Garden Etiquette - How To Act When In Another's Garden
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Article by: Fred Davis One thing I've noticed in recent years (and others have also mentioned in passing) is that there seems to be more garden , Decorative Concrete - The Beginnings visitors who are "out of sorts" and, at times, downright disrespectful and thoughtless. I recently overheard a couple of avid gardeners remark that if they see another tumultuous season , The Heralded Teak Furniture Manufacturer: Kingsley-Bate like this one, they'll soon be ex-gardeners! One even wished she'd designed a "secret" garden , Greenhouse ing as a Hobby into her landscape, , Water Conservation in the Garden - Use a Rain Barrel to Harvest Rainwater set aside only for her and close, trusted friends. True, times like these do seem to fray fragile nerves and stir up some deep frustrations. Polite society, however, clearly requires garden , Caring for Your Furniture visitors -- out of sorts or not -- to observe a sort of "code" to at least attempt to avoid trampling on another's sensitivities or property , Getting Rid of Standing Water in Your Yard rights. Here are a few suggestions to make your visit to someone else's garden , Fountains of Refreshment -- private or public -- more pleasant, informative, and relaxing while, at the same time, avoiding the ire of its gardener or manager. For parents with youngsters in tow, one of the kindest things you can do is to control your little ones (and some which aren't so little, as well). Filled with energy , How to Grow Hydrangeas and exuberance, youngsters can do a great deal of damage as they race around. Advise them to stay on paths; forbid rock-throwing, flower-picking, and branch-tugging; and assist them in keeping their sometimes cheeky remarks to themselves. Domestic pets of visitors have no place , Riding Lawn Mowers Parts wandering around in someone else's garden. , First Aid for a Dried Out Hanging Basket Yes, there may be a resident pooch or cat, but that's never a reason to turn your pet -- even cute little "lap-dogs" -- loose to rip and tear, dig and chew, or otherwise "soil" the garden , Ecological Landscape Design and Organic Lawn Care environment with their wastes. Leaving Fido (or even worse, big-footed Boomer) home , 5 Tips On Caring For A Bonsai Tree is always the safest bet. Your friends will most certainly appreciate the kindness. . .not to mention your deeply appreciated respect for their "turf." Stepping off obvious paths , Outdoor Furniture: Exploring the Benefits of Teak to go plodding around in the cultivated soil , Abatement Failure and Aborting Protocols of a friend's garden , Growing Tomatoes Organically is definitely out! You may do that in your own garden, , Outdoor Sports Lighting but it's not going to be appreciated by most of your friends...and, if you persist, may get you an invitation to leave. (Much of this annoying and now near-universal habit of modern gardeners originated with the advent of television. Turn on any gardening , Outdoor Sports Lighting program and see "experts" in total disregard for the structure of soil , Caring for Your Garden Furniture as they tromp straight into a cultivated bed , Ecological Landscape Design and Organic Lawn Care to achieve a better camera , Caring for Bonsai plants angle.) Don't pick flowers, , Have Year Round Color by Planting for Birds take seeds, , Starting a Wildflower Garden or snip or pinch cuttings unless you've been invited to. Yes, I've seen it in my garden , Landscaping Tips: Koi Pond Aeration Needed for Healthy Fish and the gardens , Growing Tomatoes Organically of others. Often, offenders will glance around first to see if they're being observed; then snip! or snatch!, and into a pocket or purse it goes. Seed-snatchers, blossom-pickers, and cutting-crooks are rarely invited back. Don't appoint yourself , Gardening - What are Annuals and Biennials? as the official visiting weed-puller or bug-stomper. Remember that one person's "trash" may be another's "treasure." Who knows...maybe they wanted that weed , Ecological Landscape Design and Organic Lawn Care ("wildflower"?) there, and perhaps that squashed insect was a valuable, beneficial type, nurtured and protected by its host. . .the now-offended resident gardener. Maintain an up-beat, positive, giving, sharing, and pleasant attitude while visiting another's garden. , Outdoor Sports Lighting Even if you see all sorts of terrible things (mistakes, misadventures, unfinished tasks, weeds, , Fountains of Refreshment bugs, diseases, , Caring for Your Garden Furniture stones, , Starting a Wildflower Garden snaggly trees , Outdoor Furniture: Exploring the Benefits of Teak and shrubs, , Decorative Concrete - The Beginnings pet residues, scattered tools , How to Grow Hydrangeas and hoses, odors, etc.), try hard to put a positive spin on even the worst of circumstances. Avoid insensitive remarks like "Oh, I see you have [some plant , Gardening Tips for Early - Mid July or other]; I have one, too, but mine grows , Getting Rid of Standing Water in Your Yard taller and has better looking leaves and prettier flowers. , Local Shops " Another real "killer" goes something like, "Yeah...a hosta...I've got 25 different varieties in my garden! , Six Good Reasons For Going Organic " Finally, for you tobacco users, please don't grind out cigarette butts or spit tobacco juice in others' gardens. , How to Make a Weed Dabber ..and never light , Some Of The Most Common Landscape Design Features up a cigar there, either! Most avid gardeners treasure the sanctity, peacefulness and, hopefully, the freshness and purity of air , Hillside Landscaping-Proper Watering in their garden , Wild Flower - Recreate the Splendor of Nature in Your Own Backyard retreats. Nothing invades that refreshing, rejuvenating, and clean micro-environment like the pervasive smell of tobacco smoke -- especially the disagreeable odor of a smoldering cigar. Few things are less pleasant to police up than someone else's stomped-in cigar or cigarette butt. And while on the subject, "field-stripping" a cigarette (an old military trick intended to avoid detection by the enemy -- or the drill instructor in boot-camp) is just as bad, if not worse. Not too many people realize that virtually every shred of processed tobacco is a potential source of a deadly agricultural organism known as TSWV (tomato spotted wilt virus). The malady can wreak havoc among many different varieties in a once-healthy garden, , Basic Swimming Pool Water Chemistry causing stunting of plants , Local Flower Shops and a discolored mosaic pattern on the leaves, accompanied by unsightly leaf distortion (puckering). Infected plants , Gardening - What are Annuals and Biennials? must be destroyed -- there is no cure, only prevention. So, if you're a smoker, the next time you visit a friend's (or public) garden, , Starting a Wildflower whip out a stick of chewing gum...leave the smokes in your pocket. It all boils down to this: treat others, their gardens , Outdoor Sports Lighting -- and their gardening , 5 Tips On Caring For A Bonsai Tree efforts -- with the same kind of respect, gentle honesty, and caring with which you'd like to be treated. Where have I heard that before?Fred Davis is a Master Gardener, Master Composter, , Solar Outdoor Lighting correspondent, lecturer, co-owner/operator of a popular 18-year-old perennial , Landscaping Tips: Koi Pond Aeration Needed for Healthy Fish nursery in south-central Maine, and author of "Keys To The Garden , Basic Swimming Pool Water Chemistry Gate...Saying Some Things That Need To Be Said." He and Linda, his wife of 44 years, reside in Palermo, Maine, and may be contacted by visiting http://www.HillGardens.com |
  
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