You know you're a gardener if ...

" /> You know you're a gardener if ...

" />

CAES Newswire

 College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension
Menu
Published on 02/21/03

You know you're a gardener if ...

By Wayne McLaurin

University of Georgia

 

Volume XXVIII
Number 1
Page 7

You know you're a gardener if ...

  • You have an extra refrigerator for storing seed.
  • You feed more than seven families with one zucchini plant.
  • Your seed-packet collection dates back to 1976 or earlier.
  • You get up in the middle of the night to see if your seeds have germinated.
  • Every scratch pad in your house is filled with landscape ideas.
  • You've moved a plant more than 11 times.
  • Neighbors close their door when they see you coming with a paper sack full of vegetables.
  • You get more than 35 seed catalogs per year.
  • You're building an extra outbuilding to house your gardening tools.
  • You have more than one notebook filled with garden plans.
  • Your children refuse to stop at just one more garden on the "vacation garden tour."
  • You've gotten a load of manure for a Christmas present.
  • You've broken a truck axle hauling sand or stones for a walkway.
  • Your garden pond is more advanced than your indoor plumbing.
  • You've been brave enough to plant bamboo.
  • You've given your wife a rototiller for your anniversary.
  • You've financed a plant for more than six months.
  • You have more than three compost piles in your backyard.
  • You've been banned from more than two botanical trial gardens.
  • You have a secret credit card account for fertilizer and plant charges.
  • You're taking Spanish classes to better understand your gardener.
  • You've chained yourself to a three-year-old tomato plant you're trying to save.
  • You think that bamboo has potential as a container plant.
  • You've used a sweet potato as a centerpiece at a dinner party.
  • Collards are a necessary part of your landscape, or collards growing inside of a cut-and-painted tire are.
  • You've put one of those stupid artificial rocks with the writing on it in your garden.
  • Your encourage your spouse to go fishing to have the fish heads for fertilizer under your plants.
  • You use your chipped pots for toad houses.
  • You let the garden snakes stay because they eat bugs even though they scare the daylights out of you every time.
  • The eating of the first tomato is ritualized with a candlelight dinner and is the only time you use an ironed, cloth tablecloth all year.
  • They've reserved your parking space at the garden center.
  • Your raised beds are better constructed than your back steps.
  • You've replaced the soil in your beds with the soil cleaned from the back-entrance hallway.

Wayne McLaurin is a professor emeritus of horticulture with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Experts/Sources:
Wayne J. McLaurin
A student harvests red clover at UGArden. CAES News
UGA horticulture class shows students the science behind herbal remedies 04/16/24 Sameeka Prabath Rajamani
The field of medicine is ever-changing, and the use of herbal medicines may play a bigger role in health care as the value of natural remedies gain recognition in the Western world. Students at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are delving into the field of medicinal remedies through the class “Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants.” Offered to undergraduate students through the Department of Horticulture, the class helps students develop a deeper understanding of the connection between nature and health.
Using robotics to help sort onions on Georgia farms CAES News
Using robotics to help sort onions on Georgia farms 04/15/24 David Mitchell
During the pandemic, labor problems became acute on many farms in Georgia and across the country. Farms once staffed by humans to bring produce from the field to stores for purchase were suddenly short-staffed, and the global supply chain was severely impacted. Working with UGA’s Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center and A&M Farms in Lyons, Georgia, a team of researchers led by School of Computing Professor Prashant Doshi is designing collaborative robots to mitigate some of these potential challenges.
2024 honorees are William D. Branch, Georgia Seed Development Professor in Peanut Breeding and Genetics in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, and Elzie Argene Claxton, an agriculture educator and 1980 CAES agricultural education graduate who went on to earn a master’s degree in 1982 and education specialist degree in 1984 from UGA’s College of Education. CAES News
Innovator, educator inducted into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame 04/11/24 Maria M. Lameiras
An innovator in peanut breeding whose research revitalized an industry and an ardent champion of agricultural education were inducted into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame at the 68th University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Alumni Association Awards in Athens. The 2024 honorees are William D. Branch, Georgia Seed Development Professor in Peanut Breeding and Genetics in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, and Elzie Argene Claxton, an agriculture educator and 1980 CAES agricultural education graduate.
Peach growers are looking forward to a fruitful season as the weather this winter and spring have been near-perfect for the sensitive crop. This year is projected to be a much-needed comeback from the disastrous season they experienced after a late freeze in March 2023 took out more than 90% of the state's crop. (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA) CAES News
Growers hopeful 2024 peach season will rebound from disastrous 2023 04/10/24 Emily Cabrera
Last year, the peach industry lost $60 million due to the late freeze that hit much of the Southeast in mid-March 2023, said Jeff Cook, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agent for Peach and Taylor counties. With no freezing temperatures in the forecast and hope for strong pricing during the upcoming season, peach growers are looking forward to a much-needed rebound year.
UGA wheat breeder and geneticist Mohamed Mergoum smells one of several test brews created by Creature Comforts on its annual Get Comfortable collaboration using a variety of wheat Mergoum developed at CAES. CAES News
Creature Comforts partners with UGA wheat breeder to create 2024 Get Comfortable brew 04/09/24 Maria M. Lameiras
Wheat breeders spend years meticulously crossing varieties to coax the best traits out of each species, carefully propagating plant varieties that are healthier, heartier and better suited for the environments where they are grown. Brewmasters are equally painstaking when choosing the components that will give their beers a specific flavor profile. These two exacting professions came together this spring when Athens-based Creature Comforts Brewing Co. reached out to the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences to find a sustainable wheat variety they could use to make a good beer for a great cause.
The Arch seen through the columns of the Holmes Hunter Building. (Photo by Dorothy Kozkowski/UGA) CAES News
UGA celebrates winners of 2024 Public Service & Outreach Faculty Awards 04/08/24
Six University of Georgia faculty and staff members are being honored for their commitment to public service and outreach. These honorees have made significant career-spanning contributions to UGA’s public service mission through scholarship, service-learning opportunities for students and campus leadership. All have created a legacy of extraordinary impact through special projects and long-term achievements to propel a better quality of life for the people of Georgia.