/25/2009 8:40 am

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Jules - Is there any chance you could have a deck built? I imagine snakes could creep onto a deck ….even one that is only a foot or so off the soil …. but it would give you a chance to garden, at least in containers. And you wouldn’t be taken by surprise by any critter as one is likely to be if the garden is near tall grasses etc. I don’t blame you about your fears - many of us are the same.

By Bonnie Oliver on 04/25/2009 5:53 pm

my husband is going to build a deck off the side of the new hot tub room. but i gave him a break because he spent nearly 9 months working on the big house project a year ago. so when he gets to it he will. however, i just can’t sit outside. my son plays golf in the yard and he said he saw a big black one today, big. and everytime i went out after that i would open my back door because they have been known to come into my garage for shade and then leave. i am sooooo paranoid. my son is 13. he said he held one of those big yellow ones before when the zoo came to visit. the guy down the street, my husband’s best friend, has property up to the river. he showed my son how to put his foot on their head and how to pick them up. they all swim in the river and see them. i wouldn’t dare do that. i think i will just enjoy my enclosed room with the windows and the hot tub and tv and wicker furniture to sit and write on my book and read………………… thanks for the suggestion though…

By jules verne on 04/25/2009 7:39 pm

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Jules - Your plan sounds just fine. Enjoy.

By Bonnie Oliver on 04/25/2009 8:58 pm

are the snakes poisonous? or just garden snakes? if they are just average everyday snakes you might want to get some help for that bad fear you have. b/c only the scarier ones should keep you in and i’m sure if you talked to your local lawn and garden store they could give you some tips on keeping the snakes out of the yard. i would love to have a snake as a pet, but my cats would eat it and the management wouldn’t allow it. most of the time the snakes are usually just as afraid of you as you are of them (of course there is always that one snake that wants to meet you up close and personal. but most aren’t that bad).

By Nancy Pea on 04/25/2009 9:56 pm