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Post by binnylou on Jun 19, 2021 11:05:56 GMT -5
I’ve arrived at the point where it’s just too much effort with too little result. The peach tree…the tree of beautiful fruit and delicious pies…will be leaving us. I made the decision. It’s at least 1/3 dead and has almost no fruit.
The strawberry bed is going also. I tried. I failed. I give up. I can use that bed for growing something that produces. I haven’t told hubby about this decision. He won’t care…strawberries aren’t high on his food list.
I don’t know how many gardening years I have left, but I’d like them to be more fruitful. I assume that I’m not alone in this…what’s your battle?
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Post by gardendmpls on Jun 19, 2021 22:45:43 GMT -5
Battle was realizing I can't do as much as I used to. This year I hired a young man to do the heavy work. He is a hard worker, enthusiastic and wants to learn. Well worth the money to get everything in shape and is better than giving up the garden. Also paying for cleaning help once a week in the house. another good investment. Should have done it sooner.
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Post by desertwoman on Jun 19, 2021 23:37:11 GMT -5
Miy battle right now is water. The droughts are getting longer and more intense. So I have had to choose carefully what and how much I will grow. I have a couple of raised veggie beds that have been fallow for a couple of years. I may never get them planted again and that's OK.
Another battle is the plum tree. Like your peach tree, binny, it has slowly been dying over the past 2 years. Cant quite give it up yet, though. I pruned out the dead branches (more this spring than last year) and there's less fruit this year (though that could be due to the late freeze). There's lush growth of suckers all around it, however. So it's getting one more chance. Will see what next spring brings...
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Post by binnylou on Jun 21, 2021 13:25:46 GMT -5
Peach tree has been reduced to a muck tub plus a bucket of mulch. 😞
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Post by emmsmommy on Jun 21, 2021 13:47:07 GMT -5
binnylou, I have three older blueberry bushes. One is about 6' tall and loaded with fruit, the other two have never produced or grown much. I need to let them go but like desertwoman, I always seem to give them one more chance. My mind still thinks my body is in it's twenties which causes a bit of distress when I just can't accomplish what my mind thinks I should. I have realized something with my hubby being unable to do much this year--I can't do it all! Thankfully he's able to help with the yard work now but if he would be incapacitated for a long period of time in the future, I'd have to hire someone to help.
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Post by reuben on Jun 21, 2021 17:04:06 GMT -5
I thought this thread was about teenagers.
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Post by binnylou on Jun 21, 2021 18:12:59 GMT -5
reuben, I’m past that stage in life.
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Post by claude on Jun 22, 2021 7:31:45 GMT -5
Ruben...it is. Teen aged minds 😄 older bodies.😀😀 I have decided I may just give up on the big garden too and just make a bed closer to the house. I’m a greedy gardener and this is tough. 😁
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Post by armjr on Jun 22, 2021 7:58:19 GMT -5
desertwoman , My battle right now is water. I've started checking my toes each evening for web growth. Rained again this morning. New round of branches and limbs in the yard. #1 wife has had foot problems for over two years now and is finding the trek up the hill from the garden more painful lately. So much so that she doesn't go down there much. Not much to see down there anyway but a bunch of waterlogged, dying plants. reuben, I wish that just stopped in the teenage years. I've got one pushing forty that can't seem to get his S*** together. There is definitely a hierarchy of battle picking going on there.... As far as the garden goes, I am a lazy gardener. I tolerate a few weeds, and in some cases a lot of weeds. My cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe patch is indistinguishable from an overgrown lot only by the fact that I mow around the outside of it. But if I dig around in there I can drag out more than we can eat. There are those, who, cannot stand anything less than perfectly cultivated rows, weed free, etc., The veggies are stacking up in the kitchen despite the fact that nobody is down there pulling weeds. Weird huh? Alan
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Post by reuben on Jun 22, 2021 8:07:38 GMT -5
As far as the garden goes, I am a lazy gardener. I tolerate a few weeds, and in some cases a lot of weeds. My cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe patch is indistinguishable from an overgrown lot only by the fact that I mow around the outside of it. But if I dig around in there I can drag out more than we can eat. There are those, who, cannot stand anything less than perfectly cultivated rows, weed free, etc., The veggies are stacking up in the kitchen despite the fact that nobody is down there pulling weeds. Weird huh? Long ago I found that even if I don't wash my car every week, it still starts and takes me where I want to go. I don't need the perfect lawn or garden, either. That's, um, work. Ugh to that.
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Post by Latitude33 on Jun 22, 2021 20:14:31 GMT -5
Hard pill to swallow, had to hire a crew of young strong muchachos recently to tackle the overgrown spaces at the casa. Basically, it had become a long drawn out stalemate between me and the weeds. Frankly, given the more recent skirmishes, the weeds were winning the war. I don't consider this an act of attrition on my part, no, this was use of a force multiplier. Take that @#$! yerba malas!
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Post by armjr on Jun 22, 2021 21:37:35 GMT -5
I made a call today to get a young guy (40ish....) to come over and help me with tree trimming. I gotta get somebody else to haul branches while I'm up on the ladder. The climbing up and down is what gets me the most. We may stack a little lumber while he's here also.
Alan
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