My faith is very important to me and the very cornerstone of my peace and sanity. Gardening is also important to me (and my sanity). When I read this article, that combines the two, I felt compelled to pass it along. It presents new ideas and possibilities. Really, though, isn't all gardening based on faith?
A Bible Garden Is a Horticultural and Historical Challenge
By DEAN FOSDICKTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: Saturday, June 14, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
People who grow gardens grow in faith, according to the Rev. Marsh Hudson-Knapp, which accounts in large part for the Bible garden he helped established adjacent to his church a quarter-century ago."A lot of people's spirituality is rooted in nature," said Hudson-Knapp, pastor of The First Congregational Church of Fair Haven, Vt. "There's always been a deep (biblical) connection with gardening. With each new season, life is bursting forth again."
A Bible garden is not a theme recommended for the casual hobbyist. Cultivating every flower, shrub, food crop or fruit mentioned in the Scriptures is a daunting objective, especially if you're trying to be exacting about plant choice. More than 120 plants have been mentioned in the Bible, although that total is open to interpretation.
How do you determine, for example, exactly what kind of "burning bush" was cited in the story of Moses (Exodus 3:2). Or what is meant by such figurative imagery as "grains," "trees" or "sweet smelling plant?" "We decided not to be all that precise," Hudson-Knapp said in a telephone interview. "We use substitutes at times, especially where we can't duplicate the growing conditions of certain plants. That means going with the botanical cousins; the same genus, but a different species."
There are plants of the Bible and then there are plants of the Bible lands, said Lytton John Musselman, who chairs the Department of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University and is author of "Figs, Dates, Laurel and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and the Quran."
Read more.... http://www.theledger.com/article/20080614/NEWS/806140368/1326&title=A_Bible_Garden_Is_a_Horticultural_and_Historical_Challenge
Faith Based Gardening
The First Tomato
I've been watching it all week. Just yesterday evening, I told my sister that this was to be a very special weekend. I had my fresh white bread and mayonnaise ready. It was almost time.
The first bit of color had appeared on a tomato on one of my plants. It started as a pale pink and was gradually getting more red with each passing day. I decided to let it get really, really red and truly "vine-ripened" before indulging.
Home grown tomatoes were something I took for granted during my childhood. We had them at every meal during the summer. It wasn't until I had none for a while that I became aware of just how precious they are. The first sandwich from the first home grown tomato is always a special occasion. No bacon, no lettuce - not even a slice of Vidalia onion - I always want my first sandwich of the year to be pure, with nothing to drown out the true taste that never comes from the grocery store version.
I woke up early this Saturday morning and stepped out side with my cup of coffee. Still half asleep, I glanced over in the direction of my prize possession. I didn't see that little spot of red that I've been eyeing all week. Some leaves must be blocking my view, I assumed. I refilled my coffee cup and bravely walked closer. What was that on the ground? Did my tomato fall off of the vine overnight? 
It was a worst-case scenario. I guess some of my little over-night visitors have been watching my first tomato with the same anticipation as I. You see, when I rest my head on my pillow and close my eyes at night, my back yard comes alive. I see the signs the following day - the trampled plants, the entrances to tunnels, the newly dug trenches, the broken limbs, the suddenly dirty water in my cats' bowl. I never think that much about it. I figure there are little creatures out there that need a place to play since they have been pushed out of their natural habitat.
But this morning, I felt like my little friends had over-stepped their boundaries and worn out their welcome. I felt violated. There it was, on the ground, a half eaten tomato. The little creep that did this did not even have the audacity to eat the entire thing or hide the evidence. It was just left there as if to send a message to me to let me know that it is not just my garden.
Homemade Insecticidal Soap
Speaking of treating whiteflies, I saved this "recipe" several years ago. It was provided by a Duval County, FL Master Gardener and published in my local paper. Not only does it save you money, it is an environmentally friendly option to harsh chemicals.
Homemade Insecticidal Soap
- 2 tablespoons concentrated dish detergent
- 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 gallon of water
Combine all ingredients and pour into spray bottle. Spray all parts of the plant, including the underside of leaves. Repeat in 5 to 7 days, then as necessary.
Do not use soap sprays on gardenias or shrubs with sensitive leaves. If in doubt, spray a small area and check back in three to four days for damage to the leaves.What is that white stuff growing on my___________?
Just fill in the blank. This past weekend was my weekend for "white stuff" (of the plant kind).
I am quite sure that the stuff' on my fire bush, firecracker and boxwood is all from the same family. It looks like someone took a cotton ball, pulled away some of the cotton, wet it and glued it onto the woody part of the plants. At first, it looks like a fungus of some kind. If you poke at it with a twig, you will see a little white alien looking creature start crawling away. My best educated guess tells me this is a planthopper. Technically, they are suppose to hop away, but mine just crawled. Surprisingly, they are not too harmful to your plants. You can blast them away with a water hose. I usually try to cut away the parts that are heavily infected. I think it makes me feel better, just in case I misdiagnosed.
The Five Year Plan
Years ago , I remember reading that it takes about five years for your plants to become established and for you to get a good idea of the outcome of your landscaping efforts. A little later, someone told me once you get everything kind of where you want it, you lose interest in it all and then it becomes just 'yard work'.
In regard to the first observation: If this is true, then I am on a continuous, forever rotating five year plan. I move plants and garden boundaries like I use to move around furniture in my house. Things die, things get too big, a once sunny location becomes shady, your neighbor prunes their tree and all of a sudden you have full-sun again. The list goes on and on. I like it that way. It is an evolution. Everyday is full of surprises and I've just made up my mind to have fun along the way.
In regard to the second observation: this may be true for some, but definitely not for me. My love of being outside and playing in my yard continues to grow and I hope it never goes away.
And on the fourth day.....
a dear old friend of mine came to visit. I think he felt a little sorry for me and my lack of knowledge and experience, but strong desire to create something beautiful in my outside surroundings.
Bless his heart, he ordered a truck load of cypress mulch and then distributed it in every area that resembled a garden bed. He put it in thick, over 6 inches deep, further discouraging the weeds that were recently removed. It was so thick that I can still see remnants of it today, nine years later.
Today, I primarily use pine straw and oak leaves as mulch. However, the cypress was excellent as a base and also good in preventing weeds from reappearing.
Much concern has been expressed over the harvesting of cypress forests to provide mulch. In the southeast, pine straw and oak leaves are abundant, inexpensive and many times free! My neighbor's pine tree drops plenty of needles into my yard. I am amazed at the bags full of pine straw sitting on curbs waiting for disposal. It is attractive and provides excellent nutrients, especially for acid loving plants such as azaleas and hydrangeas.
The synthetic and artificially colored mulches make me want to barf.......why not just plant plastic flowers along with them?
And on Day Three........
My daddy (a farmer) and step-mother (a gardener) came for a visit. When they left, my entire front lawn was covered in weeds and limbs that had previously resided in my back yard.
I was so thankful to have their help. For one thing, there was a bed of something if my front yard. It was a leafy green plant with an orange center. It was not my first choice, but it was really kind of attractive. I found out it was a weed so out it went.
In my back yard, growing around and through anything that was already there, were the most obnoxious, tough and mean looking weeds. I don't know what any of them are called, except for Virginia Creeper which was also plentiful. They were so thick that I was too intimidated to begin to tackle them by myself. I think, really, I was a little fearful of what might come climbing out. We spent much of the day and into the evening cleaning it all out. The result exceeded my "yard trash allowance" so I had to call for a special pickup so it would not kill the grass on my front lawn.
Once this chore was done, I had a better idea of (or the lack of ) what I had to work with. It was probably at this time that my addiction to Round-up began.
And on the second day.....
I planted shrubs. Okay, it wasn't really the second day, but it was my second major task.
Aside from my ugly house, I had an ugly fence that bordered the south and much of the west side of my yard. It provided privacy, but there it was .....just grass and a very weathered fence, staring at me whenever I walked out of my door.
My house came with several geometrically shaped shrubs which I determined to be Waxleaf Ligustrum (Japanese Privet). This plant is very common in this area and I assume was the foundation shrub of the decade when this neighborhood was developed. While this wasn't my choice for my front yard, I had other priorities. I decided to live with and maintain them for a while as I tackled bigger projects.
I had noticed that these same shrubs could also be pruned to be interesting looking trees. There were a couple in my back yard in the "natural fence" that bordered the rest of my lot's west boundary. They were also abundant at a golf club that always looks picture perfect. They were evergreen, had twisted, gnarly trunks and a nice canopy. I made the decision to plant them along the fence on my south side.
There was grass already growing in this bed of shrubs that I was about to create. Remember, at this time I had lived in condos all of my adult life. I did not have much of a collection of garden tools. I think at the time, I had a hoe, a shovel and a weed-eater. What I lacked in tools, I made up for in stress. 
I was having had a very good year with the corporate-America job that I had at the time. I was loading several new accounts as I was buying, moving and getting settled into my new home. With these new loads came an abundance of situations that were not going too well and were beyond my control. These were not problems that I could just lay aside for the weekend.
What I could do is vent that frustration at the task at hand. I physically removed every bit of grass, with a hoe and by hand, for an area that was about 4 feet by 6o feet.
I planted my ligustrums - probably a little too close together, but that again stems from my desire to hide the ugly. I have to say, overall, they have been pest and disease free. They've had a moderate to slow growth rate (my neighbor's oak grew faster and provided a little too much shade). In the first few years, I had to prune the bottom two-thirds pretty regularly so they would grow into 'trees' and not shrubs. Maintaining the 'tree shape' has numerous advantages: (1) I do not have to prune hedges (2) they do not look so predictable (3) they take up much less space. Space is important when you have a small yard and big ideas.
They are far from mature but they do provide a much more pleasant backdrop for my southern border and for the plants now underneath them.
In the beginnning..........
I moved into my house in July of 1999, after living in condominiums all of my adult life and with very, very little gardening experience. The yard was a blank slate. My lot had one tree that was of any size, a Live Oak I'm guessing to be about 12 years old at the time, and it was in the back.
I began pouring over every bit of information I could get my hands on. I referenced books, magazines, TV shows, websites, family and friends. There was one consistent piece of advice for getting started: Begin with a plan. If you have a plan, you will save time and money.
Plan? Yeah, right. I can be detailed oriented at times but that side of my brain did not work when thinking about my landscape. There were too many unknown variables and too much that was out of my control. I could not map out a plan when I didn't know what would grow, how fast it would grow, what plants were available at what price, what kind of winter we would have in a few months....and on and on and on. I had a long list of excuses.
I did have one initial priority and that was to plant some trees. First of all, I love trees; the established vegetation was what attracted me to my neighborhood in the first place. Secondly, while I love my little house, it is ugly. I envisioned big, green trees with gnarly trunks that would hide the front of my house. I reasoned that trees, especially the ones in my budget, would take years to grow to any significant size so the sooner I got them in the ground, the sooner I could pull into my driveway without thinking about my lack of street appeal.
I research and researched trees. I compared fast growers to slow growers, and also took into consideration their wind tolerance since I do live in Florida and we do get tropical storms. I then went tree shopping. Based on research and availability, I settled on a Live Oak (the state tree of my native state of Georgia and very hearty in this area), two red maples (somewhat fast growers) and a Palatka Holly (also a reasonably fast grower and happy in my zone). Since I didn't have access to a pickup truck, I loaded them into my BMW and drove across town with several feet of tree tops sticking out of my car window.
I got home, got a glass of wine so I could think, and planned the placement of the trees to maximize growing space and coverage of my ugly house. You've likely heard the saying, "Don't plant a $100 tree in a $10 hole". Well I erred on the side of caution; I planted $20 trees in million dollar holes. I remember my new neighbor commenting on my impressive holes, as I am sure she was quietly laughing to herself.
As time went on, I learned that new trees need to be staked or else they grow sideways. I experimented with a number of different devices designed for this purpose. Most garden stores carry an assortment and you can make your own. I think they all required constant readjustments.
Nine years later, they are all doing quite nicely. In hind sight, I would allow for a little more room for my Live Oak and Holly since I have to frequently prune the limbs away from my house. I have since learned that Maple trees, or the roots of maple trees, are shallow and can cause problems if they are too near your driveway. This has not been a problem yet, but something that could surface in the future. All in all, it wasn't too bad of a job for a rookie.
