Official TEG Poll : What type of Gardener are you?

[Support]

So many flowers and fruits to plant... so many tools to use for gardening...

However, the flowers and fruits that you would like to plant and the tools you want to work with depends on the type of Gardener that you are or want to be.

So, here's the big question, what type of Gardener are you?

If your answer isn't listed, you can vote for "Others" and reply to this thread with your answers.

Here are the choices with descriptions:

Farmers. Farmers usually keep their gardens tidy and clean. Their gardens are planted in rows and weed-free. Most farmers own a tiller, shredder, tractor, or other major power tool. Their primary concern is the production of the crop- whether it’s flowers, seeds, or vegetables. Farmers enjoy annuals, vegetables, and fruit trees.

Breeders. Breeders are usually “one plant” gardeners. Though they may try planting a new flower or two, they are focused on growing, propagating, sharing and showing of one particular plant.

Landscapers. These gardeners are often professionals. Their task is to create a “setting” or backdrop for a home, and then leave it alone. They use words like balance, effect, mood, color harmony, and minimal maintenance. Their favorite plants are perennials and evergreens plus a few annual bedding plants. They also like patios, walkways, barks, mulches, edgings, and statues.

Collectors. A collector is willing to try any plant! In a collector’s garden you’ll find annual, perennials, evergreens, bulbs, trees, shrubs, vines, and even a cactus or two. They love to experiment and add any type of plant in their garden.

 

[digitS']

Hhmmm ..? I hadn't really thought of myself as a Collector. (I wonder if @Collector would agree with the definition .)

Are we allowed two votes!? Sort of a hybrid ...
"Multiple votes are allowed." Oh yeah!

I might have been more of a farmer, once. I'm far from weed-free, these days. There aren't enough hours in my day! Still, I can remember getting really serious about my garden years ago and how unusual it was for me to find a weed ...

"I'm far from weed-free ..." That might be some kind of psychological slip. I identify with my gardens. I must be a little selfish. Pest threats are taken seriously ... I despair with plant disease.

The veggies are my most serious attraction, altho I've got all these flowers ... Veggies are there for me as food. I have varieties as partners. Somewhere along the line, I began thinking of plants as "collectives." Like those groves of aspens, all connected by underground roots, maybe hundreds of clones, standing all together. So, varieties are like that. Different groupings in different gardens, but a single variety across time and geography, which can be perpetuated by saving seed (or having a special relationship with a seed company ).

There are people in gardens. There has to be, it's what makes them gardens. I'm part of all of that. Yeah.

Steve

 

[Carol Dee]

Well I said Other. Thinking Haphazard! Or Chaotic. LOL If choosing form your list it would be closer to Collector.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i said other and collector. collector because i do collect lots of plants over the years when something catches my eye. i do have a large assortment of hosta/daylilies/iris around my yard, grafted my own fruit trees. and if you saw the extensive collection of tomato seed varieties you'd understand.

'other' because i'm certainly not tidy or keeping weeds in check all that much. after all, some weeds have their place or are edible. i've done some things in rows when it comes to veggies, sometimes i use containers to keep them in check. saved seeds for selling/trading. divided up some of my multiplying perennials & sold them on occasion or given them as gifts. i have dabbled with landscaping & have plans for a pond but i would consider myself in that category.

 

[seedcorn]

Think "other" but your description of farmer fits me. Do try interesting varieties but find myself going back to tried and true. Hate to put in effort to find out it's not worth it. Everything I grow has a purpose-eat or butterflies.

 

[ninnymary]

I am the first 2 sentences in Farmer.

Mary

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I put Farmer, but far from weed free, but my goal is that when I start, but collector fits too.

 

[Nyboy]

I put other I am pleasure gardener I do it for the pleasure it brings me

 

[Smart Red]

Certainly a collector -- as DH sweetly said, "One of everything is a good start." -- and I have collections of many of the varieties in several plant groups (hosta, heuchera, hydrangea, iris, etc). But I fit the other group because I love (need) being in the garden -- not just for the different plants, but for the feel of the tilth and the smell of the Earth and the warmth of the soil and the quiet gentleness my needy soul seeks.

Whether flowers or veggies, I like to try new and multiple varieties, but like the farmer I have my tried and true favorites -- the staples of production. Like the farmer, my production beds are nearly weed-free (although by hand rather than chemically induced weedless-ness), but my raised beds tend to not be in rows. Seeds are scattered over wide sections and the beds planted intensively.

Also, I am most certainly a landscaper. Not of the professional variety, but I love perennials and specimen planting of shrubs and trees. I have -- in the distant past -- planted with the intent of having an arboretum for my students to study and to that end I have a wider collection of tree varieties then expected for South-est, central-est Wisconsin. I also have burning memories of the many tree and shrub varieties that failed due to weather conditions or pushing the envelope just a tad too far.

I am a gardener, not a type of gardener. To me that encompasses almost everything and anything that involves working with the soil. The only poll choice that doesn't fit me particularly well is breeder -- yet. I don't grow and breed specific plants. I do enjoy propagating plants that I do have, however, for the purpose of sharing them.

 

[Carol Dee]

Certainly a collector -- as DH sweetly said, "One of everything is a good start." -- and I have collections of many of the varieties in several plant groups (hosta, heuchera, hydrangea, iris, etc). But I fit the other group because I love (need) being in the garden -- not just for the different plants, but for the feel of the tilth and the smell of the Earth and the warmth of the soil and the quiet gentleness my needy soul seeks.

Whether flowers or veggies, I like to try new and multiple varieties, but like the farmer I have my tried and true favorites -- the staples of production. Like the farmer, my production beds are nearly weed-free (although by hand rather than chemically induced weedless-ness), but my raised beds tend to not be in rows. Seeds are scattered over wide sections and the beds planted intensively.

Also, I am most certainly a landscaper. Not of the professional variety, but I love perennials and specimen planting of shrubs and trees. I have -- in the distant past -- planted with the intent of having an arboretum for my students to study and to that end I have a wider collection of tree varieties then expected for South-est, central-est Wisconsin. I also have burning memories of the many tree and shrub varieties that failed due to weather conditions or pushing the envelope just a tad too far.

I am a gardener, not a type of gardener. To me that encompasses almost everything and anything that involves working with the soil. The only poll choice that doesn't fit me particularly well is breeder -- yet. I don't grow and breed specific plants. I do enjoy propagating plants that I do have, however, for the purpose of sharing them.

You are truly a GARDENER and very well spoken.