Extreme Gardening Top Ten

TOP TEN WAYS YOU KNOW YOU ARE AN 'EXTREME GARDENER'

10. People secretly wonder if your husband beats you.

9. Your insurance company raises your rates for too many 'gardening injuries'.

8. You wear a crash helmet while working in the yard.

7. You can point to a scar and name the associated gardening project.

6. You watch old reruns of 'Home Improvement' for ideas.

5. You special order steel-toed crocs.

4. You use a potato gun to take out birds pooping on your patio furniture.

3. You own stock in Bengay and Band-Aid.

2. You shout 'TIMM--BERRRR...' when you cut down your ornamental grasses in the fall.

AND THE NUMBER ONE WAY YOU KNOW YOU ARE AN 'EXTREME GARDENER'...

1. You give your five year old a cell phone to call 911 in case you go down in the yard.


That was inspired by the gardening injury of the day. I will probably have a half-dollar sized bruise on my right cheek tomorrow. While setting up my stick tepee in the sun bed, I reached down to grab my big stick loppers. As I leaned against the base of the sticks, to keep them from falling over. I brought the loppers up to trim off the top of an uneven stick. Somehow, I managed to smack myself in the face with the handles while struggling to cut the large branch. I know...I'm graceful. Anyways....inside the tepee is malabar spinach. At the base of each of the sticks are moonflower seeds. In about a month and a half, it should be mostly covered with both kinds of vines. Hopefully, I will get the large white moonflower blooms this year. Last year, it didn't get hot enough, no blooms formed.

Here is my extreme gardening mentor, with my son. I can only hope that someday my son will carry on the tradition....lol.

Today I planted cucumbers (2 kinds), the tepee stuff, petunias, eucalyptus, red cabbage, and two kinds of tomatoes. There is still made so much to do....my day job is really getting in the way of my gardening. Thankfully, I have only 11 days left to work before I can devote myself fully to the yard. Yay for teaching!