Are you so addicted to gardening that you've spent 100's/$$$'s this summer for your wonderful enjoyable hobby?

Question

Well congratulations!
I have too, lol~can't think of a hobby more awesome in so many ways to really enjoy life, and there always seems to be something else to buy and PLANT :-D

So what were some of the awesome things you bought, planted in your garden this summer ... so far??

Answer 1

I'd say it's a healthy addiction or more of a love affair really since I have given so much of my vibration to co-create
beauty. It's that time for me to start filling in the empty spaces in some of my pots. I haven't been to the nursery in a while, so I'll be spending some time and money, but I can't wait to see what's new. Right now, I have corn stalks and sunflowers over 20ft high and grape tomatoes. I really enjoyed my pot of echinecea b/c they grew as a fluke from one plant I bought last year. I'll be shopping for ornamental stuff though, which I love b/c it's like painting.

Take care and have fun in the garden!

Answer 2

This is what I've done to my yard since I moved in 2 years ago:

1. Created an 800 gallon pond with waterfall, fish, and plants.
2. Put up 3 sunflower-seed bird feeders, 1 hummingbird feeder, and 1 squirrel feeder, and 1 birdbath.
3. Created a 20' x 3' flowerbed on the east side of my house.
4. Installed a used-brick walkway.
5. Had built a 10' x 30' "cattery" on the back of my house so my 9 cats can go outside without hurting, or being hurt by, the wildlife in my area.
6. Installed a fountain in the cattery and a bubbling urn in my front flowerbed.
7. Brought with me daylilies, irises, monkey grass, sedum, mint, roses, and wild violets from my last home. Some of these plants are over 60 years old and belonged to my great-grandmother.
8. Cleared a large area of my backyard of grass and planted stepping stones and ground cover. No mowing!
9. Planted a redbud tree.
10. Became certified as a National Wildlife Federation Backyard Habitat. No chemicals, no pesticides.
11. Every year I plant tomatoes, onions, and peppers.

I use only rotted cow manure (from my mother's farm) and compost as fertilizer. I share my plants with anyone who shows interest.

My biggest expenditure? Where I live, there aren't many rocks in the soil. I've spent about $300 on stepping stones and boulders for my beds and my pond. Hardscaping is a smart investment--rocks can be moved and don't die!

Answer 3

lol...I had to chuckle at your question! I would definitely classify myself as addicted to gardening. I have often been told by my friends and even the ladies at the nursery where I go for plants that I have OCGC (obsessive/compulsive gardening complex). they even asked if I want a job there!...lol
this year I added a couple of new flower beds to my existing 5. if I go rummaging or to flee markets my mind is always thinking of new ways to show off my flowers. an ex. is this spring I found an old 1920's hard sided suitcase for $2 and I am currently using it as a planter on my front bench (which no one ever sits on) and I used my hubby's old work boots and set them on the ground by the bench and filled them with chick's n hen's and other flowers. I also have an old wood table in the back piled on top are old enamlware pots from the 50's that I turned into planters and display all my annuals that way. for the most part though I have been switching over to perennials in my other flower beds and discovered a huge sale on them at the nursery last week. beautiful established plants for ONLY $2.50 a piece! wooohooo! I was like a kid in the candy store...lol (cone flowers, geum, delphinuim, shasta daisies, russian sage, lavender...oh my!)
I also have a raised vegetable garden...not big...but enough for what we need and this year I planted broccoli and cauliflower for the first time....I had cauliflower the size of dinner plates and so much broccoli I began freezing it in the begining of July. though I have discovered that I am not a pea growing person...those were a bust.
My husband works for a landscaper so we get tons of stuff at low cost and this spring was one of the hardest I have ever gone through....I wheel barrowed 7 1/2 yards of mulch through the front gate to my flower beds and 3 1/2 tons of colored rock for my pathways...hard work, took my 2 weeks to do by myself, but I didn't complain...I enjoyed it! how sad is that?...LOL

Answer 4

Oh yeah!! That's what i did this summer!! I love it. Well I just bought me a Blue Butterfly Bush today, some hibiscus,cannas, Red Ridding Hood plant, Hydrangea, Gardenias, Sun Seekers and a lot more!! But what i like to do is just walk around town and see what i can find. So far I found some Naked Lady Lilies, a small Oleander tree, a small plum tree, some Agave cactus, oh and small Date Palm trees, They were awsome finds. I saved a lot of $$.

Answer 5

There's such an expensive, limited variety of things to choose from at local nurseries. So, I thought I'd get more variety and save some money starting my own seed indoors. I got the variety I was looking for but the cost of H.I.D. lighting nearly broke the bank. Oh well, I guess it will amortize itself out in the coming years. One of my most memorable plants came from the seed of Solanum pyrocanthus aka 'porcupine tomato', I posted pics in one of "my" questions a week or so ago, have a look. RScott

Answer 6

LOL....Talk about a reality check...Yes, I too love it..all of it. My family thinks I am nuts but they do enjoy all the beauty.

This year I planted, impatients, caladiums, oriental lilies, calendula, zinnias, marigolds, verbena, colius, elephant ears, canna lilies, calla lilies, coreopsis, golden pennies, 48 daliahs, 100 glads, petunias, 32 geraniums (all in pots and I get to figure out where in the house to put them this winter), sweet william, yarrow, lavender, gourds, hostas, bearded iris, japanese iris, Wild azaleas, poppies, liatris, varigated ornamental grasses, grape vines, sunflowers (which the goldfinches are lovin' right now), clemetis, scarlet sage, dusty miller, azaleas and I am sure more and more...not to mention all the plant food, mulch, hoses, garden tools and little lawn and garden ornaments...yes it is expensive but my oh my, it is worth every penny.

Now that it is close to fall I get to go back to the nursery and start with all my fall planting soon....spring bulbs, perennials, and shrubs. I can't wait....mums here I come...lol
I didn't want to list all the things in the vegetable garden that would be another long long list too...

Happy Gardening to All of You Plant Lovers Out There

~smiles~
Mely

Answer 7

i am a personal chef so I planted a ton of herbs. Basil, thyme, rosemary ect.... to use in my dishes. I do it every year but this year i planted so many that you can smell the garden from inside the house.

did some flowers and bushed too. its relaxing to me and whats better than picking fresh herbs for dinner

Answer 8

Dirt is beautiful! Episcia, Pilea, Vanilla orchid, gerberas, mini trailing petunias, peacock orchid, celosia, ferns, are just a few of the new kids this year. Alocasia survived the second freeze this spring as did Cyperus papyrus, C. alternifolia, and C. haspan. Lots and lots more. Love my jungle.

happy weeding!!

Answer 9

Its a great hubby for some but no, I have fun watching roomie do the work, lol O and great for the earth