This came to me through Mike McGroarty's email. I found him on the web a while back while I was searching for hostas. He has some interesting stuff and I enjoy his you tube videos. I thought this was a funny little note. I hope you enjoy it! You Know You're Addicted to Gardening When... Your neighbors recognize you in your pajamas, rubber clogs and a cup of coffee. You grab other people's banana peels, coffee grinds, apple cores, etc. for your compost pile. You have to wash your hair to get your fingernails clean. All your neighbors come and ask you questions. You know the temperature of your compost every day. You buy a bigger truck so that you can haul more mulch. You enjoy crushing Japanese beetles because you like the sound that it makes. Your boss makes "taking care of the office plants" an official part of your job description. Everything you touch turns to "fertilizer". Your non-gardening spouse becomes conversant in botanical names You find yourself feeling leaves, flowers and trunks of trees wherever you go, even at funerals You dumpster-dive for discarded bulbs after commercial landscapers remove them to plant annuals. You plan vacation trips around the locations of botanical gardens, arboreta, historic gardens, etc. You sneak home a 7 foot Japanese Maple and wonder if your spouse will notice. When considering your budget, plants are more important than groceries You always carry a shovel, bottled water and a plastic bag in your trunk as emergency tools. You appreciate your Master Gardener badge more than your jewelry You talk "dirt" at baseball practice. You spend more time chopping your kitchen greens for the compost pile than for cooking. You like the smell of horse manure better than Estee Lauder. You rejoice in rain...even after 10 straight days of it. You have pride in how bad your hands look. You have a decorative compost container on your kitchen counter. You can give away plants easily, but compost is another thing. Soil test results actually mean something. You understand what IPM means and are happy about it You'd rather go to a nursery to shop than a clothes store. You know that Sevin is not a number You take every single person who enters your house on a "garden tour" You look at your child's sandbox and see a raised bed. You ask for tools for Christmas, Mother/Father's day, your Birthday and any other occasion you can think of. You can't bear to thin seedlings and throw them away. You scold total strangers who don't take care of their potted plants. You know how many bags of fertilizer/potting soil,/mulch your car will hold. You drive around the neighborhood hoping to score extra bags of leaves for your compost pile Your preferred reading matter is seed catalogs And last but not least: You know that the four seasons are: Planning the Garden Preparing the Garden Gardening ~and~ Preparing and Planning for the next Garden -Author Unknown, I'd love to give credit to the rightful author.
I can lay claim to 20 of these 'gardening conditions' even the one about the non-gardening spouse learning botanical names.
We recently went to the funeral of one of my husband's co-workers (not a close friend, barely knew his name). While we were in line for the "viewing" my husband whispered, "Don't you dare ask what they are going to do with the lilies after the funeral!" I've never been that crass. I usually just wait until everyone leaves the cemetery . . . .
I resemble alot of those remarks! But this one is totally "me". "You always carry a shovel, bottled water and a plastic bag in your trunk as emergency tools."
"You always carry a shovel, bottled water and a plastic bag in your trunk as emergency tools." Yep that's me BUT I also have a pair of secateurs and a trowel as you never know what you might come across whilst out and about. I'm going to pass this on to some of my gardening buddies. I can see them nodding as they read through the list and muttering ... I do that ... just as I did!!
Yep, I can relate to most of that. My children's sandbox is now a raised bed. My car can hold at least 10 bags of bark mulch, and 20 soil bags. Yes, I bought an estate two years ago. My sedan wasn't big enough. I loathe clothes shopping! Nurseries are fun. Not only my husband, but also my children know a few Latin plant names... And when asked about my garden, I rant on until I see the people's eyes glazing over. I've already posted a photo of my hands. 'nuff said.
