Gardening to soothe the savage etc.

The Sweeper

Something that strikes me about gardening is its ability to calm and distract me when I'm wound up. I have a pretty difficult living situation at the moment, house sharing while waiting for our new property, and the build of our new house appears to be coinciding with the drought in Victoria finally breaking (it hasn't rained properly for 10 years, and our build started three weeks ago, and it's rained virtually every single day for the last three weeks). (...I think I'll scrap the house and build an ark.)

Whenever I find myself about to lose my reason over something small in the house we live in at the moment, I pull on my gardening things and outside I go. Yesterday I spent a few hours cataloguing a bunch of seedlings and planning a garden bed in the new house around what I'd just catalogued. I potted up various seedlings into 5"pots and checked over my existing stock of plants for pests and ailments.

At the moment, 'gardening' for me involves tending a few beans, peas and chilis I have planted on this property, and looking after the 50+ plants I have in pots that are waiting to be moved to populate the garden of our new house. I started collecting over a year ago so that I would have reasonably mature plants to fill the garden with instead of having to break the bank buying them all at advanced ages. I get a vague sense of satisfaction when I see some tiny seedling I propagated 16 months ago for $3 including the pot, and it's now a foot high and would cost me $20 if I wanted to buy it in that condition.

So what do you like to do with your garden? Potter in your petunias? Pootle through your potatoes? (...okay I'll stop that.)

TequilaMockingBird

My nerve settler would be pruning. Attacking all those dead flowers with the secateurs, or giving shape to something growing, and watching it eventually thicken up is very soothing.

I have to be in the mood for weeding though, its like those urges you (rarely) get to clear out a drawer or cupboard, its a tedious job, but very satisfying when its done.

If I'm absolutely furious about something, the spade comes out and I dig. I'd really rather be bashing it over someone, which will give an indication of how bad the mood is!

Who needs Doctors eh!?


BTW MAJD, nothing worse than house sharing, glad you have your plants to keep you distracted. Good luck with the weather.

r3nu4l

I do find gardening soothing and I find that the hard work provides a good workout. Unfortunately we have a very mature garden that requires a lot of work.

We have 12 conifers that need trimming when they begine overhanging the neighbours garden. We had 2 more but we cut them down and dug out the stumps earlier this year to make room for more plants. We also have a walnut tree that I'm going to have to remove branches from as they are overhanging our shed and part of the greenhouse.

This year, I planted 2 raised beds and laid down gravel paths between them. If I'm honest, while I enjoyed the work, I'm looking forward to next year when I only have to dig the beds before planting our veg.

Painting fences has been an annoying bet necessary endeavour and we don't need to do it for another five years.

For me the most satisfying thing is planting and tending to vegetables. I've no interest in flowers but the top half of the garden is devoted to roses, pansys, heathers, hedges and shrubs so they require a lot of trimming. While they look nice when done I'm a practical gardener. I prefer to plant something I'm going to eat at a later date

I also have a pond with lillies in it. I only cleaned out some pond weed this year and discovered one tadpole and a frog in there when doing that. I couldn't understand why there weren't more tadpoles until yesterday when I discovered a great big black fish in there (about 7 inches long). I guess he's been eating frog spawn for a while

We bought this house 19 months ago and I only discovered the fish now. I'm going to have to learn a bit more about ponds!

Honey-ec

r3nu4l wrote: »

I discovered a great big black fish in there (about 7 inches long). I guess he's been eating frog spawn for a while

We bought this house 19 months ago and I only discovered the fish now. I'm going to have to learn a bit more about ponds!

Could well be a catfish. Does anyone remember that programme "A year in..." where they would follow people packing in their 9-5 in the UK and buying somewhere on the continent? Well, in "A Year in Provence" the couple in question bought 40 acres with a lake in Provence (obv!) with the intention of opening a trout farm for anglers. Anyway, all the locals were telling the guy this legend that a giant catfish lived in his lake. He just laughed it off, assuming they were pulling his leg, but he did arrange to have the lake drained and inspected before he stocked it - just protecting his investment. Anyway, lo and behold, when they drained the lake the catfish was actually there - and it was a monster! Took three of them just to lift it out of the lake. He sold it to the local restaurateur for a couple of hundred quid!

Minder

I have found that the mature garden that we inherited when we bought the house last year provides endless distractions. While it was well developed, there was sufficient room to provide me with new projects to last all year. Raised bed for ericaceous plants, log shed, water butts and water storage, plumbed sink... It also gave ample opportunity to buy gadgets - from cooking appliances like a bbq and separate wok burner, to power tools - wood chipper, leaf blower etc.

We changed the planting around, experimented with a veggie patch, planted pots and buckets with flowers and veggies. Lopped trees, pruned, poked and prodded at everything in the garden to the point where, if I can't get out there at least one day a week, it's a major disappointment. It has been a great learning experience and an absolute pleasure - I don't know how we survived without a garden before we moved here.

Long term projects - handmade, timber framed greenhouse and a wood fired oven.

Ellechim

I wholeheartedly agree - I buy plants for the garden and spend more time thinking and planning about it than I do for our house (which my husband can't fathom). It is complete escape for me - whether digging, weeding, deadheading, pruning. I do love flowers, I can't seem to get my act together to grow veg. For me there is nothing like the buzz from growing something and seeing it blossom bringing colour, shape or scent, bees and birds into the garden. We currently have two wrens in our garden which I'm convinced come in because of the bugs who are there because of some of my blooms - I could sit and watch for hours.....

Better than therapy or valium or prozac I would say - (although not an expert in all those things )

The Sweeper

It could literally be better than the drugs you know...

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/1154/how-gardening-could-cure-depression

magicbastarder

old saying - if you want to be happy for a few hours, get drunk. if you want to be happy for a few years, get married. if you want to be happy for life, get a garden.

it's supposedly been proven that gardeners are happier than the population at large.

TequilaMockingBird

As someone who was raised with Paxo stuffing mix, and no gardening parents, running my hand along the stem of sage that I have grown and smelling a roast dinner is cool!

Minder

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

It could literally be better than the drugs you know...

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/1154/how-gardening-could-cure-depression

Gardeners Question Time - long running bbc radio programme where people can call in with questions. Urban myth - a caller rings in saying that she is worried that her neighbour is growing marijuana in the back garden - "I have confronted him and he tells me I am mistaken - it's cabbages", what should I do? The answer comes back - ask him if you can smoke some, if you're still worried - it's cabbage!

mike65

My gardening is minimal as its really based around lawns and hedges, the shrubbs are all well established and look after themselves really. That said even cutting and trimming is therapeutic.

Mike

North&South

We moved to Ireland last year & rented a huge house on an acre of grass.... everything was new in the house, all is very neat & tidy, all is still looking very new & very tidy - altho I did dig out some flowerbeds, made hubby put a small patio in & am growing peas, beans & tomatoes, with 2 herb beds as well.....

And now we're moving!
We found a house with a sectioned 2 acre garden - all mature plants & trees, fruit trees, right next to a small forest & 3 acres of bog just along the road.
The house is a LOT smaller - it's older, we'll have 2nd hand furniture, no central heating, (unless the range gets lit) and no double glazing....

But the garden.....
And that's why we're moving! I don't care about the house, I want the garden to potter in & grow more veg & keep a few chicks, & I am SO looking forward to being the chief welly wearer

Yep, gimme a garden any day - the house will be sorted eventually, but the hours spent in the garden will be top priority!
Julie

mike65

Thats sounds idyllic but wait till January! (I know as I've lived in a similair evironment, where you mop rain water off the window shelf after a galeforce downpour and scrape frost off the inside of a spare room window)

Mike.

Honey-ec

Has anyone been watching James Marsden's new series on UKTV Food? He is building & planting a totally edible garden, and then creating recipes for his harvest depending on season. It's a terrific concept and his garden is AMAZING!!! Oh to have his money...