A true gardener....
Never eats crackers on the bed
Never leaves toilet seat cover --up
Never buys flowers for the valentine's day
...............................................

... enjoys making compost.
... enjoys getting touchy-feely with the compost.
... enjoys the smell of compost.
... apologizes to worms for simply disturbing them while turning the compost.
... marvels at the fact that such a tiny seed can grow into a monster.
... squeals with delight when on Valentine's Day the gift is a bale of potting soil and NOT roses.
... calls a vacation a week helping your mother in her gardens which have gone amuck.
... can sit for hours marveling at her mother's gardens which have gone amuck and not lift a finger to weed anything out for fear of disturbing this wonderful sight.

I have to hit the pillow now but may come back with more Bev. Love the thread!

Oh, how about this one? A true gardener still feels guilty years after accidentally killing a toad while digging in the vegetable bed. :(

My husband asked me to post this:

"A true gardener is someone who fills the back of the station wagon with sh*t (the equine variety) and doesn't apologize for it!"

You are a true gardener when:
You obsess over pictures of gardens, seed catalogues, all winter long, counting down the day's until you can get back into the dirt.
When you squash your first potato bug, or transplant worms, or you throw off your shoes and just go foot naked through the dirt.
When you get your plants somewhere other than the store, You get really excited over manure, compost, and mulch.
When give away your first plant, and or convert a non gardener into the fold.
When no matter how you try you can't get all the dirt off your hands,and truth be told you don't care.
You can recognise, or have been to most of the garden centers within a hundred miles of your home.
When there is no where else you would want be.

A true gardener:

doesn't mind getting compost on her/his hair.

gets conflicted over buying new plants or having a hair colour job.

spends hundreds on plants but is still not satisfied.

gets excited by anything green.

fill up a basement with growlight.

can't get rid of a single plant without feeling guilty.

might go to exciting places like architectural tours but will only get wowed by a plant.

will impose herself on friends or neighbors to work on their garden (because there's no more work to do in her garden).

owns tons of magazine and books on gardening.

will grow a garden anywhere in any location, indoors or out, in aquariums or bottles. (I've an aquarium filled with plants - with the fish for accessories).

"can't get rid of a single plant without feeling guilty."

Yep. I can relate.

This is fun. I thought of another one:

... doesn't eat at the dining room table between March and June-- cause it's covered with seed packets, starting mix, and little pots.

....loves giving away extra plants for free if necessary, so they can have new "homes", just because it seems wasteful to put them on the compost heap.

Just wondering why so many gardeners having only one seed available in their trade list and it says 'No current listings' ???

Well some of these are fun, some pretty serious.....
but how about these:

A "true gardener" has dirt under his/her fingernails, even when they are cut so short there isn't any room...

A true gardener goes to the local hardware store with dirt on her/his face, and no longer gets funny looks....

A true gardener... has grass/dirt stains on the belly and elbows of his/her clothes, not just on the knees....

A true gardener can sit still inside, but never outside

....sometimes goes to bed with dirt between her toes because she's just going dirty again in the morning.

I LOVE that! How about dirty knees?

Dirt all over! Our elegant looking Avon lady used to visit at those special times when i was covered with dirt from one end to the next, hair all flyaway, filthy jeans. LOL

David nailed it:

"A true gardener can sit still inside, but never outside. . ."

Perhaps, I would it elaborate on it this way:

"A true gardener can sit still inside, but never outside IN THEIR OWN GARDENS!"

In truth, I love to sit still in OTHER people's gardens and let them speak to me. . .

Carl

Maybe I'm an UNtrue gardener...

This morning at church from my seat in the choir loft, during an unusually long sermon, I'm daydreaming about how to turn my cold frame into a hot bed using a wood-frame "sandbox" and a heater cable.

A true gardener rushes out each Spring every day until she or he spots the first pink of the bleeding heart, or tulip tip coming through. A true gardener believes that flowers are for the soul and part of God's beautiful creation. A true gardener loves to help new converts and invites comments and ideas from older experienced gardeners. A true gardener can't wait till Spring catalogs arrive to read about the latest release even though they must wait for the price to come down. Diry fingernails, green knees, and pride in the beauty of it all. Just can't wait to get out there. Mary

Last week after our lunch date, I had my husband take me to a local nursery. I didn't buy anything. I walked around smelling all of the glorious flowers. I was ALL smiles when we left; a full tummy and a head full of heaven. Have been planning ever since where I can put those plants. Does that count? I didn't buy anything because my rose order was coming last week and I did spend all weekend planting those and mulching, and ....
Jackie

I often visit the still-closed nurseries in March and just walk around smelling the dirt. :) Very therapeutic!

A true gardener

Hauls the spouse out to the garden to show them the crocus, daff, and tulip noses all making an appearance.

Realizes that ten degrees does not mean spring, but working outside is way more fun than attacking the dust bunnies indoors. (It better snow or rain again, cuz my housework will be a thing of the past).

Loves the sound of tapping against wintersown bottles.."Hello..is there anybody in there?"

Reveling in the song of the first red-winged black bird..for me, the first harbinger of spring.

How many of you watch movies and instead of listening to the scene, you are concentrating on ID'ing the plants, the season, and maybe how to copy that garden?

I was watching Practical Magic (Sandra Bullock) and all I could think of during that scene where the roses came up all too suddenly and out of season. Was how did they manage to plant a climber like that in full bloom - in what looks to be late spring? or the scene were the lead character is tending vegetable garden -- plants growing way too tight to each other and looking far too healthy. More likely they were all freshly planted.

or gee, I wish I could have a greenhouse like that.

Ha! - Sign of a true gardener.

... eyeing up the top of DH's router to use as a heating mat, it's always on and alway warm :).

Yes! I love to walk around in nursery greenhouses in March just to feel immersed in that warm humid air and all that stuff GROWING. I have to pretend I'm interested in the seed racks just so the staff don't think I'm loitering.

Or feeling all warm and fuzzy when some new seed variety germinates. Dragging the DH into the sunroom to look at it. Appreciating his effort to share my joy, knowing his joy comes in July, when the plant blooms and the bees and butterflies are all over it he gets to take photos.

This is all so true! I thought I was the only crazy woman who loved to be covered from head to toe in dirt! I can't wait until I can get back out there and dig in the Earth!! Soon, very soon my housework and baking will be a thing of the past and my nails, feet and jeans will be always dirty.

I can relate to all of them!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Country DIY Blog

....some great philosopher said ( and it could be me?) In gardening, our fantasy comes true. We see ourselves in every single leaf, every single petal.. ..Our dreams becomes reality. If you are a religious person, you will find God there.

I like that, Chowdhry! :)

When a true gardener does their laundry- which they don't really like to take the time to do, but have to because everything they own gets filthy so fast- they find pockets full of plant tags, plant markers, marker pens, seed packs and dirt(or should I say soil)!!!
I started buying those light weight polyester pants that have all the pockets and zippers. I can zip off the legs to whatever length I want and have pockets galore for everything. My kids think I'm crazy but I don't care. I only have to go in the house to pee!
But there is allot of pockets to empty at laundry time!

I hate having to go into the house to pee - means i have to wash my hands first! And then there are the times that i really should be taking my jeans off outside or in the porch before i go into the house!

Oh I am laughing so hard!

I have the indoor-outdoor issue with BOOTS. After stepping on a nail and going over on my ankles a couple of times I bought some lace-up, steel-toed work boots. They are heavy but I just figure it's exercise. The soles have huge treads that collect great gobs of guck that leave a trail behind me. The laces are fiddly, so I end up wearing my clodhoppers into the bathroom for the inevitable pee break. The DH is very understanding of the "gardener tracks".

why not create an outdoor shower? I remember my mother had an area in her yard where one can wash off boots and hands before entering the house.

You are so roght Bev!
Footwear is an entirely different matter. By the end of the summer true gardeners have no good shoes left because even though you say in the spring certain ones are going to be for good and others for gardening, they all make it into the garden for some reason or other even if it's just to pick a cucumber or a few beans! And I just blame the dogs for the dirty floors even though I know I did most of it!

I do wash my boots and hands outside before coming in but my boots usually have chicken poop on them, as well as dirt. I love my farmer boots! I bought knee high, good to -40c, 100% waterproof, steel toe and shank boots last spring and I LOVE them! I wear my slip on rubber shoes in the summer.

I do hate having to come in to pee and sometimes if I wait until my boots and hands are clean, I won't make it. Thankfully I live out in the country with no neighbors.
The corn appreciates it ;-) LOL! How did we get onto this subject?

Here is a link that might be useful: My Country DIY Blog

Obviously, a true gardener pees outside! LOL When i was reading about the outdoor shower i was thinking "OMG, i leave it for so long that if i had to wash my boots and hands off, i'd never make it inside!" I see i'm not the only one! :D

LOL! Yep, that's me! I'm glad to hear someone else does that too! It makes good high nitrogen fertilizer, watered down 10 to 1.

So true about the shoes here! and the floors! We have given up. Between pets, garden dirt in summer and wood stove in winter the floor is always dirty, so we often wear our shoes around downstairs (but not with chicken poop on them). There's no carpet and no small children. Of course, if someone is coming to visit, it gets cleaned. Accepting a dirty floor saves me a lot of stress and hassle and lets me enjoy my garden :-)

Ditto for the dirty fingerprints on the door. I just don't worry about it anymore. I would much rather be gardening or painting.

I have a little magnet on my fridge that says "Dull Women Have Immaculate Homes." :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: My Country DIY Blog

And I could still garden all day...

Here are my two cents.I was away, couldn't add them earlier.
True gardener has never enough room for all the plants he wants to grow.
Hala.

how true! how about this, a true gardener will plant anything, anywhere, anyhow.

Sheryl -- I love your paintings and my favorite is your animal paintings especially the chicken. you should sell your stuff. I'm sure there will be lots of buyers.

Here's a continuation of Hala's idea.
A true gardener has a pot ghetto sitting outside the garage door for quite a bit of the summer but still think they need to buy more plants when they come on sale!
Debbie

And another continuation - a true gardener must rescue plants from garden centres at the end of season!

A true gardener owns a halogen work light on a stand so she can keep gardening after it gets dark!

Wyndyacre, doesn't everyone have one of those? :o).

Not me - the mosquitoes tend to drive me indoors by the time it gets dark! This "true gardener" doesn't get along with mosquitoes. :-/

Knowledge, experience, passion for gardening, garden aesthetics, successful harvests.

Ianna, thank you so much! I am so glad you like them! I do sell them. Most of those on display are already sold. I only have 5 of those shown left at the moment (not the chicken).

I garden in the dark, usually before sunrise! I have one of those big farm street lights in my front yard and use a flashlight. I have always gardened before sunrise. When I lived in town the neighbors thought I was crazy! LOL! I should get a halogen work light for outside! In the past years I have used deet and mosquito netting. I am trying to find something more organic that actually works well to repel mosquitoes.

I got 30 perennials for .25 each from Canadian Tire at the end of the summer last year! I can't wait to see what grows this spring! I love end of the year sales!

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:)

somehow I didn't preview it to make sure I had the right link for the picture... grrrr.

Here it is:

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:)))))))

You meant this:

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I am truly humbled...

Well Green thumb guy - I hope you have another fridge with something more to eat in it than just some gingerale, some beer and some onions!! I'm not sure what kind of diet that is - maybe your gardening snacks?