Hubby likes the vegetables ( the vegie garden is his and the flowers are mine) and tilling. What is it with men and their straight rows! Other than that he has built me arbors, trellises and made me raised beds. He likes building things so I shouldn't complain. His idea of weeding is to walk around with a shovel and chop things off at ground level, then he can't figure out why the weeds come back! I have lost more than one plant due to the shovel. Have to admit he's a bit more careful now since I told him where I was going to put it if he wasn't! Marg

Before he took off " what's his name" didn't have a clue about what was what. Well he could recognize a mature cabbage and I think he recognized the resemblance to his own head.

LOL Cheryl!

With my Dh, it's the veg garden too. He tills it - yes, straight rows, Marg! - and plants and hills his potatoes. He'll even go out and pick things. He isn't much for hand weeding, though he will do it once in awhile.

He has no real interest in the flower beds and i've managed to keep things out from under his lawn mower for the past few years. He did mow down the little lilac i planted at my daughter's house a couple of weeks ago, though. He'll help with something if i need it, like whipper-snippering around the flower beds (i have my own one but it's broken), and he has dug holes for planting trees, etc. I don't think he sees the need for flowers like there's a need for vegetables. :)

Beegood - LOL what's his name. Nice.

Mine is sort of interested in the lawn now. But he fully supports my gardening if it removes sections of the lawn that he doesn't have to cut. He doesn't even complain if I spend money on plants. He doesn't help and I don't want him to. It's mine, all mine!

Aren't men wonderful?

Mine would never even offer to mow the lawn. But if he did, I wouldn't let him. It's mine, too =:)

The unpaid hired help only does what I give instructions for, LOL !

Well I'm sure everyone has by now heard me refer to DH as the OCD Lawn Boy - I keep meaning to get him a TShirt made with that on it. Not sure if he'd wear it - yeah, he probably would!

He's really not that anal about the lawn, but probably a lot more than I would be.

My hubby really doesn't give two farts about the flowers. Every once in awhile I drag him around the edge to point out all the exciting things that are blooming!! He "hmms" and "oh's" at the right time, but he doesn't care at all. That bothered me for awhile, but I got over it. He did do most of the digging and backfilling of my flowerbeds, he also has dug the holes for my bigger tree transplants, and currently his project is a big deer fence around our future veggie garden/orchard area. So he helps me a lot. I think he'll be more into the veggies and fruit..he likes things that there is a practical payoff for - he can eat them! He doesn't complain much about me buying flowers though...he is quite graciously understanding, actually.

Hmmmmm. I guess I'd have to say that my DH is not particularly involved in my gardening except to do some of the heavy work. He is just as happy to have me out of the house so he can watch sports! He knows my flora and fauna are part of who I am and supports me in every way with all the living things I care for. Rarely do I hear a,"You're spending too much on plants" and equally, "Those dogs are costing us too much money". He will feed the birds, bunnies and other assorted wildlife and will bring things in out of the rain if necessary. He also knows not to cut too close to my flower beds!

You are one lucky lady!!!

Thanks Cheryl. Of course there are other things and I know I complain about just as much or more things that he does that I don't appreciate. Then again, he does the poop patrol! In fact he's sort of OC about it! Somewhat like Pudge's Lawn Boy I suspect but I don't think he'd wear a t-shirt that says, "I"M INTO POOP". LOL

OMG, my DH is a little of all of yours. He's interested in anything he can eat (unless I try to feed him those supposed delicacies, like weeds or squash flowers, etc.), but otherwise just likes that I use up lawn space for my flowers. He helps with things I can't do (a really heavy rock, digging large holes, building my trellis fence, arbor, and pergola), but his "vision" does not match mine...LOL. In the garden, I'm like other women are in the living room..."move the couch there, no, I don't like it there, how about over there...."
I'd rather do it myself and not feel rushed to have the "right" space picked out! And I learned long ago not to let him help weed...he once pulled out all the potatoes...like, you can't tell that they're all in a straight row? And if it's yellow, he thinks it's a dandelion...

I'm a guy and I don't do straight rows or any of the other things. We're all different. I even introduced my wife to new types of vegetables. She also loves to garden, although tending more towards the flowers than the veggies. She's very good with tools - I am not - so we make a good partnership.

DH is going to get me new leather work gloves =:) He was reluctant to cut close to my hands and rightly so. I was paying more attention to the plant than to where my hands were.

Slimy Okra, I was wondering if any of the men would chime in. That's why I used "Other Half". =:)

My DH is the perfect garden "helper". I say dig here and he digs, he has no opinion to conflict with mine. I accept all garden compliments but have to own up to any garden disasters.He likes to ride around on the lawn mower so I am freed from doing that job most of the time unless I want to. He secretly loves the garden but doesnt want to do the regular chores like weeding and dead heading etc but will water the flowerbeds if I need help. If I want something built he will build it. I dont have the energy to trade him in on a newer model so I will just stick to the old reliable one..lol...Jean

My DH and I bicker and squabble about all kinds of silly things, including the fact that he refuses to ever call anything but vegetables a garden. However, he is wonderful about doing anything I ask of him that I can't manage myself and has never begrudged me so much as a dime I have ever spent on my gardening, even when we didn't have a dime to spend. I do most of the yard work by choice though he pitches in too especially with the heavier work. He does nag at me for overdoing it frequently but is also generous in his compliments and praise. I know that he takes a great deal of pleasure in my pleasure in gardening and he is very thoughtful about selecting gardening gifts or matirials that he knows I hanker after. I knew he was the man for me when I found out from his mother how thoughful he was indulging her garden outings (she didn't drive)and helping her with things that were important to her. Last fall when I was so homesick for Minnesota and my gardens there he insisted we buy a small piece of property so I would have a place to garden and sink down roots here in our new state. He is gone a lot now and knew how bereft I was at all the changes in our lives. Now if that doesn't qualify him for seriously romantic loving gesture of the year I don't know what could. Twenty seven years of bickering and loving-life is good.

freezengirl, I can relate to your husband calling only vegetables a garden. I do almost all of our "gardening" and have for years, but I still feel odd calling my flower beds the garden. I lean towards "flower beds", "vegetable garden" and "yard work", which is for everything that isn't vegetables or flowers =:) On this forum I refer to my "garden" more broadly because everyone else seems to, LOL!

As for a seriously romantic loving gesture, my DH got me a bucket of vermicomposting worms for Christmas this year! =:)

Oh Lynn, that is funny!! Sounds like something my DH would do if he even knew what I would do with a bucket of worms! He'd probaly think I wanted to go fishing with my boyfriend! Anything to get me out of the house so he can watch sports!

My DH doesn't eat anything that doesn't come in a can or a bakery clamshell so he probably doesn't even know WHAT I am growing out there. For all he knows it could be wacky tobacky! He did, however, go out in the rain this morning when I called him to the window to see what was in the feeder dish on the fence. He thought it was a dead squirrel! Turns out it was pine cones the little buggers put in there to remind me their dish is empty! He threw them at me or at the window laughing all the while! He fishes dead birds out of the rain barrel too. How's that for a garden helper and a knight in shining armour? LOL

Long term marriage's or relationships are quite similar in a lot of ways to a healthy garden. Tending and caring, judicious applications of (bs)manure, working through the rough patches, appreciating the moments of grace and beauty and respect for the things beyond our control. Starting out we are starry eyed, dedicated and pay attention to everything. After a while we learn to pick our battles, find satisfaction in what works and leave the rest up to the universe. :-)

Did I mention DH thought of the worms all on his own? He also is in charge of feeding them.

Freezengirl - how well written and true. You must be a counsellor or well read, patient, and understanding.

I think I'll put your comments in my clippings =:)

My husband "enjoying" the garden along with his helpers. The puppy (Johnny Cash) is in training to go live with Ann and Bob at Trail's End Iris Gardens. :)

{{gwi:629731}}

I have that garden cart too. Sure is handy, isn't it? The guy pulling it would be handy too - i have to do all my own digging! LOL

The garden cart is one of the best purchases I ever made! The guy pulling it thinks so too! He is the best specimen from my old man collection! LOL Poor guy sure has a sore back tho.......

I envy you all. On our farm, my other half was always surprising me. Whenever he got fed up with mowing a "difficult" patch of the lawn, he would tip a bucket load of fresh chicken manure on top of the grass, straw and all, and present me with a new garden. Oh-kay. No matter how I would prepare the beds, when I did try to grow something there, the weeds would inevitably emerge at some point. Then he would break out the Round-up and spray everything indiscriminately in sight. After a few years, we had no flowers, no vegetables but a whole lot of earthen mounds dotted randomly all over the yard. Looked like giant drunken ground hogs lived there. Hmph. Need I say that I'm happily divorced now?

LMAO "Giant Drunken ground hogs". That is too funny!!! And that is how it would be for me if I wasn't watching his every move or the dogs weren't! He hasn't started the other side of the lawn yet. I hope he doesn't figure out what the RU is used for. My luck he will use it to kill the ants!

I wish! He likes the patio furniture and shooting the gophers. *&^%$#*&^%@

My DH loves the garden! Not so much for himself, but because he knows that it makes me happy. :) He has made many greenhouses for me over the years, and does help in the garden. He helps dig potatoes, lay landscape cloth, etc. When I'm canning or freezing produce, he's a big encourager. When we had a lot of sweet corn one year, he was in the kitchen with me, willingly.

I am very lucky my hd doesn't mind working in the gardens with me. He helps create the beds ,rototilles ,enhances the soil and does most of the hard-scape work for me.I lay out plants,shrubs trees whatever and away we go.He's great doing designs and NO he doesn't do straight rows in the veggie garden ,but creates various layouts that look great from up the hill overlooking it. We grow buckwheat in areas we are later turning into grass .He has mowed super mazes there that our grandkids love to go in( the buckwheat grows to 6 ft or more) He mostly does the heavy stuff and the veggies while I do the flowers , shrubs etc.---just don't get him the loppers please!!!! I'm out there till dark(10;00) or more and the best is he loves to cook so supper is always ready for me.
Freezengirl- I love your descrption sooooo true for us also. After 33 years ain't love grand!!!!!! He's even got many of the flower names right now .love all the funny comments everyone It's good to be back.
take care all lois