7 random garden facts

Over a month ago, Kitt at "The Kittalog" tagged me to do a "7 Random Garden Facts" meme. (And you didn't believe procrastination was my worst habit!) I'm not sure why, but this has been a hard one to do. So I'm just going to write 7 things that jump into my head right now, and that will be that. Kitt - thanks for tagging me - I probably seemed like a natural for this meme - but evidently, not so much!!!!

Early this summer, we were out on the boat one day cruising the shoreline, looking at houses and yards. I said something like - but why don't these people do gardens???? Without missing a beat, Mark said, "Maybe they have lives." OUCH! But yes, my first garden fact is that if you're really into it, gardening takes a heck of a lot of time.

Nothing has to stay in one place forever. An alternate definition for gardening could be: moving things around in one's yard. I have some plants that move yearly - some gardens that undergo complete renewals every year or two... you get the picture. I love that if you goof or change your mind or whatever, you can grab a shovel and do it over!

Gardeners love to share their gardens. They love to have people walk through their gardens and ooh and ahh over everything. They love to talk gardening. If you garden, you can strike up a conversation based on gardening anywhere in the world. This is the primary reason I started blogging - to have people ooh and ahh over my gardens. :)

And, they love to share their plants. Plants always need dividing, etc, and most gardeners are thrilled to share their extras. My experience has been that gardeners are very generous.

Being able to grow plants in the dirt outside does not necessarily mean you can grow plants in little pots in the house. Indoor and outdoor gardening are two very different talents.

The more you play in the dirt, the more confidence you will have in your abilities to garden. Most of my gardening friends and I have acquired our design talents from doing. (I'm not actually claiming that I have talent, but I'm better at figuring out what I want than I used to be.)

When we first moved in here, we had an almost totally shady yard. I grew up on a farm. My mom's gardens were total sun. So I went to a small nursery near our home and asked them to design a shady garden for me. The gardens themselves are long gone, but I still have some of those plants - snakeroot, turtlehead, geranium, Jacob's ladder, lungwort - things I didn't even know about when I started. Everyone has to start somewhere, and it's okay to get some help.

And, because I took so long to do this meme, a freebie: Rototillers (and the men who run them!) are a gardener's best friend!