What kind of gardener are you?

Definitely like you! When I get up in the morning, it to a cup of coffee on the deck, walk with the dogs and then
to the gardens.

People come and visit, we have coffee/tea, I go back to the flowers or the concrete work.
The end of the day arrives, time to get ready to go to bed and I see myself in the mirror: I forgot to brush my hair this morning, wore my t-shirt inside out, have mud, sand or whatever on my clothes!!!

And I will probably do it again tomorrow, because once I get on the deck in the morning and look around, I HAVE to get there and move or ….

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

and some people love the manicured gardens and others like the wild naturalized looking gardens…

is there a right /wrong? Nope – but there is the people watching benefits. LOVED your story.

and me? I’m just a country girl, enjoying my own little world. Don’t care what I look like; don’t care about getting dirty… don’t care if my yard is perfect…. ...

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

My feelings and yours are quite in harmony Ms Debbie
I admire the beautiful gardens, I admire the small gardens…sometimes it makes me wonder where I picked up this sickness..LOL, we are expanding this year, another 4000 sq.ft….woe is me..LOL

-- Old Pharmer Phils Country Living Phorum - http://pharmerphil.proboards37.com

hahaha sounds like fun :D

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Yah, I too am like you …

First thing in the morning I have to decide where I want to be … outside or inside; usually there is NO contest, of course outside. I put on the gardening “uniform” ... a comfy, old torn pair of pants, tank top and my trusty straw visor that could get up and walk away from all the sweat!! (what a vision of loveliness, eh??!!)Grab my cane and head out to my shed where all my tools, gardening gloves, dirt and the gardening bench my husband made me that allows me to get to the ground “live” and load up my old rusty “wagon”. I’m off and in heaven … spending the day “sweating like a pig” and enjoying every moment of it!! Time just flies and before I know it hubby is home from work … he takes one look at me, laughs and says, “had a good day did we!!”

I did find my neighbor lady watching me one afternoon from her deck … she said, “you make me tired just watching you”. I just laughed.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Love it GrandmaT, had a salesman stop one day, me, adorned in my best “ragged” pair of work pants, sweaty, dirty shirt and tattered straw hat and tool belt, greated him and offered iced tea, he declined, BUT…I think he about left me a donation.

My single pocket tool belt...
That once held my hammer, pliers, tape measure,etc. it now holds all the things I need in the garden, and a phone…should I KEEL over in the garden and have to summons 911

-- Old Pharmer Phils Country Living Phorum - http://pharmerphil.proboards37.com

heheh look at that cute little farmer smiley :D

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Well I guess we are all just alike. I look so ratty in the spring all the way through fall. I even bought a pair of bib overalls for winter. Just got back from a trail walk in the mud and snow. I can’t imagine a day go by I am not covered in dirt and my husband decides to take me and my little one to dinner. Yikes people must think I am crazy. Thank goodness for deodorant and a quick change of clothes. Dirt is the magic elixor I crave even in winter.

-- wjl - 5a Indiana

Dirt is the magic elixor … yup, that about sums it up doesn’t it. :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Hehehe…I guess we are all a bunch of “down to earth” gardeners :)

Speaking of deodorant…Not to grose anyone out here, although with conversations of bugs, grubs, slugs, dirt and manure I doubt I will but I have a god awful stench with a great likeness to cat urine when I sweat, probably because I eat so much garlic and onions…Anyway I am not a fan of antiperspirant as it actually stops you from sweating and I think it is a natural thing to detoxify…anyway for years I tried deodorants and all were the same…reapply, reapply, reapply only to still smell sweat and awful deodorant smell.

Anyway when I went to all organic products I thought oh gee what will I use, I concocted cornstarch herbal powders, all with about the same results as the deodorant, anyway my mother put me on to the natural mineral deodorant stone…I figured how can swiping a wet rock under my arms do any good…Well it apparently kills bacteria naturally that causes odor yet allows you to naturally perspire without clogging sweat glands…Anyway once daily after my shower keeps me from smelling all day :)

Thought all you sweaty gardeners may like to know :)

And they literally last for years…I’ve had mine for about 3 years now.

Heres a link to one: Stone

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

Well I am certainly one of those gardeners that doesn’t worry about what I wear/look like. I do gardening work/mowing/weeding and all the basic non professional work for alot of people in my little town and I have to figure out how to tend my garden in whatever time I can find to work it and the energy too. When the spring comes I am mowing and weeding and weedeating all day long seven days a week so I have to just take off a day when I can spare it. But it is doing what I like to do so that’s worth something. I would like to do a more organized garden this year than last plus I have some plants I have cloned to place around the yard. My garden is small but expanding continually I’m hoping. One thing I have learned if nothing else is how good it can feel to sweat and get dirty doing something in the garden.
I have alot of plans and mayby I will get the pointers I need to do some of them sometime from your projects. And eventually I might post a project myself.

-- gardening in extreme northern CA. zone 7 in the beautiful Siskiyou mountains

I think this site is going to inspire us to do a lot of things that we haven’t tried in the past..
re: sweating—yah, it’s my favourite way to exercise! :)

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

You are right, you sure do have to be careful of that summer heat in the desert or out “that way”. And YES, I do image that pool is a welcome sight after tending to the garden in that sun! :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

sounds like heaven .. tomatoes, pool…....

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

my friends call me the barefoot garden sprite. When rototilling the aisles I have on my typical sweat pants and tank top, and barn runners. My 3’ of hair is wrapped up in some form of a bun because I hate it sticking to the back of my neck. Once the tilling is done, i enjoy myslef more. Shoes are the first thing off. some touch ups with the cultivator or hoe. Why no shoes? simple, fresh tilled soil is the nicest stuff to walk in. Also you can tell qualities of your soild without getting on hands and knees to look at. Plus (and this is my ultimate favourite), as I work on say standard tomatoes, pinching side shoots, removing bad fruit, putting vines up the holders, my feet are working the ground by the plant, pulling weeds that i might have missed or breaking up clumps…just handy ;)
Sib ;)

and I just thought it felt good

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I am sooooooooo enjoying this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

You, like the lil gardener smilie MsDebbie, thank You

Hmmm, never mentioned the barefoot thing…probably should wait till after I shut the tiller down …huh..LOL;
However, I also carry a file in that pouch, and give my hoe(s) a couple licks at the end of every row…So, one false move and I’m “Phour toed Pharmerphil”

-- Old Pharmer Phils Country Living Phorum - http://pharmerphil.proboards37.com

if you don’t go barefoot your shoes get full of dirt! So I always kick mine off.. no matter how chilly the dirt is.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Actually wear the flimsy sandals all summer long: protecting the bottom of my feet while still being in the dirt.(we do live in the woods)
Really hard in the fall to go back to wearing “shoes”

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

now.. the woods.. I’d be wearing rubber boots … don’t like those slitheries.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I know, not very secure:hubby and kids give me heck~!
But what the heck…I like it that way!

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

ewww…barefoot…brings back bad memories of the two times I drove rusty nails up through my foot on our old property…and mind you I was wearing sandles.

The first time it happened DH was down the garden about 250ft away at his fathers house I was trotting along then….excruciating pain! I dropped to the ground with my sandle bolted to my foot…seeing DH down the garden I started waiving and calling to him lying on my side on the ground…He smiled and waved back several times…for some reason he thought I was just being silly or “cute”.

Anyway about 20 minutes later he sauntered up and realized what happened…went to the hospital whre they cut out the peice of sandle that was stuck into the bone of my foot…with NO anesthetic…not even a local spray…ouch! Talk about working up a sweat, DH was sweating just watching the agony….

Anyway, I never learned my lesson and continued to wear my holey sandles in the garden, this time DH was on a business trip and I drove a smaller nail into my foot…dreading the hospital fiasco I decided to just pull it out myself and put a bread poltice on it for the night…Woke up the next day with a blue line going up my leg….Blood poison!

From now on it’s steel shank boots for me in the garden…for sure…sweaty feet but at least they are safe :)

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

ouch…
ouch…
ouch…

hmmm I see a nice business here, I think… steel bottomed sandals…

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Well I left off on my earlier comment that I am ALWAYS barefooted … thought I would get called “crazy” ... nice to know I’m not!!!! Love the feel of dirt between the toes … :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Same here!

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

If you don’t lose 5 pounds in the tub after gardening, you haven’t had fun!
:-)

-- Robin282, Zone 7, SE Coast of MA, USA

Wow.. I admire the woman.. She must be a great gardener only having 3 weeds vs. your 10lbs?!

You need to get yourself some of those fancy plastic tools! :D

I’ve got to get myself a pair of those gloves though.. My hands are getting rough.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

XPLganics

many moons ago my brothers and I were horsing around on the barn roof (just boys)

Thomas lost his balance

he fell off the roof and we (4 other brothers) watched him impale himself, almost crucified himself in the doggystle shape and in fact…......thats what he did.

We had a rule back then. Whoever touched the ball last had to take it home so we pitched the ball at him and the poor bastard not only had holes in all four feet….......he had to take the ball home too.

as per the original question

I love things that smell as nice as they look so I’m the kinda a gardener that makes things look nice and smell good.

-- Central northish Ontario

Smart one Scott…However, Her garden is about 8 sqft and mine is 20,000 :D

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

I keep getting nagged at, to put on gloves when am in the yard, like last night when I was out front planting my new purchases. I just find that when I have the gloves on, it inhibits what am doing

-- Hooked on Gardening.....Ontario zone 5b

Hey B.
I completely agree with you: you have to feel the dirt!!
The only problem: my nails never seem to get completely clean all summer!And hand cream companies just love me!!!:-)

-- Eklectic, Follow my Bliss, South East Ontario 5a

what are gloves? :)

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I do admit…I wear gloves.

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

I just wore gloves to pick up some rocks from under the pine tree … those needles are sharp.
but the gloves really did make the job twice as difficult and time consuming.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I’ve got Chinese Chestnuts in the front yard.. I’ll be picking up gloves this year indeed.

If you’ve never had an encounter with a Chinese Chestnut, imaging a golf ball with hypodermic needles sticking out ALL around it, which have tips that break off.

They’re not bad green, but if you miss picking up any that dry and fall, it hurts.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

I used kitchen tongs last fall to pick up the nuts :)

How big are the chestnuts? Ours had about 3 in each and they were quite small according to my mom/ aunt.
But we roasted them over the fire and if done right they were tasty.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Scott, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Chinese Chestnut. Ouch … and imagine if one were in bare feet!

Fruit does look good.

-- blooz 5b - You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. ~author unkown

oooo is that Castanea mollissima? I would love some seeds from that.

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

Hmmmmm, I am with you Blooz, can’t say I have seen one of those before either. Nasty looking seed for bare feet, I agree!

But the roasting over a fire sounds good … :-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Here is more info on it:
Castanea mollissima

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20

Thanks X ….. interesting read.

-- blooz 5b - You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. ~author unkown

Xploreorganics, that’d be them. Three large trees in the front yard some 40-50’ high I think? Guestimating.

Anything else of mine you want seeds from? ;)

MsDebbieP, about the size of my thumb, err, the end of the digit that is. 3 to a pod. Didn’t have many at all last year because of the cold snap which killed the blooms on dang near everything.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

Capturing on a comment above

Yes we are just ordinary people with all so much in common” the love of gardening”

If we don’t get dirty we aren’t true gardeners

My mother always said when I was a kid, we have to eat a peck of dirt before we die. lol,lol

I didn’t know it would 1000 pecks tho

-- NS Zone 5B 200 KM East of Halifax cheers Bunting------Having a place to go – is a home. Having someone to love – is a family.

I would say I’m an “in the middle” gardener. While I would never in a million years wear fancy clothes to dig in the dirt, I do have a pretty, red sunhat. I have a weakness for all things red.

I will also admit to wearing gloves, depending on what I’m doing and what I’m working with. Trying to rip out Chinese Lantern (a sisyphean task) in the spider infested garden? Gloves. Working in the perpetually wet, slug and snail infested area of the other garden? Gloves. My hands are twitching just thinking about it.

However, since my yard is very small, it’s very hard to get really dirty and sweaty. That really only happened when we were doing large, overhaul-type projects.

-- Former plant killer. Current plant damager.

Sounds like she was having fun.

Sometimes, I want to get into the garden so fast when I get home I forget to take off my business clothes. I’ve ruined more pairs of good shoes than I can count.

I’ll wear gloves when I have a chance of getting some irritating plant saps on my skin, or when handling gross yucky stuff.

I’m often out in the garden immediately after work, picking weeds in my work clothes. Bad habit!

My yard is also very small, but there always seems to be enough work to get dirty and sweaty! LOL…

-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit

hhmm….I must be paranoid. Steel toed boots, jeans, gloves.

I’ve gotten into work habits from carpentry and working with power tools. I don’t even wear my wedding band anymore.

I’ve had my PTO grab my pants and pull my leg in, I’m forever sticking my hands in circuit breaker boxes (hence no wedding band), a three or four hundred pound plow, bush hog, chainsaw, moving logs around, etc. above my toes, grease, fuel, etc., I pretty much need to dress for work.

I suppose if I’m just tooling around the gardens I could change but I can’t change back and forth every time I move to something heavy duty.

The wifey unit complains about how I ruin all my pants and tee shirts (cheapest jeans and tee shirts I can buy.) I suppose I could wear nice clothes and ruin them instead?!?

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist......Zone out....(USA 5)

Well Catspaw if I were doing the type of “gardening” you are doing, I would be “suited up” as well. Better to come in with all your essential parts still entact, I say!!!! ;-)

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

yah, I’m with you – big equipment, big gardening wear!!!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)