Garden Meme

I had never heard of a meme until Robin from Robin's Nesting Place visited my site. She left a comment yesterday and I then visited her site where she mentioned she had been asked to do one. After a quick Google trip, I learned from "The Daily Meme" that a meme in blogspeak is "some kind of list of questions that you saw somewhere else and you decided to answer the questions. Then someone else sees them and does them and so on and so on." Robin was asked to give ten weird or random facts about herself. What fun! I think I'll try to do this, but challenge myself to stick to random gardening facts. (I prefer not to think that I am narrowing my options of weird facts because there are too many general ones to report!)

1. One of my first memories is eating seeds from a Mimosa tree after my best friend at the time convinced me this was a good idea. My mother then had to remove said seeds from my belly with Ipecac syrup.

2. My sister spent her childhood chasing butterflies and told people that she wanted to be an entomologist who specialized in lepidoptery - Perhaps this is more her story than mine, but she grew up to be a medical doctor who specializes in pediatrics. I always think of my sister when I see a butterfly.

3. I don't like bell peppers, but I grow them in my garden with the hope that one day I will come to like them as much as I like tomatoes.

4. I don't like phlox in my garden. I have trouble keeping the tall phlox healthy. I ripped them out of the garden the second year I lived in this house after inheriting them from the previous owner. I think about my garden every time I see phlox in someone else's yard and always have to comment about it. Though I am very open-minded on most issues, I have very strong opinions about some things. Once something manages to get on my bad side there is little chance it will get back to the good side. (See #3 bell peppers)

5. I enjoy weeding, sweating and hauling rocks in the garden. I try to coordinate my gardening time with my exercise time in the summer so that I only have to take one shower that day.

6. Last summer I was taught by a gardener I met to prefer clover lawn to grass. It is easier to care for, more beautiful (the softest lawn I ever felt,) and better for the environment.

http://www.cornglutenmeal.com/images/Lawn%20Pesticides.pdf

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/lawn/factsheets/Children&LawnChemsDontMix.pdf

I vow to convince others of the merits of clover lawn. First up - My husband.

7. I have a goal to turn all of my friends into gardeners someday.

8. I first took my daughter into the garden when she was two days old. My husband held a lavender blossom for her to smell. It was the first time I saw her wiggle her nose.

9. I have been composting for two years and still have nothing to show for it, but icky smelling rotting vegetables. I vow to learn to do it properly this year.

10. As a child, my husband once took a trip with his father to visit all of the major roller coasters on the Atlantic coast. I dream of taking a similar trip to visit the major gardens.

Thanks again Robin. This was fun! I'd love to hear other people's random gardening facts.