5 2009-08-24T00:33:02+08:00 false Hello, I'm Heidi and I'm a Lazy Gardener. As I sit looking at my over-grown, under-developed, and under-fertilized plants both in my garden and in my containers, I had to finally admit, I'm a lazy gardener. I think several factors (or excuses) have come in to play this year. 1) An unusually wet and cool late spring and early summer. Even for Maine, it was unusually damp, cool and overcast. Not only depressing, but it made it difficult to plant, tend to, and maintain any kind of normalcy with my plants. 2) I've always had issues with figuring out how much to fertilize. So this year, I just threw in some granular, time-release fertilizer into all of my containers when I was planting. Not sure that was the wisest thing to do, especially with all of this rain. But that's the only time I have fertilized, other than spreading compost in the big garden. 3) Weeds have just finally "won" in the big garden. I gave up a long time ago on the weeds. Because it was so damp, and we sold our truck, we never got the two loads of black bark mulch that we usually do. As a result, the weeds have had free-reign. From a distance it looks like a nice ground cover. Up close....umm...not so much. Just too lazy. 4) Since the season started so late, and now is the time when I'm busiest at work, by the time I get home, I'm too tired to do any gardening and it's just far too buggy at that time of day in the garden. I hate to even water because the horse flies and mosquitoes are just horrible. Again...that's just being lazy. 5) Since we built or new deck last year, I had grand plans for multiple container plantings and very lush garden surrounding me out on the deck. The tree rose I planted has been so water-logged and now bug-ridden, it hasn't even produced one flower. It suffered major damage in many of the wind and rain storms we got as well. The tomatoes have also suffered in the wind and rain and because I didn't prune the plants earlier, they are now tomato TREEs. They're producing fruit, but nothing has matured to red yet....but continue to fall off the vine in storms. The other flowers I planted are flowering, but are now looking very sad. My massive amounts of parsley are now going to flower because I haven't been out to keep them trimmed and my basil is just looking very sad. I think I just planted far too much on the deck and then down on our docks to maintain them. Next year, I'll try to keep things more in-line with my limits. Yes, I say that NOW. Come spring, who knows. LOL 6) Since my ruptured brain aneurysm almost 3 years ago, I get very tired easily still and once I get busier at work producing our annual catalog, my energy level (both physically and mentally) is so drained by the time I get home, that even on weekends, I'd prefer to just sit and look at the garden rather than working in it. I either need to hire a gardener, or just not plant to so damn much next year! LOL It's tough when you work at a company that offers free left-over seedlings in the spring from their trials though. I'll need to learn to "just say NO"! Easier said than done that's for sure. 7) I really haven't had the best of luck with vegetables. It's very hit-and-miss with me. I've had SOME success, but can never seem to replicate it the next year. I did get a whopping three cucumbers this year so far and a small batch of spinach and one squash, but other than that...my salad mixes have kind of been a bust. No swiss chard, lettuce and several other things just didn't happen. I think I need to stop and just visit the farmers' markets and stop stressing myself out. Let the experts do it and reward them by shopping at their stands. I still love my flowers best and I haven't been the loyal killer of the Japanese beetles as I have in the past. Just no energy and since they keep coming in, what's the point? They're going to eat my buds if I knock them off into soapy water or not. I've pretty much just given up. From a distance, as I sit on the deck, there is some fabulous color in the garden right now. Orange day lilies are almost done, white daisies still blooming, the echinaceas are flowering, peach & pink roses are blooming and the yellow heliopsis is still going strong. As long as I stay at this distance, I can't see the horrible evidence of my negligence. So, for now....I'll watch from a distance!! Sad...but true. Hello, I'm Heidi and I'm a Lazy Gardener. 2 false 3 67385 false false false Entry 2009-08-23T12:00:00+08:00 DMY Public 2009-08-24T00:33:02+08:00 1075 77 F