The REAL 50ish group...4/26/20

We don't have a garden, as we live in a 5th floor apartment. We do have boxes that hang on the balcony railings, and we plant a herb garden there every summer. Usually, we'd have it in by now, but garden centers have been shut here until last week, and DH said yesterday was just crazy when he drove past, so he's hoping to go in one afternoon during the week.
There is a Farmer's Market directly across the street from us in a small pedestrian mall every Saturday morning, and there are also wonderful fruit and veggie stands on the street near my regular supermarket every day.

I grew up on.a farm with a mom who grew pretty much all our vegetables and fruit. And had extensive flower gardens too.
I was the one in the house, reading a book, while my sister was out helping her (in fairness, I did the laundry and that included ironing).

I do, however, love flowers, lots of flowers, so my husband and I did a lot of annuals in pots and hanging baskets. And we put in bushes and flowers, many with the help of my mom, after we built this house. We added a new flower bed in the back yard the summer and fall before Vince died. And I’ve added more bulbs and things to it since then.

Several years ago my husband really got into ornamental peppers. They provide as much or more color as flowers and are really cool. He grew a bunch of different kinds from seeds with an indoor setup I got him for Christmas. He harvested peppers for seeds, and we gave packets of them out at his Celebration of Life, so other people are still planting "his" peppers. My seedlings are looking really good this year, under the grow lights. They will be great in some of the flower pots, as we’ve done for years.

Now I’m looking at Aerogardens after reading about them here. I’m really interested in being able to have things like fresh cherry tomatoes, maybe salad greens - without the hassle of outsmarting the critters that are abundant in my neighborhood. The previous neighbor had to put up fencing to foil the deer and rabbits.

We do have a great Farmers Market, and lots of smaller ones, but I haven’t gone as much in the last few years. And honestly, I don’t know yet how they are going to handle distancing at the big one.

Dh is our gardener. The last couple of years it has been only tomatoes and watermelon. This year he plans to go back to planting corn as he used to do and a few other vegetables.

I put out some flowers on my front porch. Planning to get these this week. The last of the cool night is usually gone by late April. I have a two large hydrangeas and several peonies for cut flowers. I love to have cut flowers in the house as much as possible in the summer.

We also grow gladiolus, my favorite flower. I counted today and we have at least 65 of last year's bulbs up and DH planted a few more. Sometimes he plants them and sometimes I do. I buy vases at the dollar store or Goodwill and take arrangements to some friends and shut ins. This year I suppose I'll just have to call ahead and leave the vase on the porch.

We get lots of fresh local fruit and I freeze it for smoothies year round.  Just checked and our strawberry farmer plans to have berries to sell in about a week.  She is doing a drive through stand this year and has asked us to pay by card rather than cash.  She included a link to a video by the agriculture extension office where she shared what they are going to keep everything sanitary and safe. It was very reassuring.  She hasn't said anything about 'pick your own' so I'm guessing they aren't doing that this year.

I enjoy container gardening, it's an accessible way for me to garden with my physical limitations.

I grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers. This year I didn't do much because it looks like our move is actually happening. But I got into houseplants instead because they can be moved easily.

After we move, I'm having raised beds built behind the house. So I can sit on a stool or upside down bucket to work them.

I'm kind of so-so on farmer's markets. I really like rural farm stands and pick your own farms. We're moving a mile from a small farm with pick your own berries and a farm shop. I'm "meh" on artisanal markets. Fun to browse and maybe pick one or two things, but otherwise out of my budget. I'm not going to patronize the artisanal market near where we're moving anyway because they were entitled brats over refusing to close for Covid-19 even though the county asked them to because they draw such big crowds. They felt that being food providers they were considered essential and said they would legally challenge the county if they were forced to cancel any March and April weekends. So they made the vendors set booths farther apart, but it was still shoulder to shoulder people crowding around them from the photos I saw.

*off topic but... I'm kind of disappointed in a few small businesses I was really looking forward to patronizing after we move. Refusing to close and being really entitled and defiant about it.

We are heading full force into summer. It was in the 90's this week. YUCK! 

My husband loves gardens and we have had them in the past. I loathe them - it's just a big annoying chore for me. 

We don't have a garden now but he has a bunch of fruit trees. We have an orange, apple, 2 cherry, 4 pear trees.