Meeting Expenses ...

[digitS']

... I meet them everywhere I go . Some Lazy Thoughts:

But, I'm cheap ... frugal!!! I try making do, making repairs, making up for lost time. All of it makes for some work!

Does going out on a limb and taking a chance on a new gardening technique ever work? Sometimes. I like to learn what others do on HG and see how it plays out for them. Enthusiasm is great - especially if it pushes someone into hard work in a new direction.

It takes the work, altho "trying to work smarter" is a commendable effort. Timing is real important, maybe not "everything" but real important. Time's a-wastin' and most gardener's lives don't turn out to be like Ol' Bullet's, sleeping on the porch while Aunt Loweezy pulls the plow in the garden ... am I leaving anybody out? Spark Plug ?

I say I'm never gonna learn anything unless I can see someone else doing it, but you can only take that so far. Work really is like money and then there's "speculation." Mark Twain said, "There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it, and when he can." Still, youth is the best time, if there is a best time.

Maybe you are a better judge of half-baked ideas. Curiosity overcomes my skepticism. I do see people trying to capitalize on curiosity and there are plenty who will exploit youth and inexperience for money or other considerations.

Steve

[imafan26]

Ahh, time is the most precious commodity we have. We have a limited time on this earth, it should be well spent doing what makes us happy.

It took me 4 hours to put a pivotron on my weed whacker. I was not happy.
I spend and hour watering the yard every day, I get to see the bees working the flowers, birds (eating the neighbor's papaya), lizards looking at me, kill a few snails , inspect the plants, and pull a few weeds. Now, that is calming (no phones allowed in the yard) and relaxing and that makes me happy.

[ButterflyLady29]

Techniques that are new to you or brand new to everyone?

I've occasionally taken a bit of technique from one source and add it to a bit from another. Sure, lots of people use containers to garden in. And I have an area under a tree where nothing grows in the ground. But the area is a slope so setting containers on the ground won't work. I had to install terraces to set the containers on. And add in the shade factor and it gets really complicated. So I did a lot of research and experimentation to see what crops really do well in shade, in containers. If I hadn't tried the container terrace the area would still be a spot in the yard where only violets and ground ivy grow.

As for time, time limitations and restrictions are things a lot of people ignore. Our time is limited. Seasons come and go, the sun rises and sets. We get older and less physically capable. So I look at experimental techniques like this, if I don't try something different then nothing will change.

[digitS']

Techniques that are new to you or brand new to everyone? ... if I don't try something different then nothing will change.

I have had gardens of my own since I was a teenager. Still, it would not be much of a trick to find some techniques that are new-to-me .

I am bound by geography. Some had academic training in horticulture. I didn't. Some aficionados are so far into the details of their interests, it's almost like they are speaking a different language. Subsistence agriculturalists can grow things like their lives depend on it.

Although, I'm not very creative in any artist sense, I have little patience with prescribed dogma. It's about the same with my perspective on what is going on at the other side of the bird. "Lackadaisical" may not mean that they couldn't find a daisy in their garden but - that is the way I'm going to think about it .

Steve

[ButterflyLady29]

I've done a lot of reading about gardening. And I've done a lot of reading about composting. Compost feeds the soil which feeds the plants. But there's many different ways of composting. Some work for me, some don't. I've never been able to maintain a good "hot" compost pile or get a good finished product in less than a year. So I had to find something that works for me. Sheet composting requires more work than I wish to put into it. Even enclosed bins are not real successful for me, they need to be watered and I don't feel like dragging 100 feet of hose up the hill. Wire bins are okay, until the outer leaf layer breaks down and stuff starts falling through the wire. So this year I'm just piling the stuff up in an open corner of the garden. Only time will tell if this works for my situation.

Mulch, or the lack thereof is another trial and error endeavor. Some people mulch, some don't. And mulching material is different for different situations. Some people use leaves as mulch, here they just blow away unless they are in a small fenced garden. My grandma used newspaper and old paper feed sacks as mulch. Todays newspapers are so tiny compared to the ones she used and it's really hard to keep the edges covered so they don't blow away. Feed sacks are no longer made of paper so that won't work. I used cardboard boxes that I got from where I worked. I no longer work there so now I have to find another kind of mulch or another source for cardboard boxes. In my area grass clippings can be used to smother weeds and other grass. However in some areas the grass clippings can take root and cause a weed problem all their own.

Even pest control varies widely between gardens and gardeners. And even then different pests or different weather patterns can cause different problems. I've been battling sawfly larvae the past few years. This is a pest I knew nothing about until a few years ago. They feed mostly on miniature roses and my pink champagne currants. Sure I could eliminate those plants but that's not something I want to do. One year the wasps took care of the larvae and I spent a few hours watching wasps hunting the caterpillars. Another year the birds picked the larvae off my plants. And then this year the sawflies outnumbered the predators. I spent hours picking, drowning and squashing sawfly larvae.

Even the mouse infestation problem has it's variables. Sometimes peanut butter works as bait, sometimes chocolate frosting works better.

Gardening really has no hard and fast rules. And what worked last year may not work next year. There are always variables. There are always successes and failures. And what works in one part of your garden may not work in another. And there are times that you will do everything right and the garden is still a failure. And you could have the most beautiful crop ready for harvest only to walk out and find some critter was hungrier than you.

[digitS']

Not only does it often take 12 months to set ourselves on a better course

...

the environment may be different, one year to the next . Best to try to stay light on our feet.

Steve

[tomf]

I have done some reading and some good tips from you guys. A lot of trial by error, some error but lots of trial! I found that on the scale I work it is best for me to get the real pro tools as the cheaper ones do not work as well, and you buy the good ones on the end.

[imafan26]

I think we all learn as we go. I have killed a lot of plants along the way until I finally either gave up or learned what worked for me. I would not call them short cuts so much as figuring out how to solve the problem.

I use a 50/50 peatlite media because I have to plant for the wet season, or the plants will drown, but that means I have to adjust my summer watering. Some plants don't do well in soil so I have orchids in cinder, baskets, on rafts and in pots with no media. They are doing better than most of the orchids that are planted in media. But, I am also bad about repotting in time.

It took me a while to figure out when to take cutting for propagation. If I take rosemary at the wrong time of the year. 80% will die, at the right time 90% survive. Bay leaves take 5 months to root, it means learning patience and giving them the time they need. I am still working on propagating roses.

I learned not to use a formula for fertilizing but to get a soil test every 3 years or so and make adjustments according to recommendations. It has saved me a lot of money, not buying fertilizer I don't need. I found I did not need to take a soil test every year for recommendations because it doesn't change much in that space of time. I add more compost and that has improved soil tilth. I have tried using organic fertilizers but I found them disappointing. I still use some occasionally, but my soil test indicate I need only a little nitrogen and sulfur so I use sulfate of ammonia for that.

I have learned the value of working with mother nature. I use very few pesticides now, instead I have planted a diversified garden to invite beneficial insects in. I still need to use some pesticides but I try to target specific problems and use the least toxic alternative that works. I am not 100% organic but I try to balance things out. I actually have saved money by not relying on insecticides, encouraging natural controls, and cultivar selection.

The tropics, is a bugs paradise. There is no off season and most of the pests are imported and will remain for a long time. I need to select cultivars that can tolerate heat, nematodes, and fungal disease. I do plant GMO papaya since my neighbors have papaya ringspot virus and they don't cut down their sick trees. Most things I can treat with scouting, rogueing, and spot sprays of alcohol. But things like erineum mites require a short term systemic. Roses are especially hard to grow in the rainy season without systemics, but I use the short term ones when possible and only when needed. Some of the imported pest do not have natural enemies here so they need to be treated chemically or by trapping. I have a few plants that are often targeted so I do have to treat them regularly, but I am not willing to get rid of the plants which would be my only other option.

I do some experimentation, trying different tomato varieties or plants I haven't tried before. Some worked and others did not, but I learned something from everything I tried.

Right now, I don't have much growing in the garden, when I go to the grocery store, it makes me appreciate more the value of home grown produce and herbs.