Re: [gardeners] intro
W. Arons (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 27 Jun 2001 15:57:31 -0500
My name is Wendy & I moved to South Bend IN from San Diego CA two years ago
to take a faculty position at Notre Dame (I teach Theatre). I'll bet there
are a couple of Irish fans on this list --I'm not much of a sports fan,
however. I garden organically, at this point almost exclusively
vegetables. We inherited some flowers and landscaping from the previous
homeowners but we haven't done much with it--so for now we have an acre of
mainly lawn with 300 sq. ft. devoted currently to food gardening, on which
we grow whatever takes my fancy from year to year. We have plans to turn
our lawn into something more interesting, hoping to get into a native
landscaping/prairie/meadow type look. However, I don't have a lot of
energy to think about this huge job & am hoping this will be my partner
Mike's project, as I like to focus on the veggies.
I have a 2 yr old daughter, and am 4 mos pregnant w/ no. 2, sex currently
unknown, and we have an energetic Rottweiler mix who goes by the name of
Paco and who specializes in making us crazy. He doesn't eat vegetables
unless they're thoroughly mixed in with raw beef, so I don't have to keep
him out of the veggie beds, and he helps us keep the rabbits out.
Gardening in IN is surprisingly much easier than in Southern California,
and I especially like the fact that 1) it rains & I don't have to water
(what a concept!) and 2) there are several months to just think about it
and plan it. I felt like I was never on top of things in SD, and here I
can build up the desire to garden, expend it in the spring and summer, and
then dream about it again in the very long and snowy winters. Kind of
nice. I do miss the fresh homegrown veggies in winter, though. (And by
February memories of San Diego were making me weep)
Although I've been a committed organic gardener for years, last year I
broke down and "rounded up" the poison ivy--both Mike and I got it bad and
the thought of my toddler getting into it overcame my usual environmental
qualms. But I'll try the pickling vinegar solution this year--thanks for
the tip. But what exactly IS pickling vinegar? Can you get it at the
supermarket or do you need to go to a specialty store? And can you just
spray it on? Do you need more than one application?
OG magazine warns against Roundup--Monsanto's claims to the contrary, it
does wind up in the water.
I'll probably just lurk for a while--we're renovating our kitchen & then
I've got research to do. I enjoy this list alot--none of my academic
friends here are into gardening and they just get glassy eyed when I want
to share...Wendy