Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group I am The Garden Goddess!

Me, I hate rocks. The land we live on is in an area that was once part of the Sacramento River when I flooded many years ago. It has sandy soil with lots of rack and gravel. I hate to hit a rock when I am digging in a flower bed. They are hard on my tools. Most of our rocks are between 3" to 10". The only thing I use them for is to outline paths. I have a few larger bolder type rocks that we use as accent points in the beds, but only a few are good too many only get in the way.
Donna

when we lived in virginia, we had nothing but solid red clay and when it baked in the hot virginia sun in the summer time with little rain, well, it was obvious why people have been using it to make pottery all these years.

we moved down there in july, and my husband had to rent a rototiller if he had any homes of preparing garden beds. clay can be a real challenge.....

Cindy - amen, I do take every other day off (I have to . . . lol).

Sue - Cody keeps TALKING about renting or buying a tiller . . . but so far he hasn't, so I'm getting lots of exercise! My parents were old-fashioned and poor so we never had any power tools when I was growing up . . . not even an electric mixer for the kitchen (and when my crippled hands discovered THOSE . . . oh, BOY! lol) so I'm actually used to working rock-hard NM clay by hand . . . but it just keeps getting so much harder every year.

Wow Bridget

Your energy astounds me. The joys of youth!!

Well done to you, just hope you are not paying for it now.
Bet you felt good with all you achieved.
The warmer weather certainly seems to spur us on.

Hi Carol;

Yes, I'm super proud of myself, I feel very accomplished, especially after being on the cane or wheelchair all winter, and unable to pick up my baby . . .

It's not a "Youth" thing . . . I'm 26 years old, but I've had AS for 16 years, so my body is really older than my parents (who are 67 and 68). And I take better care of myself! haha. How sad is that? My dad rode broncs, ran the Iditarod, my mom shredded her knee 35 years ago sledding in the Andes . . . they both smoked for decades, and now my dad has one achy knee and my mom has 2 achy joints. HA! lol

,
bridge

we're not big on powertools even now, hate to waste all that energy if its something that can be done by hand, but if it can't be done by hand, or our poor hands aren't what they used to be......i used to think electric can openers were silly, now i understand their importance.....so many things i used to think of as frivolous, now i see as necessities,

a tiller sounds like a nice birthday or christmas present
and if cody won't buy it for you, buy it for him
just kidding, i know they're rather expensive,
but maybe you could rent one just once, really prepare the beds,
honestly, after renting it one time, and hubby really preparing beds with lots of nice rich soil, then he doesn't seem to need it for that particular garden.
but i'm sure you'll figure it out.

Good lord, Bridge--I became tired just from reading your post! I cannot believe you accomplished all that in one month, let alone one day. Here's hoping your garden comes in beautifully.

So glad to hear things are better than they've been in a while.

Brad

out in the yard this afternoon.......with the camera.

i love this time of year.....so much starting to bloom:

the hyacinth, tulips, grape hyacinth, bleeding hearts, viburnum carlesii, the lilacs just starting, forsythia, phlox, violets, lenten roses, cherry trees, peach trees, crab apples, spring magnolias.........