Buddha Garden

lobster

Yesterday I was able to do some gardening.
Pulling up sentient weeds, interfering with the natural order of things. Still I think gardening is a potential practice.
http://web.archive.org/web/20041121042904/http://pages.britishlibrary.net/lobster/garden/garden.html

Do you practice gardening? Better still, is gardening part of your practice?
Any pics? Window box? Indoor bottle garden? Zen tray garden? Sprig of weed on your shrine? Mushroom box? Herbs?

riverflow

I bought a new moth orchid about two (?) weeks ago. The petals are partly white with a rich purple colour. Hopefully this time I won't kill it like I did the one had some years ago. The primary danger is over-watering them. But the store clerk gave me a handy tip: for orchids, place three ice cubes in the pot once a week. That is just enough and it seeps in just a little at a time. So far so good. I put it next to my altar.

That same day I bought this wee plant--not a philodendron, but something like it (I don't recall what it is called). I have it on the other side of the altar.

I live in a loft apartment and I've been considering buying about five philodendrons (they are green vine-like plants) and placing them as a row across the edge of the loft to hang down from it. I think it would look amazing.

BonsaiDoug

Gardening, no. Bonsai yes. When I'm totally immersed in shaping and trimming, it's extremely in-the-moment for me; very single-minded concentration. For a Theravadan... quite Zen like.

Vastmind

Some roses from my garden...

federica

(since when have weeds been 'sentient'.....? :wtf: )

karasti

I garden. Mostly veggies (though we have a few house plants and a terrarium) but I help my grandma with her vast yard gardens at well. I find it to be a great addition to my practice. or rather, my practice has been a great addition to my gardening, lol. Quite meditative and mindful in more ways than 1.

Jeffrey

We have a dog pen that is unused and full of ivy. I have removed the ivy in maybe 1/6 of it and plan to rototil it and plant ferns and a path around daffodils and toolips that are already there. Prayer flags from the pen fence.

Vastmind

My hubby does herbs and teas....I'll see if I can get him to label
pics, haha....all in pots on back porch...

Jeffrey

Cool, you can grow teas?

Vastmind

yes....hold on...quick list to come.....

Edit...

ginger
apple mint
rosemary
basil
2 types of lavender
cilantro
2 root teas from West Africa....not
grow green.....but 2 types of dried bark...
I'll do more research when I feel like it...haha.
these are brought back home...in rice sacks...haha.

He has more garden time in the morning...that's what
I tease him....thats why his stuff does so good, hahaha
Roses are hard!

kashi

my garden is smoke-able
jk

Jeffrey

@kashi, I wish. I haven't got up the nerve yet, but I used to enjoy 'oregano' at one time in my life.

kashi

on a serious note I haven't smoked weed since I was 15. Id be a liar if I said I don't miss it.

Jeffrey

For me it was with my cousins last. I totally couldn't function I think my illness and meds are not happy with smokeable herbs (such as cilantro).

John_Spencer

federica said:

(since when have weeds been 'sentient'.....? :wtf: )

Interesting point, I would say that they are sentient in that they have sense perceptors and respond to stimuli. They have all the consciousness they need to be a weed - no?

federica

No.

Wisdom23

Recently i bought a Bonsai tree. I dont have my own house yet but i help.out with gardening and cant wait till.i own my own.

karasti

Plants may not be sentient in the same way as, say, our pet dog. But I find it quite possible to connect with them. They respond to negative and positive stimuli. I treat my plants with every bit as much care and respect as I treat our pets.

John_Spencer

federica said:

No.

You are a dog trainer @federica. Are dogs sentient?

Wikipedia: "In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to experience sensations"

John_Spencer

Sorry, @federica that last comment may have been a little blunt.

I do extend sentience to weeds thought. Just not 'self' sentience.

:rolleyes:

Florian

@lobster. Great pic. Laughed out loud.

Just watching my favourite wysteria come to life after the winter, and preparing to grind my teeth as the slugs wake up and get back to work in the borders.

karasti

Today is finally the day I can plant the rest (except beans) of our garden. The garlic, onions and potatoes are happily growing in the sun, after drying out a bit from 5 days of rain. We bought 2 apple trees which won't produce yet but are flowering. Today we'll prepare the rest of the beds and then plant our carrots, peas, lettuce, spinach, sunflower, pumpkins, watermelon, chard and cucumbers. yay!

Vastmind

karasti said:

Today is finally the day I can plant the rest (except beans) of our garden. The garlic, onions and potatoes are happily growing in the sun, after drying out a bit from 5 days of rain. We bought 2 apple trees which won't produce yet but are flowering. Today we'll prepare the rest of the beds and then plant our carrots, peas, lettuce, spinach, sunflower, pumpkins, watermelon, chard and cucumbers. yay!

I am sooooo jealous! I'm coming to your house for salads!

This is the first year my dwarf apple tree is producing...
I counted 30 little green apples yesterday! Took about
4-5 years.

karasti

oh nice! We planted semi-dwarf trees, they are maybe 4-5 feet tall, so we have a few years before they'll produce, too. We have a lot of wild fruit trees in the area (lots of crab apple) and a whole row of lilacs in our yard, so hopefully we get adequate bees to pollinate them. We've never had fruit trees before so hopefully it works out. We also have raspberries, which is one of my all-time favorites. My grandma used to grow them to make jam, and I would sneak into her yard (she lives next door) and steal them off the bush, LOL.
What kind of apples do you have?
I've tried to plant asparagus, which grows really well here, but haven't had much luck. I need to read up more. Most of what I read said to start inside 3 months early in containers, move outside, but then bring in for the first winter, and then in spring transplant them outside. They grew great in the summer but they did not survive transplanting them the follow year. It's a long venture for one that is so tricky, lol. Luckily, I can pick it wild, as a farmer a number of years ago let his plot go wild and there is a whole bunch of it all over that he lets people just come pick.

Vastmind

Don't know what kind...hubby brought 2 home one day
and he threw the little tags away. We lost one the first
year, and I babied this one...so I'm really excited. They turn
red...hahaha...that's all I know.
Haven't tried asparagus.....we did watermelons a couple of
years...the herb garden is in full swing now.
Hubby is trying pumpkins for the first time this year....
any pointers or tips?

sndymorn

Here is a question I have an answer for: Why should a Zen garden ( gravel and rocks which are raked to create water effect) be tended by the very old or very young? My answer may not be true, but it has the ring of truth. What is your guess?
I was given this answer by a docent at the Asian Museum in San Francisco.

karasti

Pumpkins are mostly pretty easy. Make sure as the vines grow they don't get tangled in other things. We end up having to cover them some nights in the summer and often in the fall. Cooler weather will slow their growth, so nights we start getting into the 40s we usually cover them, vine and fruit. You do have to do a little pruning and moving around of the main vine and secondary vines. This site has really good information, this is where we go for questions:
http://pumpkinnook.com/howto/vines.htm

how

I have a veggi garden (carrots, onion, raddishes, lettuce, tomatoes, peas, zucchini & cucumber) better tended by slugs carrying shivs and gang colors than by me. I have further hindered it with the shade from the tall bamboo & willow planted nearby to bring some garden privacy from a neighbouring apartment building.

I have a small Zen garden inside for my cat.. Note to self. Change the kitty litter.

lobster

how said:

I have a small Zen garden inside for my cat..

I want a small Zen garden inside my cat.

First get cat.