Why do you like to garden?

For curb appeal 76%,  For exercise 50%,  To teach my children/grandchildren about nature 19%,  To grow my own vegetables 37%

Others listed: 

• I just have such pride and joy when my flowers grow beautiful because of the way I took care of them.

• Relaxation

• For my own satisfaction, artistic expression, sheer joy of color and beauty.

• Peace comes.

• Own enjoyment. Look out at pretty plants/flowers. Attract birds.

• Gardening is relaxing to me, I can go outside get fresh air and forget everything else.

• I enjoy being outside and attracting nature, especially birds, butterflies, and hummingbirds to my yard.  Gardening is very relaxing – when I come home from work a stroll through the garden always relieves the tension built up during the day.

• Personal fulfillment

• It’s relaxing and I get such a thrill each spring when the perennials start to emerge.

• Relaxing and it has it's own rewards with beauty

• Enjoy the outdoors.

• Enjoy the different colors and like watching plants grow

• IT'S TOTALLY RELAXING

• Gardening is very relaxing for me.  It’s also something that my children and I do together.  It shows them if they take care of the plants that they grow bigger.

• It's a tension reliever and I just enjoy being around the plants

• I love to play in the dirt and plant flowers I can enjoy later.

• Having grown up with grandparents and parents who garden, it’s something I and my sisters love to do

• For my own old fashioned appeal to memories helping grandparent in their beautiful gardens.  (I’m more lazy)

• I enjoy the sunshine and watching plants grow and where my veggies come from. 

• I like having fresh cut flowers for the porch all summer and fall.

• I've decided it's a safe addiction.

• It’s my hobby in the summer time.  To me it’s relaxing to work in the yard and to see all the flowers bloom.

• Very relaxing – flowers don’t talk back!

• I like to grow food that I enjoy cooking

• Good way to go organic.

• Feel good emotionally when outside digging in the dirt and enjoying the simple pleasures of nature.  Also love watching flowers grow!

• Our deck is so gorgeous in the summer – a lot of our guests marvel at our flowers and arrangements.  My favorite time of the day is at sunset – the colors of the sunset and the flowers, it's pretty awesome.

• Peace of mind. Time for meditation.

• Because I just love it!!

• We live in the city but have a big yard – it’s our oasis.  We practically live outside three seasons a year.  We love to watch wildlife and attract birds year round.

• Enjoy working with plants and designing the layout of my garden plan each year.

• To create a place to “escape” after a day at the office; also it is a de-stressor for me.

• Working in the garden and planting beds is the best way to get rid of all the stress in your life.

• LOVE FLOWERS AND HOW THEY MAKE THE PROPERTY LOOK BETTER.

• Just for the joy of it!

• Enjoyment of planting something, nurturing it, and watching it succeed (mental health).

• Problem areas, hillsides ( so I don't have to mow).

• Just love to see the results of my choices and selections

• To enjoy the beauty.

• The main reason I garden is for the joy it gives me to see that I planted that and I took care of this plant, shrub, tree, flower and it is flourishing and it is beautiful.  To me after a hard day of work it is a way to escape and relax.  I also provide beauty for passerbys who always to stop to comment on how beautiful my yard is.

• It brings me peace.

• My parents always had a huge garden and it just comes natural just being around of my life.

• Gardening and landscaping beautify our home.

• I just LOVE to see the yard change from brown into full blooming color!

• To be closer to nature and relax with the wonderful things God has done in our world.

• I’m not the best gardener.  I do my own thing.  I have a flower bed that I just fill with plants.  It’s just like Grandma had.

• It’s my passion!

• I just love watching flowers grow and I am challenged because perfection is impossible!

• It’s relaxing and lets me be creative.

• Philosophical reasons.

• You keeping a nice selection helps me indulge my ever changing favorites.  I can't grow them all from seed myself.

• Relaxation, sunshine – more gardens, less grass!  Also a fun thing to do with my friend and neighbor

• My mother loved to do it...this is one way I can continue her legacy.

• It's perfect therapy and feeds the spirit and soul

• As an artistic outlet, like some people might paint or knit.  It is a creative endeavor.

• My enjoyment of the plants, and to feed the wildlife.

• To make my surroundings as peaceful and beautiful as I possibly can…the outside world can be a rough place.

• Love to create a unique color scheme all year.

• I love to entertain and relax in my garden.  It gives me another room to enjoy during the warm months.

• Something to do and a sense of accomplishment.

• My mother also is the one who got me started into gardening.  By the way, she is a very great gardener and I am trying to be as good as her.

• The end result as I am relaxing on my porch at the end of the day.

• LOVE to be outdoors!

• I love the care the plants need and the product they deliver in their flowers, shrub colors and textures.  With a little love and tender care gardens display Gods beauty and remind us that we need to care for our little piece of the world.

• HELPS ME RELAX.

• All my worries are put aside.

My 2009 gardening budget amount will be:

The same as 2008 - 50%

More than 2008 - 9%

Less than 2008 - 21%

Not sure - 18%

• Pruning, which I learned at one of your classes.
• Buy potato vines before they sell out.
• Don’t buy hanging baskets too early.
• Don’t let my husband weedwack around the yard.
• Plant more annuals for lasting late summer color.
• Water, water, water.
• The type of soil to use in my containers.
• Better prep of soil.
• Deer will try anything once so I cover the container plants with bird netting.
• To stake tomato plants early and keep up with their growth.
• Place a few veggie plants differently; they were overshadowed and overgrown by larger ones.
• Bedner’s is my favorite greenhouse.
• Always remember to water new plants.
• Be patient and let things multiply.  Our culture tends to want instant gratification.  Try to enjoy the rewards of nurturing plants and watching them grow, especially perennials.  A new perennial bed will fill in and look so different in three years.  There's a saying for that--"The first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and third year they leap!"
• That there are way too many worms in broccoli to make it worth my time to plant it.  We love the organic pesticide line by Pharm Solutions.  Try Veggie Pharm for broccoli.  We carry it at the Greenhouse.
• Million bells—good at the beginning of summer, not so good at the end of summer.  Probably a fertilization or pest issue.  Miniature petunias require a lot of fertilizer, especially late in the season.  They are also prone to aphids.
• Don’t wait until it’s too late to start any clippings for over-wintering.
• Moss needs acid soil to grow.
• Impatiens will overgrow marigolds.
• Astilbe plants didn’t do well in my soil.
• Weather really has a lot to do with selections.
•  CONSISTENT WATERING  Right on!!
• I was able to figure out which plants grew the best in my back yard.
• I didn’t water my container baskets enough.
• It’s a lot of work, but like with anything, if you work hard you get personal satisfaction.
• Planted too close.
• I need to start earlier when sowing seed for annuals
• Red salvia can really brighten up an area and remains blooming into the fall
• Sweetbush changes color in the fall too.
• My yard has more shade than I realize; and I really dislike asters—they add fall color but become quite unmanageable—is there a secret to growing them and not having them overtake their spot in the garden?  Most perennials need divided every 3-5 years for the best performance.  Also, for overly aggressive plants, keep them contained by pulling them out, (like weeds).
• The very rainy and cold spring gave all my flowers a slow start and they did not do as well this year.
•  2007 & 2008 were spent adjusting my beds to be less time consuming
• Not all the annuals I bought did well in my borders.  I think I’ll have to stick with drought-friendly plants.  I don’t get to water the borders a whole lot.  Great observation...if you don't get to watering regularly, don't plant moisture-loving plants! 
• I want to try again in 2009.  Try, try, and try again...it's how we get better!
• I don’t really have time to take care of a big garden, and I really like container gardening.
• It didn’t matter how well I cleaned the beds in the fall—after all the rain in the spring I still had so many weeds.  Cleaning beds in the fall prevents disease also.  Try laying down a layer of newspaper before topping it with fresh soil or compost.  This has worked out great for us in the beds along the front of the Greenhouse.
• Don’t plant tomatoes in mulch.
• Don’t keep potting mix from one year to the other—it goes sour, nothing planted from my leftover bag did well last year.  The same goes for the old soil in your containers.  The nutrients were absorbed by last year's plantings, so start with fresh soil.
• Trying to learn more about shrubs/trees—I’m redoing our landscaping this spring.
• Which plants are in shade or sun at my house.
• Zucchini plants die easily.  Not really...they only last so long and produce so much.  At the farm, we do at least two plantings of it.  Plant some in early summer, then plant more about a month or two later. 
•  I needed to stake my sunflowers because of the wind.  Also I needed to thin out some of my mints because they really took over.
• Nikko blue hydrangeas did not bloom again this year.  Endless Summer hydrangeas only had two blooms.  I obviously need to learn some lessons re hydrangea…HELP!!  This could be a pruning issue.  Blooms on the Nikko Blue occur on old wood.  Endless Summer hydrangeas bloom on both old and new wood. 
• We start some plants inside ourselves, learned quite a bit about that.  We now keep a diary and take pictures so we can duplicate some things.
• Don’t plant things too close together.
• To rotate crops.
• I need to learn more about the best locations for plantings.  I’ve been learning from my mistakes.
• The season wasn’t long enough for my dutchmans pipe to bloom outside
• We need to mulch again!
• Some trailing plants in containers only got afternoon sun, which wasn’t enough for prolific flower blooms.  Also, morning glories are lovely, but the location needs to be considered thoughtfully, because they can easily take over…and this isn’t the first year I’ve planted them.  I generally use containers, but this year planted along a fence…but they choked out some of the other flowers in the same area.
• New idea for filling large patio containers and not wasting precious potting soil; instead of stone which can make the container quite heavy, I now use plastic caps from soda, milk bottles, etc.  Very lightweight, easy to wash after the season, easy to store in a bucket and allows water to filter through.
• Not to plant more than you have time to care for.
• Feed your plants often, they just look great!
• I need more time to garden!
• You can plant wave petunias in mid June and still have great flowers later in the season.
• Planting at different levels gave some of the areas in the yard a new look.
• I learn new things daily.  Composting is something I do a lot of.
• Better pinch/dead heading.
• I must water during the drought for plants to do well OR plants that did not survive without additional water during last summer’s drought do not belong in my garden.
• Make sure you get the right tomato plants for your container garden.
•  I just started my vegetable garden in 2008, so I learned a lot but have much more to learn.  I learned from your website why my petunias start dying in the late summer heat (need fertilized).
• Weeds grow too fast!
• You can plant annuals a lot closer than recommended and they flourish and look spectacular earlier in the season.
• Get to greenhouses and garden centers early to get best selection.
• More about what doesn’t grow in the shade.
• Water in the morning is best.  Some plants don’t need watered everyday. The more tlc you give a plant, the more beautiful it becomes.  This is all good advice.  Watering at night can create fungus issues from the plants sitting wet overnight.  Also, check the soil before watering to feel how wet or dry it is already.  Containers and hanging baskets can be lifted to feel for how heavy they are, to determine if they need watered or not.  Or feel the soil a few inches deep.  Only water when the soil is feels dry.
• If you don't water it, it will die.
• Love the Geranium.
• That I have big green hornworms that ate all my tomato plants and tomatoes.
• I wish I could have got an earlier start.  It would help at my age to give me a little more relaxing summer.
• No matter how hard you try, you can NEVER get rid of weeds!!
• Use of mushroom manure to prepare soil for perennials.  We love to use mushroom manure in beds.  Apply a top coat of a couple inches after laying down layers of newspaper for weeds.
• My heucera need more sun....will move them.
• Need to figure out what ate our green bean plants.
•  Certain tomatoes do not do well in containers.
• I bought a new house, so I watched the yard throughout the year to see what was already here.  Now, I can't wait to add my own personality with plants.
• I learned not to give petunias too much water.
• Mound the gerbers up a little at the base so they won't get root rotted.
• We procrastinated and just have to accept that we have cats who eat ornamental grasses.
• Powdery mildew sucks, dry summers also—water is expensive!  We now carry a product that's great for fungus issues called GreenCure.
•  I need to plan more thoroughly so that I am not overwhelmed by my selections.
• here are always surprises in the landscape, blooms or bugs.
• It's never too late to start.
• Everything did better because I used a time release fertilizer when I planted this year.
• Last spring I realized the deer had “pruned” the 7’ yew at my front door during the winter.  I tried your vincas (after reading the signs) last year & love them for sunny locations!
• That I am tiring of shrub roses. Love their color but hate those thorns.
• Plant more herbs.
• That the best place to grow tomatoes without fear of the deer eating them is in the middle of the bed of our pickup truck!  Many gardeners love and use Liquid Fence spray.  We also love and use Deer Scram.  It's a granular product that you shake around the plants to deter deer and rabbits.
• Not to trim butterfly bushes till spring.
• I need to cut back some trees! Too much shade and moisture!
• Use packing peanuts to take up space in lg pots to save $ on potting soil.
• The soil has to be good for anything to grow.
• That I definitely do not have a green thumb! 
• Hire someone to water while I'm on vacation!  We see SO many frustrated people come in to replace dead plants after vacation! 
• Broccoli and cabbage do quite well in my garden.  Vine vegetables continue to be a problem.
• Keep things simple.
• I cooked and like acorn squash and saved the seed so I can try and grow them in 2009 in our garden.  I love both indoor and outdoor plants.  I found out that the shrubs/flowers/trees we put in about 2/3 years ago needed a good dose of fertilizer this year and did much better!
• To not over water my geraniums.
• Too numerous to mention since I work for a fast paced landscaping co.  Lesson I would like to learn is maintenance efficiency. I cannot go fast enough.
• Experiment – don’t be afraid to throw out failures and plant a new flower or plant.
• TIME FLIES.
• That garlic around your rose bushes will deter beetles.  Snapdragons never die.
• The need to split perennials!
• I attended the fall class on perennials, and learned to use Milorganite fetilizer.
• DO NOT LET PLANTS DRY OUT AND FERTILIZE REGULARLY.
• Put a fence around my veggie gardens.  Between the woodchucks and the deer, they ate everything.
• More interesting container gardening.
• Cooler weather was great for most of my perennials that were newly planted.
• You answered an email question about snails which was a tremendous help to me.  Also, that I must move three Azaleas at are doing poorly because they get too much sun where they are planted.
• Tomato horn worms can destroy your garden quickly if you don’t pick them off daily.  Next year I will plant lots of dill throughout my garden.  It is supposed to attract the wasp that likes to lay it’s eggs on the worms.
• Keep the geraniums in hanging baskets where the deer can’t reach them!  Spray phlox with a deer resistant spray.
• Fertilize containers more often.
• I thought I killed my first delphinium, but it was just done.
• It’s too hard to grow herbs.  It was my first try at that.  Also I tried jalapeno peppers that didn’t work either.  I did buy a trailing coleus from you and it grew easily and big and won Best of Show at the Wash. Co. fair.  I think I’ll stick to flowers.  You may be overwatering them.  Herbs like to stay on the dryer side.
• Trying to keep up weed control.
• I can not say if I learned anything that I did not already know.  I have been gardening a lot of years and your plants, by far, are the best!
• A question I have but never asked it before:  Is there anything I can use to get rid of ants from my garden area without hurting the flowers or any animals?
• To shop around and not be afraid of smaller (as in younger) perennials.  They actually do grow!  We see people shy away from young plants, but just like this person, give them a try! 
• Began envying simple mounds of colorful impatiens in other gardens so may opt for the ordinary but lovely this summer, at least in places.  For example, my/your edelweiss is sweet but not exciting.
• I learned to not plant flowers too close together in the ground and how deep or shallow to plant them in the ground.
• My back isn't what it used to be......
• That I need to treat my soil where I planted wave petunias because I had bud worms near the end of the season.
• Weird season with weird weather.  Tons of tomatoes, but later than usual, and NO zucchini.  Weird.  The strawberries were super!
• Plant earlier.
• Watch out for that final spring frost.  We also see frustrated gardners that rushed the season.  Remember--there's always a chance of frost throughout May.  Wait to plant or watch the weather and protects plants when they forecast lows below 40 degrees.
• I planted more tomatoes this year than in many previous years…and ended up with very few tomatoes.  I’m pretty sure it was just a chance of fate, but I’m worried.  Could it be the lack of bees to cross pollinate?  Or did I just branch out to too many different types and not have enough of each type of tomato?  Summer 2008 wasn't a good year for tomatoes for most people.  Your problem was likely weather-related.
• Gardening takes much patience and time but is very rewarding.
• How to start over again with new flower beds after we moved in May.
• To put more deer protectant on shrubs before fall is over to prevent the feast come the first snow.
•  Less on my deck is better.  Everything grows during the season and plants snuff out each other.  Use holders at different heights to show off plants.
• August was murder on my water billl!
• Wave petunias did well in cool weather when planted in a bed later in summer.  Actually stayed green after frost.  Wonder if they will do as well if planted earlier.  All petunias are great in cooler weather. 
• More about pruning and placement of sun and shade plants.