Gardening Questions Welcomed

I was ruminating with a fellow gardener up at the North garden about my most recent blog. I told her I thought it was rather odd that a blog that I had just thrown out there, more as a rambling than a composed thought, had generated more comments than any other contribution to my blog. She had just recently started to read my blog (having suggested to me that I blog, after several conversations with me, and having been told to check out Framingham Patch.) Her theory about why I was getting so many responses to that particular blog was because we're all in the same boat right now.

That comment made me think of all the times that people ask me gardening questions. My FAVORITE example is this: the other night I was cooking supper when I recieved a text from my ex-husband, "Do you have time in about 10 minutes for a gardening question?" This usually means he's going to call me in 10 minutes. I told him I was about to start frying stuff and asked if he could call sooner. He replied that they'd be there as quickly as possible! (He, too, lives in Framingham.)

His timing, as always, was impecable. He arrived just in time to scarf down a jalapeno popper. Hmmmmm ... what's wrong with this picture? He and his girlfriend arrived with a tomato from a plant I had given them (again, what was I thinking?!?!) that was obviously suffering from blossom end rot. There's no mistaking that affliction.

I diagnosed the problem, kicked him out of the kitchen before he ate me out of house and home, and gave them a small quantity of "Serenade", an organic anti-fungal treatment that can be sprayed on tomatoes to cure them of said blossom end rot. Of course, I also lectured him about not watering one's tomaotes too frequently.

So the woman with whom I was speaking about the blog comments had also had a gardening problem, which I was able to diagnose in a general way, and for which problem I was able to give her a small quantity of a cure to spray on and see if if helped. Because sometimes, if the cure helps, that tells you what the problem is.

I have loads of websites to which I go when I have a gardening problem, but I think sometimes people just need a place to start.

So here's the deal. If you're reading this, and you're in "The Ham," and you ever have a gardening problem, you shouldn't hesitate to contact me. I live for this stuff. And, chances are, if you're in Framingham and are experiencing a gardening problem, I've probably experienced it too.

It takes a village, people!

P.S. That bug pictured is one I sent to a help site, to try and figure out if it was the bug eating my plants or something beneficial. They hedged, but it turned out it was a bug that eats a lot of aphids. Works for me. I did NOT try to kill it!