How much time do you spend on your garden? - Page 2

rxkeith · March 18, 2009

best guess is 2 to 3 hours a day on average. but, that wasn't enough time the past 2 years when we split time between ironwood, and calumet. we are in a new location now, and starting from scratch. we need to create the main garden, establish a raspberry, and strawberry bed, a spot for some currents, and maybe a few fruit trees. wife says she wants grapes, but i'll have my hands full. i'm hoping the ground dries out within the next few weeks or else i will be busy making raised beds, in addition to bringing in truck loads of horse or cow manure, and leaves for composting and mulch. and i still don't have my garlic planted on account of the ground being so wet last fall. then there is the time spent seed starting, and transplanting. gonna be a busy year. can't wait to start.

keith

duajones · March 18, 2009

Spent 4 hours plus today rebuilding raised beds and preparing some in ground beds for cukes and such, along with a container or two. Most of my time from here on out will be spent inspecting plants on a daily basis, and following up with proper applications that are needed.(Daconil, Spinosad or BT, and fertilizer) I am hoping that none of those applications include covering plants due to inclement weather.

robin303 · March 18, 2009

My guess 3 hrs +. I piddle around and just watch it do its on thing. I tell everybody it is my church. It calms me down and I turn off the dang cell phone. Plus who else has 22 wild parrots and a cat playing in the cat nip.

dew · March 18, 2009

Since I am a schoolteacher, winter break, spring break, and summers are good for hours a day of gardening. During school time, I am lucky to get a half hour a day. Today's project is to set up a new compost heap, so I bet I will be at it, and staking/caging tomatoes, for hours today. I wish I had five hours a day in the garden, that would be heaven on earth.

kr222 · March 19, 2009

I would have to estimate that on average I spend one to two hours outside daily on weekdays. Probably 4-5 hours daily on the weekends. During these times I do my weeding, pruning, composting, amend my soil, mulch, make notes of what I want to move, remove, or add... I don't get to spend quite as much time outside doing actual gardening activities with two young kids, but I try to involve my oldest (4 years old) in some of the work. Just this past weekend he helped me put up our pea and bean trellis and divide and relocate some daylilies. When they're older, I can easily see myself spending 4-5 hours outside doing gardening chores everyday.

Thawley · March 23, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by robin303

Plus who else has 22 wild parrots and a cat playing in the cat nip.

ACK – PARROTS!!! I hate'em. <twitch> Got a noisy flock in my neighborhood. Only time I can't hear'em is when they're in my pecan tree EATING MY PECANS <twitch> <twitch>...

HakaiRah · March 27, 2009

I usually spend an hour each week day morning and an hour each evening during the summer and at least eight hours over the weekend. A good part of that is that I handle pests the old fashion way, with my fingers. Squishing flea beetles, picking off loopers and hornworms, and oriental beetles among others takes a good deal of time.

Last year was the gardens first year though, and by the end of it there were far more predatory insects helping me out than there were at the beginning. I'm glad neither of us have a fear of spiders because they were everywhere in the end. My favorite were these microscopic spiders that hunted the flea beetles. Hopefully I can get a good picture this year with the new macro lens. The most gruesome were the wasps that laid eggs in the hornworms.

Overall though I think the question should be how much time do you GET to spend on your garden?

March 18, 2009	#16
rxkeith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Back in da U.P. Posts: 1,848	best guess is 2 to 3 hours a day on average. but, that wasn't enough time the past 2 years when we split time between ironwood, and calumet. we are in a new location now, and starting from scratch. we need to create the main garden, establish a raspberry, and strawberry bed, a spot for some currents, and maybe a few fruit trees. wife says she wants grapes, but i'll have my hands full. i'm hoping the ground dries out within the next few weeks or else i will be busy making raised beds, in addition to bringing in truck loads of horse or cow manure, and leaves for composting and mulch. and i still don't have my garlic planted on account of the ground being so wet last fall. then there is the time spent seed starting, and transplanting. gonna be a busy year. can't wait to start. keith

March 18, 2009	#17
duajones Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Corpus Christi,Texas Z9 Posts: 1,996	Spent 4 hours plus today rebuilding raised beds and preparing some in ground beds for cukes and such, along with a container or two. Most of my time from here on out will be spent inspecting plants on a daily basis, and following up with proper applications that are needed.(Daconil, Spinosad or BT, and fertilizer) I am hoping that none of those applications include covering plants due to inclement weather.

March 18, 2009	#18
robin303 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Austin, TX Zone 8b Posts: 531	My guess 3 hrs +. I piddle around and just watch it do its on thing. I tell everybody it is my church. It calms me down and I turn off the dang cell phone. Plus who else has 22 wild parrots and a cat playing in the cat nip.

March 18, 2009	#19
dew Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 27	Since I am a schoolteacher, winter break, spring break, and summers are good for hours a day of gardening. During school time, I am lucky to get a half hour a day. Today's project is to set up a new compost heap, so I bet I will be at it, and staking/caging tomatoes, for hours today. I wish I had five hours a day in the garden, that would be heaven on earth.

March 19, 2009	#20
kr222 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Reading, Pennsylvania Posts: 48	I would have to estimate that on average I spend one to two hours outside daily on weekdays. Probably 4-5 hours daily on the weekends. During these times I do my weeding, pruning, composting, amend my soil, mulch, make notes of what I want to move, remove, or add... I don't get to spend quite as much time outside doing actual gardening activities with two young kids, but I try to involve my oldest (4 years old) in some of the work. Just this past weekend he helped me put up our pea and bean trellis and divide and relocate some daylilies. When they're older, I can easily see myself spending 4-5 hours outside doing gardening chores everyday.

March 27, 2009	#22
HakaiRah Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Franklin, Massachusetts Zone 6a/b Posts: 46	I usually spend an hour each week day morning and an hour each evening during the summer and at least eight hours over the weekend. A good part of that is that I handle pests the old fashion way, with my fingers. Squishing flea beetles, picking off loopers and hornworms, and oriental beetles among others takes a good deal of time. Last year was the gardens first year though, and by the end of it there were far more predatory insects helping me out than there were at the beginning. I'm glad neither of us have a fear of spiders because they were everywhere in the end. My favorite were these microscopic spiders that hunted the flea beetles. Hopefully I can get a good picture this year with the new macro lens. The most gruesome were the wasps that laid eggs in the hornworms. Overall though I think the question should be how much time do you GET to spend on your garden?