Gardening And Grounding

[Britt.f7]

I love gardening and taking care of my yard. It is very therapeutic. My garden really took a beating with the heat. Unfortunately, I stopped gardening and taking care of my yard. That's when I knew I was doing really bad mentally. Still not out doing what I would normally enjoy. Hopefully, by next gardening season, I will be better.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I used to love gardening. I had my wine and my walkman and I was in my own world. I have moved and do not have a yard as I live in a mobile home park. We have a gardner who comes in and sprays for weeds and prunes the bushes and sweeps up the leaves. I am too tired to garden now. But it sure brought me many hours of enjoyment.

It all got to be too much for me and I could not keep up with it. I am happy for anyone who can garden now.

 

[LC23]

Yeah, I gave up for most of July and August and September, just now getting back into planting for the cool season. It's hard with the heat, to keep up with it - hard on both the garden and the gardener. The good news is - stuff will still grow when you're ready to garden again. See how you feel in spring.

 

[Shellbell]

My T suggested gardening, as it is a non anxiety activity that is positive. I'm not a gardening kind of person normally, but I need activities that don't cause stress, to have more positive things happening.

So, my hubby and I just went to the gardening centre and bought some plants, including strawberry and cherry tomato plants. Just a few pots, so it doesn't get too much to do.

This arvo I went be planting them up and then cool off in the pool :D

It's 32 here today, so a swim will be much needed :D

 

[shell]

I found gardening helped me out of my head, helped my depression ease and stopped me being so self absorbed. I just put in a new vege garden, and can't wait to taste it.

We put in tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, capsicum, chillies, strawberries, beans, carrots, spring onions, and herbs and leaf lettuce. It was a joint effort between my husband and myself, and helped me stopped isolating from him. Gardening has so many benefits.

 

[TxGyspy]

I've been a passionate organic heirloom gardener for my entire adult life. This year it ended up being traumatic for me. I had finally gotten all of the leaching ex's out of my house....and poured all of my need to nurture into my garden. Since it is a relatively new garden and mostly rocks mortared with clay, it devoured time and attention. This was my entire focus this year. First the squirrels discovered my strawberries, blackberries and peach trees. I didn't get a single fruit. Then about a week before veggies were getting ripe in the big garden, that I hauled dozens of truck loads of organic matter into and tilled in....the deer showed up. In less than 2 days time it looked like someone had taken a lawnmower to my huge garden. They were eating it faster than I could even think about putting up fencing. I litterally fell to the ground crying when I went out to look at it the 3rd day.

Now I am having problems because I am disassociating. I don't want to try and ever garden again because of how traumatic this year was. I'm fighting myself on this because gardening is such great therapy. It is just really hard to pour my heart and soul into something and then have it taken away like that.

 

[Britt.f7]

TxGyspy, one time, during one of my first garden plantings, I put all of the plants on the ground so that I could plant them the next day, when I went out to plant them they were all eaten. Don't know if it was the bunnies or deer.

Now I have planter boxes near the front of my property that I grow veggies in. I heard that deer don't like geraniums, so I put one in every corner. Ever since I started doing that, my garden has not been eaten. This year my garden was fried by the summer heat and my depression that became so dark I don't go out to tend it anymore.

I'm sorry for your experience. I truly hope you are able to heal from this very rough time.

 

[LC23]

That is a big drag when that happens. I will often put chicken wire or that nylon mesh netting over things that critters like to eat. Just gotta plant with that in mind. Critters don't tend to eat onions, garlic, or hot peppers, but most other things need a little protection. In my garden we have squirrels, rabbits, birds, and the occasional coyote, all of which love homegrown produce every bit as much as I do.