It's official...I'm the neighborhood kook

[Winchester]

A couple days ago, I was up in the garden. As I was checking out the pepper plants, I was talking to them. "C'mon, guys! Mama needs some peppers for the freezer!" And at the tomatoes, "Mama wants fresh tomatoes!" And to the beans, "Mama wants beans! Lots and lots of beans! Let's go!"

Only to turn around and see one of our neighbors grinning at me. I hung my head and mumbled, "Sorry". He said that talking (or in my case, pleading) with the plants might help them grow.

Well, this morning, Rick and I were up in the garden and ....we have peppers! Not a lot, but we have peppers! I did a Happy Pepper Dance. We started looking around the squash plants and there's a wee little green zucchini! So, of course, I did a Happy Zucchini Dance.

Only to turn around and see that same neighbor grinning at me. Again. He looked at me and said, "You know, Pam, you are an interesting person!" Which I take to mean that I'm the neighborhood kook. Oh well. I guess it has to be somebody. I swear that man comes out of the woodwork!

 

[verna davies]

If talking to plants is good enough for Prince Charles then its good enough for you....dancing though mmmmm!!!!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I talk to my plants and the bugs out there all the time so go for it.

 

[Tobermory]

You sound perfectly normal. Your neighbor, on the other hand...

 

[Mia6]

I think neighbor has a crush on you!!

 

[Kat0121]

You sound perfectly normal. Your neighbor, on the other hand...

I agree. He's way too interested in what she does. A bit creepy IMO

 

[Winchester]

Nah. The guy is young enough to be my son. Not a problem there. I think he's just nosy. He'll often come over if he sees Rick working in the garden.

Back before we lost all those trees, we could be in the garden and nobody really knew. We had a lot of privacy with the trees. Now, though, we can see the neighbors. I don't like that.

I may be a kook, but gosh darn it, I prefer to be a private kook!

 

[Xraystyle]

We recently read Frog and Toad's The Garden in the kindergarten class I was subbing...Poor simple Toad was out all night reading stories to his seeds to get them to not be afraid of the dark and grow haha

 

[Willowy]

I may be a kook, but gosh darn it, I prefer to be a private kook!

You need a hedge. Maybe some lilacs. Or a hedge rose so people can't walk through. . .

 

[Tobermory]

Photinia grows pretty quickly.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

We have a privet hedge on the back side of our property. It was there long before my house and its technically grown over the property line; but since on the other side is just a 500' long driveway the old people didn't mind those few inches. It's not useable space. But the new people who moved in last winter mow it a lot. They trimmed that side a bit but thankfully they didn't just whack at it or insist we cut it down. It's a good windbreak and pretty to look at. I have 2 chickadee houses up there and I see other nests too. I think we'd have to put up a privacy fence back there if they did. I'd lose my shade garden too.

We planted some arbor vitae on the side up closer to the house last year because of how they placed a new-old trailer on the property next to us; facing our backyard. They've remodeled the place so it looks much better; but no one has moved in yet. I guess it gives us time for those to start providing a little more privacy. It's going to be a while.

 

[catapault]

Himself of the engineer's mind says it matters not at all what you say to your plants. it is the fact that you are breathing carbon dioxide on them. No romance.

 

[Winchester]

Ever since we lost all those trees, I've been wanting to put up a really tall (like 16-foot) fence up at the rear property line, largely for privacy reasons. The guy who owns the property right behind us is a real character, been in jail several times for domestic terrorism, for example. He doesn't have a house on the property. I will give him credit for mowing his entire property with a push mower, he keeps his property well-maintained. But that's the only credit he'll get from me. I could tell many, many stories of this guy, going back to when we first moved into our house back in 1985. It's been on-going. There's also a house behind our neighbor's house and, while they don't talk to anybody much and they keep to themselves, at times Rick and the husband will talk if they're out at the same time. There's a huge gap in our tree line and we've tried planting other trees there, but they don't do well. A hedge wouldn't really work unless it grew very, very tall. We live on a hill and they're behind us, up at the top of the hill, so they could see right over.

Our neighbors aren't bad people or anything (well, except for the guy right behind us; he has more than a few screws loose), but after years of having our trees, it's really bare at the property lines now. I'd probably be happy with our house situated right in the center of about 100 acres. No neighbors, except for animals.

Tobermory That photinia is gorgeous!

I know it's not that I'm talking to my plants; it's that I'm breathing on my plants. I'll take it. They seem to do well.

 

[catapault]

Would it work to put up tall vertical sections of sturdy fencing - chain link comes to mind - inbetween the existing trees and grow evergreen vines on it, such as English ivy.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I'd probably be happy with our house situated right in the center of about 100 acres. No neighbors, except for animals.

That’s my dream property. You wouldn’t even need curtains or blinds.