Give and take in the garden

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Black-Eyed Susans received from Debbie, 4/22/08.

A fish tank. A smashed hula hoop. And one ovulation prediction kit. What do all these items have in common? They're all among the recent offerings on my local Freecycle list. (And I suppose I could get creative here and write a fictitious story about how a fish tank, a smashed hula hoop, and an ovulation prediction kit relate in some way to gardening, but I will leave that to your imagination.)

If you have something you want to get rid of, chances are someone on your local Freecycle list will take it. Conversely, if you're looking for a specific item, you might consider posting a "Wanted" notice to the list. I wanted Black-Eyed Susan plants for my new front yard garden. Within a short time after posting my plant request, I had a response from a fellow Freecycler named Debbie, who offered to give me a few from her garden. Free plants, just for asking.

While it's nice to receive, it also feels great to be in a position to give. We had two crape myrtles in the backyard that didn't fit into our long-term plans for the garden. I like crape myrtles, I do, but they grow enormous around here, and we decided to get rid of them while they were still small and (somewhat) easy to dig out.

On the DC Urban Gardeners List, Gwen from Annapolis, Maryland, was looking for shrubs and perennials for her new garden. I was happy to find a taker for my crape myrtles, and it turns out they were among the plants on Gwen's wish list.

One of two crape myrtles moved out to Gwen's place in Annapolis.
Phase One of Blueberry Lane begins, 6/8/08.

This weekend, Gwen and her friend Maria came by and helped us dig them out, and now I have room to start the next phase of the garden. I want to put in fruit bushes - blueberries and currants, specifically - and I plan to start working on the soil for them soon.