Gardening
Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:13 am
Ummm, looked under the hobbies section for gardening and...... well..... there was'nt one, but I'm sure there are a few people out there that potter around in one of them now and again.....
So here goes....
I have been assisting my parents to move to an assisted living facility for a while due to health problems and the inevitable age issue....
My Dad has always been a very keen gardener, and I spent a lot of time with him working in his show gardens. Later on he spent a lot of time assisting me in my garden when I still had time to have a garden, Due to work pressures and digging boxers, I abandoned the garden for a while. Anyway I have been packing up, renovating and refreshing their home since their move and of course his garden was on my list of things to do. Due to increasing age and health problems he has'nt been able to care for it for a few years so I had quite a job ahead of me.
Anyway it was a treasure chest once I started cleaning it up. Because I am letting their home it needed to be cleaned up and left a basic easy to maintain for tenants garden. So began my garden revival. I can't bear to dig plants up and throw them out and always want to find a home for them.
So my first big treasure was an old blue plastic tub of cymbidiums hidden somewhere under overgrown shrubs in a corner of the garden. My parents were surprised they had survived. Brought them home, bought clay pots, orchid potting medium and repotted them into several pots. They have thrived and I have 2 flower pods ready to bloom in the not too distant future... They are doing well amongst the clivia, aggies, geraniums and azaleas. Also found a couple of bromeliads that I've stuck around the area. The old wheelbarrow I put some of the cymbidium pots in was to be thrown out due to rust holes, but makes a great potholder. I am not keen on hothouses so am growing all the orchids I have collected outside.
So here goes....
I have been assisting my parents to move to an assisted living facility for a while due to health problems and the inevitable age issue....
My Dad has always been a very keen gardener, and I spent a lot of time with him working in his show gardens. Later on he spent a lot of time assisting me in my garden when I still had time to have a garden, Due to work pressures and digging boxers, I abandoned the garden for a while. Anyway I have been packing up, renovating and refreshing their home since their move and of course his garden was on my list of things to do. Due to increasing age and health problems he has'nt been able to care for it for a few years so I had quite a job ahead of me.
Anyway it was a treasure chest once I started cleaning it up. Because I am letting their home it needed to be cleaned up and left a basic easy to maintain for tenants garden. So began my garden revival. I can't bear to dig plants up and throw them out and always want to find a home for them.
So my first big treasure was an old blue plastic tub of cymbidiums hidden somewhere under overgrown shrubs in a corner of the garden. My parents were surprised they had survived. Brought them home, bought clay pots, orchid potting medium and repotted them into several pots. They have thrived and I have 2 flower pods ready to bloom in the not too distant future... They are doing well amongst the clivia, aggies, geraniums and azaleas. Also found a couple of bromeliads that I've stuck around the area. The old wheelbarrow I put some of the cymbidium pots in was to be thrown out due to rust holes, but makes a great potholder. I am not keen on hothouses so am growing all the orchids I have collected outside.