#professional gardener

[bumblebeeappletree]

Being a professional gardener is a great way to make a living. Everyday is different and you get to be creative, active, and continually learn from new challenges. Costa met a gardening crew in Canberra employed by a social enterprise growing skills and opportunities for people of all abilities.

A day in the life of horticulturist and second-in-charge Dillon Crane includes lots of weeding, pruning, feeding, planting and assessing the needs of a garden. He says it’s good to return to the same gardens frequently as “you can see if things have grown back or if things have improved or if they have not improved you can try and rectify it. When it does work it’s nice see.”

Horticulture student Shaelyn Quirke has been with the team for two years and says “I’ve settled in really well and I’ve enjoyed every step of the way. It’s very interesting you get to see all the plants, the ways that they grow, be out with nature and interacting with other people.”

Shannon Cook has found her passion by working with the crew and enrolled to study horticulture. She says the best perks of the job are “being outdoors is a really big thing for me, being active, can’t sit still I get bored. And just seeing the difference you can make in someone’s garden, it’s so beautiful to see the transformation after you put in so much effort.”

Warren Aitken founded The Sustainable Gardener 13 years ago. “I think what we create is quite unique and we have some values in this business of respect and kindness and we work together as a team, as a crew, that’s what makes it work. It’s through the support of people in Canberra that we’ve been able to do that because they’ve been engaged in the overall aim of what were trying to do.” Cate Lyons is one such supporter, who hired the crew to fix up and maintain her front garden after seeing their work in the local area. “I love what’s out the front because I can go out there and just sit. I think, you know, for anyone being in the garden, able bodied or disabled it’s just wonderful to get out and be out in the garden.”

If you love being outside and working with plants, then maybe it’s time to take a leaf out of their book and pick up the tools!

[dustysbedroom]

Shade plants for containers and ground. I will say that I do want to get some heartleaf brunnera for the ground. I used to have a few at my old place.

hmmmmmmm theres a lot of different coleus that you can use. there are like 200000000000 different varieties that are really good with shade. youre gonna want to stay away from anything like petunias, calibrachoa, or any sunlight needing plants. one of the first thing i tell people is to remember to look at the tags. they will tell you how much sun/water/pruning/feed is needed.

one if the easiest (flowering) plants to use in shade are impatiens. there is a variety of impatiens that specifically take most shade maybe a small bit of sun. there are sunpatiens that were created in the past 10 years that take more sun, so youll want just regular impatiens.

alternanthera, diamond frost (or blush frost), columbine, longwart, big root geraniums, torenia, (one of my favs) fuschias, lobelia, colladium. stuff like that.

for ground plants id recommend grasses, ferns, coleus, pachysandra, hens and chicks (one of my fav outdoor succulents), creeping jenny (i have a huge one at home. they are illegal in most states because they are invasive and it would be shitty to have to pull them out), creeping juniper (not illegal), nettles, epemedium...

as for bush like plants hastas are the most popular, but i hate them because they are EVERYWHERE and really hard to get rid of. the roots spread quickly and youd have to pretty much burn them or blow them up to get rid if them. ajuga, periwinkle, azales, english ivy, different mosses and such.

i would really recommend spending time at a spot that sells plants and check things out. if you like something check the tag or ask someone to see if it will work with what youre looking for.

i hope this helps :)

[karmicpunishment]

imagine tachihara having a bunch of random ass skills that he picked up for undercover missions over the years

and i mean like the weirdest assortment of things

[24blogs]

Portrait in question is below.

[orbitsuns]

(not pictured is darlene happily crying because she was called mom ♡)

[renycat]

[bayrad]

Kind of disappointed that Shinjiro is widely considered an edgy character because I don’t think an edgy character would pull a goof as silly as pretending to sleep in front of the tv so no one suspects him being interested in cooking shows

Dude’s just reserved

[vilelittlecritter]

Ha ha I don't know what I want to do with my life and I feel unsatisfied with my current condition!

[laptopcius]

The only reason I didn't buy this outfit:

I may be petty, but I find Minhyuk so infuriating. He's so forced, he literally appears in every single episode of this season and his romantic options are available even when we already choose someone else's branch. And don't get me started on narration trying to show how "respected" and "great" he is.

Also, I hate how condescending he is towards us, especially if you happen to choose dialogue options that don't make him satisfied (which I did, because I am in fact petty).

I wished he'd just go poof and don't annoy me with his 'real' takes. I didn't ask for them and I have no desire to ever be around this man in any kind of setting, either personal or professional.

[bassicallymaestra]

I did a thing and got my haircut 🫠

I used to have hella thick hair, but I started to lose thickness in high school and college+public school teaching stress made me almost bald. I learned how to strategically comb over thin sections and grew it out.

Last year I started using a new hair product and it has actually been helping me grow my hair!! It's so much thicker than it has ever been!! But I've been dealing with chunks of new hair growing and it seriously looked like a toddler took scissors to my hair. Decided to get it cut to somewhat even it out, ended up being a little shorter than I wanted but it will grow! My hair hasn't been this short in over a decade 😱

[sagescented]

I absolutely love how directly (and indirectly) working with Farmers and Ranchers has made both @woolandcoffee and I independently hate the Agricultural Industry in the states and pretty much every one of the people we have to engage with who participate in it.

[thesolarangel]

I repotted some plants today and I was happily talking to myself why I did it and it was the most fun and peaceful thing I did in a while.. I love digging in the soil with my hands. I needed that distraction.

[icewindandboringhorror]

If you became super rich and could design your own house, but could only add THREE unnecessary/random/expensive home additions (like how people will have bowling alleys, movie theatres, closets with museums of shoes, car display rooms, spa rooms, wine cellars, etc. in their mansions) - what three would you choose?

[satans-knitwear]

important!!

[landwriter]

I’m sorry you’re not feeling well! <3

What’s something (published or wip) that you’re really excited about/proud to have written?

Thank you, Anon! I always feel so poorly about feeling so poorly and it's nice to have something to do to distract me! :)

I'm really excited about Professional Fuckers, the Dreamling indie porn AU. I've posted a few excerpts of already under the linked tag. You see so many SWer AUs in fanfic and I'm stoked to contribute to that extremely longstanding and iconic body of work with my own twist on things. I like to think it'll be pretty fresh and fun! And am v delighted to answer asks about it <3

ask me anything / prompt me anything