101–110 of 115 posts
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Makes me want to walk in the country side alone. In France there's almost no real danger (except the eventual hunter). Anyways it's odd how our world evolved toward comfort and disconnecting us from such important part of us.
Someday if I've got a few months to spare, I'd love to hitchhike around Europe. Seems like a pretty cool place to wander.
This article focuses a lot on large, well curated gardens, but I'm an engineer who found a lot of solace and safety in managing my own garden. (As someone who has faced burnout and anxiety from work before.) There's something about planning, planting, and then caring for a garden that appeals to my engineer brain. It's an exercise in organization and planning that scales from "throw seeds at dirt" to "these plants wi…
This article focuses a lot on large, well curated gardens, but I'm an engineer who found a lot of solace and safety in managing my own garden. (As someone who has faced burnout and anxiety from work before.) There's something about planning, planting, and then caring for a garden that appeals to my engineer brain. It's an exercise in organization and planning that scales from "throw seeds at dirt" to "these plants wi…
For example, I had several trees planted for privacy, and I cannot even handle watering them. There's no good recipe to follow, no fixed amount of water, just a vague instruction to dig a hole into the root ball and make sure the soil is "moist" but not "wet" or "dry". Of course, that is just like a customer saying he wants a design that "pops but is not too flashy" - a nightmare. On top of that, there's one watering system for 7 trees, and various holes next to them have different-feeling soil; and often, different holes right next to each other by the same tree have radically different levels of moisture. Even the rain doesn't helps because arborvitae are very dense and while 2 feet from the root ball it may be almost swampy, under the tree still looks dry and I've no idea whether to water or not water them. And that's before we get to fertilizer, pests, etc. Ugh. And ofc unlike e.g. burning a cake, if the trees do die I'll actually feel bad.
It's basically an engineering equivalent of a customer from hell who is super vague, changes specs all the time, and you have multiple bosses who disagree; and if you screw up the project people suffer.
I already wish I just had a taller fence built, cause I'll have to hire someone to deal with this no doubt.
They really should come up with bio-engineered "robot" trees that have an instruction manual with specific quantities of water and stuff to be applied at specific intervals...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Makes me want to walk in the country side alone. In France there's almost no real danger (except the eventual hunter). Anyways it's odd how our world evolved toward comfort and disconnecting us from such important part of us.
Someday if I've got a few months to spare, I'd love to hitchhike around Europe. Seems like a pretty cool place to wander.
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> putting food on a plate that came from your yard, from your care. Can't second this enough. This connection between soil (direct environment) to your gut is, as stupid as it seems, a marvellous thing.[1] > There's something about sitting in a green (or red, or blue, or yellow, etc.) space that you made. Few time I walk in a forest (semi-wild) I feel like a forest is like a big nest. Enough roof, enough sunlight, en…
> This connection between soil to your gut is a marvelous thing. Indeed, some research is pointing to the beneficial effects on your microbiome, too. The microscopic critters in the soil where you live may be very well co-evolved to live there, and there's a body of reasoning which says since you live there, too, they can be - sometimes - be very helpful to your own body. (not that you should eat dirt, of course)
This article focuses a lot on large, well curated gardens, but I'm an engineer who found a lot of solace and safety in managing my own garden. (As someone who has faced burnout and anxiety from work before.) There's something about planning, planting, and then caring for a garden that appeals to my engineer brain. It's an exercise in organization and planning that scales from "throw seeds at dirt" to "these plants wi…
As an engineer who also really loves the outdoors (forests, mountains, etc.), I find gardening to be one the most stressful activities I've ever tried. For example, I had several trees planted for privacy, and I cannot even handle watering them. There's no good recipe to follow, no fixed amount of water, just a vague instruction to dig a hole into the root ball and make sure the soil is "moist" but not "wet" or "dry"…
I've come to peace with the fact that some plans will die in my garden. The ones that do grow flourish and are a pleasant sight.
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"Before we had kids" Why did you stop? Personally I make an extra effort to get them outside, for young kids theres so much to learn in a garden, or out for a walk.
The garden is too dangerous for the kids because there are a lot of sharp things around. :) I didn't build it with kids in mind, so for example all the wire fencing is just cut with no ends. We'll get out there with them in a few years. My daughter helps with the front yard sometimes.
Its all rusty barbed wire fence by us, so rationally it doesn't make a difference, wouldn't want my kids injuring themselves on something like that in the garden though.
This article focuses a lot on large, well curated gardens, but I'm an engineer who found a lot of solace and safety in managing my own garden. (As someone who has faced burnout and anxiety from work before.) There's something about planning, planting, and then caring for a garden that appeals to my engineer brain. It's an exercise in organization and planning that scales from "throw seeds at dirt" to "these plants wi…
As an engineer who also really loves the outdoors (forests, mountains, etc.), I find gardening to be one the most stressful activities I've ever tried. For example, I had several trees planted for privacy, and I cannot even handle watering them. There's no good recipe to follow, no fixed amount of water, just a vague instruction to dig a hole into the root ball and make sure the soil is "moist" but not "wet" or "dry"…
Anyway, since you love outdoors, you know there are trees on this earth, who handles growing without human interaction?
And they only have natural rain and groundwater. But yes they do not grow everywhere but only at a specific ground. So most of them die at young age, who were unlucky.
And with gardening you try to engineer the right conditions, but because of the complexity, you just fail so a lot of times. There are basic rules to follow and the rest is experience. So just relax about the thought that things can die because of you. That just will happen a lot with gardening.
And with your arborvitae, well for them it is mostly the soil that matters. Imagine them growing in the wild ... and then try to simulate that as much as possible. So don't panic if the ground moisture is not allways perfect, it allmost never is in the wild. The trees grow nevertheless, unless the ground is really unsuitable. And then you can adjust a bit. But mostly your trees need a lot of water it seems. And then they will grow..
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Wow. Have read about what they do, but thought it was only in nature / forested / non-urban areas. You live in such an area, or did they enter a citified area?
I live in a rural area on the Tennessee River. It's a little more rural than suburban, but not very far out of town. Came out one day and the tree stump (about 1 1/2" around) was cut off at an angle a couple of inches above the ground, sharp enough to puncture a lawn mower tire. That tree was just gone. (The other was a little older and sprouted volunteers, so it's trying to grow back.)
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I come to gardening with the same attitude. Basically if it doesn't grow well in my temperate climate then I just grow something else next year. Tomatoes, mint, and squash all grow like weeds and are super easy, peppers are finicky, and leafy greens are a battle against aphids. That said, I know plenty of other hobby gardeners who treat their gardens as an exercise in optimization. Heck, I even know one engineer with…
I have had good luck in the battle against aphids on my kale by spraying them with a (1:1) mixture of 70% rubbing alcohol and water with a small amount of dish soap (I use about one sponge load worth in a full spray bottle).