Gardening as therapy.
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?
3K Comments
Popular Questions
- I really want my grandmother to branch out--and to cut back the TV! Has anybody solved this problem?
- In the spirit of coping and adapting, let's share methods we've developed or read about to cope with sheltering in place.
- I feel soooo worn out and alone. What can I do to improve my non-existent life?
Related Questions
- Where to find a daycare program for someone that has Alzheimer's?
- Are there services/agencies for the elderly to have "outings' such as art classes or Sunday drives?
- Where can I buy large puzzles for my Dad that is blind in one eye and can barely see in the other?
- Do you have suggestions for interesting "books on tape" or CD's for a stroke survivor, former engineer and computer programmer?
daughter - sounds so lovely. Nothing like spring flowers
Here I was looking at the field outside which is still partly snow covered but getting muddy as well, and thinking that I will be glad to see the weeds that grow until the farmer works it. Green is good!
Cwillie, There have been a few dragonflies over the years, but do not take up a permanent residence.
Last week, leveled out two bags of smooth rocks, jut under one inch in size.
Mixed colors, but many dark grey. Makes a difference, just small improvements.
There is rain today, a bit yesterday. Watering my little self-maintaining garden areas. We still have the big cape honeysuckle, thriving. And the same bouganvillia
struggling, then coming back, and looks a bit different daily. It cannot figure out the hot sunny days then rainy cold days. But it likes to live in the special place in the sun all day, plenty of air circulating around it.
Wanting to see more hummingbirds soon.
I do not like grasshoppers.
Eww! Dh says they are somehow beneficial too.
Reading-I am not going to kill them!
Not liking the idea to kill anything.
Going to try the "Live and let live method" to life for about two weeks.
That includes my neighbors.
Have you heard of the theory/book: "Let them"?
We want to attract pollinators.
We want to attract bugs that eat mosquitos.
We may want to attract bees (if we are not allergic).
Searching for plants to attract dragonflies (they eat mosquitos),
I ran across this:
These plants attract dragonflies, including ones that also attract the insects they prey on.
Attract more bugs?
I may need to go back and reread that.
boj - good way to go!
If the world ends,
I'll be in the garden, busy gardening.
Forgot to add that I have a poplar tree growing in my living room. My Schefflera (umbrella plant) is over 6' tall and needed some support or R said he could bring me a shoot he cut out of the farm lawn. Great!
The shoot is over 6 " tall and straight. We stuck it in the pot and forgot about it until I noticed a crown of green leaves at the top of it. I have a tall lamp with a grow light in it and it seems the poplar shoot loves it. I think I will just leave it there and hope it doesn't grow too much.
The hellebore is a phoenix. It sat for a while and looked dead so I asked R to clean out the roots so we could use the pot for the seeds. It was too root bound so we stuck the seeds in and they did nothing. But, I saw a small green shoot rising out of the old plant and brought it to his attention. "I pulled about 30 of those out when I was trying to get the root out", says he. "Aaargh," says I. "If there is life I always give it a chance."
So I kept it watered and that shoot died but not too long after another raised it's head and I now have 4-5 very healthy looking fresh green shoots a few inches high growing in the pot. Think what it would have been like with 30 more!!! I'm looking forward to seeing what it does. maybe it will even flower.
Two of the Catalpa seedlings are surviving. I think they have gone dormant as they haven't changed since December. I am hoping they will revive in the spring. If not we will germinate more seeds.
send - a terrarium would be great! Are you really going to try it? Less big muscle activity and more small muscle activity.
My poor spider plant is the object of kitty love. She so misses the outdoors and is crawling onto it and sitting or lying in it each day for a while, as well as munching on a few leaves. It's a bit flattened but is surviving. She nearly chomped a Christmas cactus flower but I caught her in time.
I beg your garden?
I am thinking about starting a miniature terrarium garden in tiny corked bottles for indoors.
Less physical labor, less watering. It could be a good hobby.
I googled prairie lilies - they’re beautiful. Very striking. I wonder if they would grow down here.
I have a bed of anemones but they are not the compact variety you speak of. They are tall and pink and I have to shoo the deer away from the buds. They grow in a bed with forgot-me-nots, a variegated grass and the native pink bleeding heart which is a really pretty combination. I can’t take credit for it though; that goes to the previous owner.
Thats so awesome about your hellebores! I’ve never propagated them from seed - - I’ve never propagated anything but vegetables and blue flax from seed. I think you need to have an ultra-green thumb to be successful, which you clearly do. Oh wait….moon flowers. I’ve grown them from seed but eradicated them from my garden when my GD was a toddler and prone to eating things she shouldn’t.
Psue - nothing very interesting - more weeds than anything and poplar trees and tansy. There probably are some Alberta roses which are worth keeping. In the area there are nice wildflowers like Prairie lilies and Canadian anemones. I don't think there are any deer. We never saw any over the years.
Raised beds are great. I'm sure your dd will do well with them. You had lovely veggies at your old house. There are veggies that grow in clay soil.
Love Mountain ashes. Our berries stay on the tree and look lovely when the snow falls. I wouldn't care for cleaning them up off the driveway.
I am so excited that my hellebore has lovely seed pods - about 8 to a flower head. Apparently you have to sow them as soon as they ripen. They don't keep/store well and they can produce plants which flower in different colours from the parent plant. You know I have to try this.
Down to 3 catalpa seedlings and I think one is on it's way out. The attrition in nature is so high, I am not discouraged, but expect this. Hopefully we will save one or two. If not I will start again with fresh seeds. I have learned a few things about what they like and don't like.
I leave the veggie gardening DD. She built some great raised beds last year and is learning as she goes. Over the years in the high desert we narrowed down our vegetable gardening to tomatoes, herbs, zucchini, rhubarb and incredible beets. Seems those things really like sandy, volcanic soil. I wouldn’t know where to begin with veggies here in this sloppy clay even if we didn’t have to compete with the deer.
The first house I bought had large Mountain Ash trees on both sides of the front walk. Beautiful trees especially in the Fall but it wore me out trying to keep the crushed berries from being tracked into the house.
My garden at the house changed a lot over 40 years. We started with nothing in front but a small fence which we knocked down. Now there are two corner beds with junipers and some flowering plants, and a couple of fir trees, and a Mountain ash - nice for colour. Right in front of the deck are roses and japanese anemones which I want to plant at the lake as well. The back has changed to be trees and shrubs, hardy roses and a few perennials - low maintenance but the Manitoba maple is a pain. The main tree is nice but the seedlings grow everywhere. Someone else's problem now.
Moving the hellebore discussion here - I don't know how well it will do as a house plant, but I believe it's possible to keep it going indoors till next spring. Then it could go out on the balcony or get planted at the lot. It's a bit cold for them here but in a sheltered location it may do OK. Worth trying I think. Meanwhile they remind me of my japanese anemones which is nice and, thankfully the cat is losing interest in it.
Love hoyas too. We have one slip from R's uncle - a regular green one and the variegated one we picked up the other day. Uncle M has fluorescent bulbs in his garage (which he uses as a greenhouse) and plants grow like crazy in there. Apparently the parent hoya is all over the place. Looking forward to the hoyas blooming. I want a couple of anthuriums and african violets. I think they will bloom if placed by the windows.
Most everything here is viewed from a distance so I use the ‘squinty blob’ technique. I point my eyes toward a bed and squint, then try to imagine the general shape and foliage color and texture that will look good with what’s already there. The problem with that is I’m actually planting for the next owner unless I buy everything BIG.
Maybe I’m going at it backwards……
I do pay attention to shade and sun etc .
But my successes are hit or miss . I’d guess 70% success rate .
I like this time of year when I don’t feel pressure to work outside so I have time to plan the big things I need to do next year. It’s also good to note and reflect on what I accomplished this year, otherwise it’s hard to see progress.
Next year is going to be a big ‘surface’ year. I need to start putting aside $ for gravel and compost and figuring out how many cubic yards I will need of each. I am really, really bad at that. I mean REALLY.
Not bad at all here, just a few limbs down. The silver lining for me is that most of the remaining leaves were blown off the trees at once so a couple hours of blowing between showers and I should have them off the driveway and down in the ravine.
I hope your neighbors get their burnt roof tarped before your rain hits. I feel so bad for them - their holidays are not going to be very pleasant.
About sprinkler systems.
A neighbor did not turn off or adjust their sprinkler system at winter time.
They would go on at 4:00 a.m., overflow the walkway, and freeze into a section of ice, causing a slip and fall hazard on the walkway.