Garden Tidbit

I would love to have a garden, but the energy and motivation just isn't there to care for one throughout our hot summers. Adding to that is that I'm usually away from home for nearly a month every summer, and any 'garden' area isn't equipped with easy watering nor good soil. Oh, we have a faucet and a hose, but that would require frequent moving of a sprinkler or the hose, as well as someone to do it, and let's face it, for all his fun-loving outdoor hiking and backpacking and photographing, Marty is not a farmer...doesn't know a thing about planting, pruning, watering, fertilizing, pesticiding isn't that a word? no? well, I'm using it anyway, just hang with me. Additionally, he also often takes off for a week or two during my absence and our housesitter, bless her heart, knows even less about such things.  We've managed to grow an annual cherry-type tomato plant in a pot each year, but that's about it. And this year's plant is the same one from last year, and I think it's now bit the dust without producing but a single tomato. Heck, we can barely keep the ornamental flowers and shrubs growing!  We have no problem with weeds though! And whatever grows from what the squirrels 'plant'...usually palm trees or oaks.

Some people have wonderful gardens. Judy at Patchwork Times, and Barbara at Cat Patches and others  have written about gardens and canning their produce. And Judy has talked about their efforts to keep deer out of their garden. My mom use to have a garden up in the wet land, and I remember when growing up with gardens, that deer were often a problem.

Tonight, while watching Alton Brown on the Cooking Channel, he was talking about herbs. He started talking about rosemary, and mentioned that rosemary is planted to keep deer out of the garden, they don't like it and won't go near it. Now, I would think that a single plant probably wouldn't keep deer out of a decent garden, you'd probably have to plant a hedge all the way around, but I thought that to be an interesting tip, especially if it truly does work. And think of all that yummy rosemary you'd have for cooking, heck, you could probably harvest, dry and start an herb business selling rosemary, and maybe that could lead to other rosemary scented items, soap, vinegars, oils, sauces that you could sell. Hurry up, get that rosemary planted before the deer know what hit them ;p