Come On Over to The Legacy Gardens!
Gardens test our imaginations, our creativity, they release the mad scientist in all of us. They fill the need to build and improve our lives. Gardens provide all the exercise and fresh air we need as we work our bodies with purpose to produce a life giving gift to share with family and friends.
When Mother Nature works with us, we have healthy food that we’ve nurtured. We know the elements that were used to grow and process this food if we have enough to store. We know the conditions for using the food fresh from the garden. We have enough to share with family and friends. Being in our garden is another opportunity to move around and stay healthier. Every day we face our efforts and results. Whether our efforts become successes or failures depends on who is telling the story!
I’m mad scientist gardener and blogger. I’m writing this blog because I like to talk about gardening with other people. I want to learn the little things that stir their passion for dirt! Beginners and professionals are welcome to comment and ask questions. We sure don’t know it all, but in the conversations, those who have answers will become available.
Let’s have a good time at digging in the dirt!
The Legacy Gardens Are A Family Affair
Gardening has been part of our family legacy for since childhood in different climates. The Legacy Gardens go with us from place to place, allowing us to bloom where we are planted. Currently located in the Ozarks of Southwest Missouri, a lot of rocks are the greatest feature. Big bluffs, slabs of limestone, fantastic fossils so perfect that they are suspicious! Rocks provide background for growing things in a tricky climate.
From the fertile fields of Iowa and Indiana to the high, dry deserts of Wyoming and back to the Rocks of the Missouri Ozarks, we keep growing! Some of that ‘growing’ has been productive, some has been dismal failure! Gardening is a ‘family/group project’ — we recommend it! You will find the chat bouncing between we and ME! R is the ‘tiller man’ for larger garden plots. He employs vintage equipment and tools along with some slick new things. He helps with all aspects of growing and harvesting. His favorite is processing lots of tomatoes through his vintage SQUEEZO!
I and R. have been connected to plants since childhood. A personal row of carrots in Mother’s garden or a container of transplanted wild violets were among outdoor projects that fulfilled a green thumb. Indoors, I’ve kept house plants alive and thriving in hostile climates and conditions. I love taking clippings from the larger plants to bring on more. Seeds are gathered and stashed in pots or envelopes for next year. Larger ‘parent’ plants are brought in to spend the winter in a sunny window. They get a little leggy over the winter, giving me more clippings for the coming spring.
I have grown children, grandchildren from grown to active teens and darling great-grandchildren. None of them live close to us. I celebrate my beloved technology even more to be used to communicate with distant family. I can bring them into the garden. When we do see each other, we trade plants, shrubs and trees!
GARDENING FAR AND WIDE
From the fertile fields of Iowa and Indiana to the high, dry deserts of Wyoming and back to the Rocks of the Missouri Ozarks, we keep growing! Some of that growing has been productive, some has been dismal failure! Gardening is a ‘family/group project’ — we recommend it! You will find the chat bouncing between we and ME!
The thin soils mean that we have very little moisture held over from any rain or snow. The soil is high clay content, so it can stay too wet to work until the day everything dries. Suddenly drying soils solidify close to concrete. Grasses and brush, lush and green a few days ago, become crispy to the point of high fire danger. The plants hope they don’t go for more than two weeks without rain or gardeners will be carrying water. At The Legacy Gardens, two large tanks gather rain water from the house roof for these time
Trees that grow from cuttings or seeds have been an especial joy. The nature of gardening is harsh selection; some things won’t make it. When we have a baby tree that grows into a bigger one that we can put in the ground at The Legacy Gardens, we’re happy people. We’ve developed our own methods for getting baby trees off to a good start.
I believe in the garden therapy to get outside more often. My computers and software are dangerous passions. Without a doubt, the technology of blogging and creating the images take me to a good place! But, sitting all day in my chair isn’t good for me. Nor is it good for my homemaking efforts.
I like many mad scientist things besides experimental gardening. Cooking, reading and figuring out how to creatively use the things around us to enhance our lives are a few of the activities I love to dabble in.
BUILDING A GARDEN FROM THE DIRT UP
I’ve been a dedicated vermi-composter for over 15 years. The family is supportive of the worms, but the bins are my project!
When I read about composting with redworms in an issue of Organic Gardening, I was SOLD. I keep worms for kitchen garbage that didn’t appeal to the cats, dog or chickens. The worms turn coffee grounds and filters, tea bags along with the occasional paper towel and my junk mail into rich black soil.
We have two horses and a bunch of chickens who create wonderful fertilizer for the garden plots, yard and hay areas. Cats and loyal Sandy, our dog, are active partners in at The Legacy Gardens
Come, let us dig dirt together on our knees!
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