About a dozen years ago, I moved to the Midwest from New York State. It all seemed so wonderful at first, the early springs, hot summers and long easy autumns. Container gardening was easy as long as I remembered to water my few pots.
Then, I acquired a house & yard (a husband, children & pets, too). Then, the 2 year drought hit. Gardening in Missouri was no longer so idyllic. I've watched as not only the "cottage flowers" such as Bleeding Heart, wilted away, but also the prairie cone flowers.
I thought about giving up gardening. It crossed my mind to turn the yard into hard packed dirt and just have a barbecue pit. Maybe have one or two planters to go with the bug zapper. (Did I mention the mosquitos?)
But, I've determined that I'll see this gardening through and find a way to have a decent garden without moving out of state or going broke installing a watering system.
3 comments:
I took a Saturday morning class (3 hours) from a Master Gardner recently. The topic was Xeriscaping for full sun gardens. We spent 2.5 hours talking about annuals! I wanted to learn more about perennials and grasses. Bah humbug.
So far my yard is pretty much holding steady. I've never planted very complicated things, though the roses sometimes need watering.
I'm thinking of rigging up a rain barrel with the downspouts to conserve some water. If it weren't so complicated and costly, I'd also figure out some way to recycle some of the "gray water" that goes to waste.
Amrita
Someday I will have a yard so I can put in a small garden. While flowers are nice, I want home grown tomatoes from my garden. My condo garden faces north so I can not grow tomatoes even in a container - not enough sunlight. So I must be content with my potted flowers that I grow. At least when I open the drapes I see color.
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