EvolutionHealth.care

Home
Main Forum
Anxiety
Relaxation and Lifestyle
Therapeutic Effects of Gardening

Advanced Search Form

Therapeutic Effects of Gardening

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

I don't go to town very often even though it is only twenty minutes away. Today at the Library I said how glad I was for the rain, not knowing that it had been raining there for a week. I have had basically one day. I live at the base of a side valley so my weather can be quite different from some one only a few miles away. My Therapist said the minute she gets on her horse it rains. Well a week is a bit much I have to admit. I ran into her at the hospital and so we had a little chat, I had some questions for her as usual and she gave me some more information for my collection. In exchange I joined a project of hers and will be one of the directors deciding how to spend grant money to help the community support people with mental conditions or addictions. There is very little support for them right now. I also got some more information on how Serotonin works and why SSRI's are sometimes necessary. Also some more information on how the brain works that is of interest to me only.

Today I picked more leaves for pesto and will wash them but might not make the pesto till tomorrow since there might only be one and a bit or two more baskets of leaves. I might as well do it all at the same time. I also want to string trim a bit more around the lilacs and may do that tonight. It is too hot in the greenhouse to stay there very long. Morning would be best. I find it very calming sitting in there working but some times it is just too hot. After I get all the Basil harvested this round I will bring in the Lemon Balm for it's second cutting to dry for tea. Tomatoes have flowers and there are a few cantaloupe growing despite there being to much manure. The rain will bring up more weeds so you can guess what I will be doing next week. I still have not got my little tiller fixed. I will though in time. It is very important not to let little things like that become big things. I will be able to start picking Swiss Chard soon. I'm looking forward to the first Raspberries for pie too. All those things that make the work worth while. I'm not a slave to my garden, that would be counter productive to getting relaxation from it. I just enjoy it and it fills a space that would otherwise be empty. That is the key to any hobby. My hobby just tastes so good :-)

Davit

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 4027

I felt my stiffness as I staked a dozen tomatoes, but looking at your post again, about how many basil plants alone, you have, I'm assured I can't have it so bad

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 4027

As I considered the inconvenience of watering 3 vases versus your 300 hundred, I felt more assured that I could do it. Once I get going, I suppose the momentum will carry me forward.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

I only get two pests on my Basil and seldom. One is a green caterpillar that I rub off from the chewed edge of the leaves. The other is called a looper. (inch worm) I rub him off too. I lose a few leaves sometimes but seldom because the Basil is in the green house. I can afford to lose a bit. There are 300 plants in clumps of three. When I harvest I cut the stem just above a few good leaves and it grows again. Both these caterpillars are from eggs laid on the plant. Wash them off and they have trouble finding the plant again. They eat Mint also and some flowers like Delphiniums. They don't eat Oregano for some reason or Lemon Balm.

Basil and Tomatoes have to be inside here. The same with Peppers, Watermelon and Cantaloupe. Corn is chancy most years.

Davit

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 4027

How do you protect your basil from any outside pests? I've covered mine with the net-like bags that onions and oranges come in, but I can't yet tell if they're okay.

I previously had them in the ground, but since a couple of years ago, I had to put them in vases. I have a total of 3 large vases with about 3 plants per vase.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

Well I got rain. I also got wind and now the power is out till they get a tree off the power line a few miles away. It will be three hours because there has to be two men and so they have to come from two different towns because we only have one. Bummer, so much for my pesto project. I'll have to do something else till then. It was nice this morning when I weeded and deadheaded a flower bed. It must have dropped ten degrees when it rained. So I have a big colander of leaves washed and ready to go but no power. Can't even make tea. Well I could if I dug out the camp stove but I don't know if there is fuel it has been so long since the power has gone out. I don't even know where it is. This is not good.

No sense sitting here feeling sorry for myself, I don't need power to weed another flower bed. It has stopped raining for now.

Davit

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

The thing with gardening is that you don't really have to do much to get something out of it. You can spend hours if you want picking the weeds from around one plant and forget the rest if you want too. It doesn't really matter. Or you can rough weed the whole thing so the plants have room to breath and come back a couple of more times. This works best for me because you will always get more weeds when you disturb the soil. Weeds are only a real problem if they go to seed. Till then, chopping them under adds tilth to the soil as they break down. Some of course will come back up from root pieces but they can only do it so many times. I like to leave the rows far enough apart that I can till between them. Weeds I pull get thrown there and tilled under. Some times not till harvest time. But this is important, do not leave anything on the soil over winter. It will make a shelter for over wintering bugs or eggs. Till it under or rake it up and compost it. If you till it under then earth worms will eat it and loosen the soil. Remember the definition of a weed, a plant growing in a place it is not supposed too. Till then it really is just a plant.

Started making pesto. This is going to take a while. I leave a few leaves at the bottom of each plant I cut and get a second crop that I will dry some of. I need to cut the Lemon Balm again and the Oregano. Thyme is flowering so it needs to be cut too. Rosemary can wait. Winter savoury needs to go out with the beans. So much to do :-) I love it, never a dull moment. And so much to eat too.

Davit

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 4027

One thing about gardening is discovering the beauty in nature, like the leek I placed my avatar, which is an explosion of symmetry and colour.

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

Another fine day and I'm lost. There are lots of little projects but nothing major that has to be done. This always happens at the end of a project. Where to start next. I'll just wander around picking at this or that till I find myself actually doing something. Or not. Today could be a sit in the deck day. (not likely for long, I get restless) Or it could be the day I harvest Basil. The only thing that has to be done is watering. A fraction of the day.

Hugs, I would love your rain storm. It is so dry here. I just don't want the wind.

Davit

11 years ago 0 +0 / -0 4027

We had great rainstorms yesterday, and I'm amazed at the hardiness of veggie and flower plants. Vulnerability is something across the world people feel with inclement weather, too. A car had an entire plant parked on it's hood, making it look like it was plucked from some garden, so there must have been high winds too. I have seen high winds, but not recently. What's scary is it happened last night, while we sleep, and trust...

Reading this thread:

today's top discussions:

This Month’s Leaders:

Most Supportive

Most Active

Most Loved

Therapeutic Effects of Gardening