Gardening at the Daniels House
- posted by: Angela
- posted in: Uncategorized
- on: July 1, 2009
Last month, we Lead Fiskateers had an opportunity to sit with Brent McHenry from Fiskars Garden and learn about gardening tools. It was pretty interesting for a non-gardener like me. Sometimes I approach a hobby from the “it has cool tools” angle so I can see getting into gardening if I had all the right tools for the job. Funny thing is, I was most excited about Fiskars new rain barrel- and I live in the high desert (check out the rain barrel and, my favorite, the animated rain here: http://www.rain-barrel.com/). Anyway, we do garden a little bit at the Daniels house. This is our second year to have a vegetable garden. I put it off for years because I wanted to read every gardening book, build raised beds, have a fully functional compost bin and put 110% into the garden but, jeeze, that sounded like too much WORK. My husband convinced me that we could basically just scratch up a bit of dirt, plant a small amount of vegetable plants and just see what happened. Miraculously, it worked last year. In fact, the kids and I were getting pretty excited to see that we had a few nice-sized cantaloupes going. Our dog Hamlet (who we had just gotten at the local animal shelter a few weeks into our new garden last year) was impressed too, apparently. He’s one of those dogs who is obsessed with playing ball. He’ll actually come and put his favorite tennis ball in our open hand to encourage us to throw it for him. So guess what our baby cantaloupes looked like to him? Just when we were starting to get excited that we had grown cantaloupes, Hamlet ripped them out and ran all over the yard with his new “toys” one day when we weren’t home.
This year, it was my 8 year-old son, Parker, who had a plan. He decided to string empty soda cans around the perimeter of our little garden and add little pebbles to the cans so, in case Hamlet decides to make a dash for our cantaloupes again, he’ll hit the cans, they’ll rattle and, hopefully, scare him off. Now, it may be because Hamlet’s older but, so far, Parker’s plan seems to be working. We’ve had one bird peck at a strawberry but so far, the rest of the garden has been safe. I can’t tell you how many questions I get about our row of cans, though- everyone wants to know what they’re for. I actually think they’re pretty in an artsy-recycled kind of way.
Tifany #5942 says:
July 1st, 2009 at 11:55 amI’m glad you’ve got something to show for your garden. Great idea, Parker for keeping the dog out!
I officially have a black thumb with the garden I am trying to do with the kids. I think maybe we have a stray mushroom or something growing (NOT a green bean or tomato plant like we planted).
Merlene #1166 says:
July 1st, 2009 at 12:46 pmI like Parker’s idea. Wonder if it would work on Javelina?
Michelle 3624 says:
July 1st, 2009 at 3:14 pmLOL Parker that was a great idea for keeping the puppy out and who could blame the poor puppy they would so look like tennis balls. .. Happy gardening to all.
Debby 2852 says:
July 1st, 2009 at 3:30 pmGardening is a Family affair. We have little watermelons!
Christy Tobin #4991 says:
July 1st, 2009 at 4:02 pmLove the reuse concept, tell Parker he is a genius!
maryannehoekman says:
July 1st, 2009 at 4:04 pmwhat a great idea Parker had!!! love the soda can idea! love canteloupe! debby the watermelon sounds great!
Louise #3903 says:
July 1st, 2009 at 4:08 pmwhen your melons get baseball size you can put them on an overturned can (coffee can or soup can whatever) and they will ripen faster plus not be on the ground for bugs etc.
Patty 2262 says:
July 1st, 2009 at 5:05 pmLove the story…great idea from Parker. Hopefully the cantelopes make it this year.
Jeannie #5377 says:
July 1st, 2009 at 7:52 pmI do the same thing to keep the birds out of the field corn! Tell him it is a great idea! Good Luck with a bountiful harvest! And your dh theory on scratching up a little dirt is true! It works!
Vickie#6269 says:
July 1st, 2009 at 8:41 pmWhat a great idea…I wonder if it would keep the raccoons out of my garbage???
Kathleen says:
July 1st, 2009 at 9:47 pmWhat a cute story!! I am an owner of two dogs and one is very much a ball lover too. I could see that happening if that was our garden too. Sounds like you are doing well with your gardening. Keep up the good work.
Julie O. says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:41 amVery puuuurty indeed!! And clever too! LOL!
Veronica Noechel says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:48 amLove the name Hamlet! Too cute! My dad’s dog used to play with oranges from my dad’s tree in the backyard. Luckily, it made plenty for the humans and to be toys for Sassy!
Chrisitne C says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:36 amWhat a clever boy Parker is - our dog decided to eat the top off our Guava tree when he was a puppy - they can be so destructive at times.
Sounds like your garden is going really well.
Betsy #2572 says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:05 amThey do look kinda pretty!!! Great idea!
Lene says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:46 amTeehee! Great idea, Parker!
Hey, did you ever see Dexter with the watermelons when we first got him? Sounds like the same game Hamlet was playing! He’ll still do that, ball crazy as he is. Hope you have a wonderful crop!!!
Patty 2832 says:
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:02 pmI’ll fight ya over that rain barrel ! LOL I love it !
Nothing wrong with scratching up some dirt ! It doesn’t have to be pretty to grow !
Our garden is doing fairly well! We’ve not got TWO cucumbers! We will be having them with dinner !
Lesa #5200 says:
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:31 pmLove Parker’s cans! I think its very artsy.