i just bought the best thing ever. its a pop up sun shelter - without a bottom. it weighs 3 pounds, very light weight. easy to haul out to the garden or hoist over a garden fence. it can be staked in place or has pockets for filling to weigh it down ( Read more... )

I went out and thinned my watermelons and cantaloupes today to the three best plants per hill. One entire hill of 'loupes never sprouted at all -- don't know what the deal was there. Next week my husband is going to lay out landscaping fabric around them and put straw mulch out, so the melons will grow on a clean surface ( Read more... )

12 days ago I sowed seeds of pumpkin (aka winter squash) 'Crown Prince' and 'Buttercup' in the only greenhouse my disability still lets me use ( Read more... )

I was diagnosed last year with rheumatoid arthritis, and that severely compromised my garden last year. I hadn't really planned to do anything this year, because we haven't found the right combination of medications to make it Not An Issue for me ( Read more... )

Hi; I saw the spotlight when I logged in and this could be the resource I've been looking for. I live in Hummelstown PA, which I think is in Zone 4 or 5 and I am currently off work, due to fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, which makes it difficult for me to maintain a garden, even though I would have the time. I've been thinking I could ( Read more... )

A neighbour told me that she's started using a seed dispenser to sow her carrots. It frees her from the pain that attacks the arthritic base of her thumb if she sows small seeds using thumb and forefinger. I don't know exactly what device she's using, and I'm lucky enough not to have arthritis, but I found this which might be suitable.

Today I had plans for working on Lottie (no that's not my girlfriend, it's my allotment) but my body didn't agree. So off went girlfriend to strim Lottie's paths while I potted up some aubergines and sweet peppers for the greenhouses. And I sowed some butternut squash seeds. Most of this year's cucurbits are doing well but the butternuts didn't ( Read more... )

This winter I had big plans for my Lottie. Some of them got achieved but not all of them. Of couse, gardening always does involve some things that you plan but don't achieve, but in my case I've had to admit that my disability is worse now than it used to be. And that it's permanent ( Read more... )

Some people kindly helped me move more duckboards to my plot and they make barrowing much easier. Neighbours, they're so great ( Read more... )

You might remember that I planned to dig over an old strawberry bed, 8' x 20' with a lengthways path, this winter to make 2 new beds (each 8' x 9' with a crossways path) for my veg rotation. That was part of this winter's plan. What I didn't know was we'd have more snow than usual so the ground has been snow-covered, frozen, or waterlogged from ( Read more... )