Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
If you're looking for general herbs, lots of places have organic and heirloom seeds, Lowe's, Home Depot, even Walmart at times, and you can usually check their stock before you go. We have several farmers markets around where we've been regular enough that we know who to go to; of you have a nursery around you might check there for help identifying what grows best in your climate (esp if low-maintenance!).
If you're looking for health plants, like chamomile and dandelion etc, check out some tcm sites for lists by symptom and cross match to your growing zone. I've found some Facebook (I know, I made an avatar a long time ago just for this kind of research) groups that are seriously into native plants, or health plants, and how to use health plants, and the fact that they share photos and links is very useful. I tend to prefer herbs in containers close to the house for ease in care and harvesting, but we've tried to let some go wild out in parts of the yard just to see...
Even Dollar Tree seeds are non-GMO and that's nice! And I will look around on Fb to see if anyone has anything. We're going to plan our garden a bit better for next year and will likely try new varieties. The heat has slowed growth and blooms down a bit, but I keep the soil wet enough so the plants don't die of thirst.
I want to attract bees and hummingbirds.
There's so much I want to do, but if I do it myself, I end up with a migraine from my stupid neck and shoulder and that sucks!
Oh yeah, I forgot about Dollar Tree, confirmed! So sorry for the migraines, they really put a damper on too much in people's lives, will add you to our health prayer list!
My MIL is a plant genius and has butterfly patches everywhere (zone 7) with the big "butterfly bush" and tons of native wildflowers, planted in rows or circles. Suddenly they're not weeds, but self-sustaining (low maintenance!) areas of attraction. We're trying to identify all native but adding in herbs and medicinal plants so that the areas have a chance at keeping themselves re-seeding and low maintenance. She's a seasoned citizen and can only do stuff in the hot season a little bit at a time; her kids help by setting up sprinklers etc so she can manage those parts without straining herself too much. A lot must be done in bits, early mornings.
We're learning from frens about this non-native invader, purpura something, member of the mint family and big deal in TCM, so now we're trying to steer it into it's own area, where we were pulling it up as a weed before.