It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!
So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?
What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?
Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)
Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?
Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?
What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?
Flyer:
I understand your frustration. Been there, trying not to do it, and still fighting!
It's difficult to want to garden but not have the time or be able to. Sometimes I satisfy that need by reading more gardening magazines and creating more garden plans.
Still, it's not the same as being outside in the air, feeling the soft breath of the wind, watching the butterflies, and seeing the occasional feline visitor stalking or swatting insects.
As we sometimes tell our parents, as we age we reach a transitional stage at which we have to consider becoming the manager rather than the doer. But we can still enjoy someone else's work (without incurring the backaches and soreness that we get).
Maybe you can buy some perennials and have your landscaper put them in for you? With mulch, there would hardly even be any weeding.
You could still sit outside and enjoy the beauty of the yard, but let someone else do all the work.
I never have and probably never will see the attraction of massive lawns. For years I've been planning to dig up and compost the sod and put in flowering ground covers instead. It's a major effort though.
Cwillie:
I think you've summarized one of the fascinating and rewarding aspects of gardening - changing soil from grass or just ordinary soil into something very productive, rewarding and nourishing.
Once those seeds are in, I check almost daily for sprouts, and it's soooo exciting when a little green sprout peeps up through the soil. There's a reward that comes from growing things, whether flowers, veggies, fruits or herbs, that is intrinsically rewarding. In fact, I think it's basic to human nature.
I too used to want to become a professional gardener, but realistically I thought of all the physical work and wasn't sure I would be up to it. It's one thing to garden whenever you feel like it but another to have to do it for pay, on someone else's schedule.
You know, there are ways you can maximize your smaller lot by using vertical gardening. Have you ever seen some of the living fences? They're extraordinary!
Sounds like you are living my fantasy, but I made the decision that I don't want a place where I have to work so hard to keep it going as I get older, and of course I have my mom to look after for now. I never did get to keep any farmyard chickens, be sure to pick some pretty ones!
I can relate to each post on here. I feel an attachment to the land and plants. I love getting my hands into the soil, handling the plants, trimming, and creating a work of art sometimes by the way I plant and trim and combine elements in the gardens. I love using color, especially plants that are colorful year round without blooming. That's my and my husband's latest fun pursuit. Cordylines (Hawaiian ti plants) are great for this. So are certain crotons. We can get soft, similar shades or brilliant dissimilar combined colors in specific heights that we want or control.
I can empathize with fregflyer in that we must hire help due to our own health limitations. I remember not so long ago spending long days in the yard. I'd even work into the night using our outside lighting to finish up a job. I didn't need to see perfectly because I knew my plants and beds well.
Takes me about 3 hours to mow with the tractor and I weed whack to some degree but I'm killing off the weeds/grass around the deck, raised beds and outbuildings with a salt and vinegar mixture ... I will NOT use chemicals.
Now a days I have to hire someone to do that work for me... the fellow I hire twice a year and his crew do an outstanding job.... this guy is an "artist" when it comes to trimming anything green. His OCD kick in :) Well worth every penny spent, and makes me smile whenever I drive up to my house.
If my sig other had his way, everything would be grass, dried up grass with the lack of good rains here. Thank goodness not everyone thinks that way !!
Do you use recycling of objects in your garden, and if so, how and what kind of objects? Cement blocks, cement chunks, glass, etc.
Do you ever make your own containers, such as in the hypertufa process? Do you use specialized techniques such as espaliering? Do you make your own fences, including such historical fences as wattle fences? Have you ever tried a "living fence?"