Get the Support You Need

Learn from thousands of users who have made their way through our courses. Need help getting started? Watch this short video.

today's top discussions:

logo

Fibre

Ashley -> Health Educator

2024-05-06 9:05 PM

Healthy Weight Community

logo

Challenging Worry

Ashley -> Health Educator

2024-04-20 11:42 PM

Depression Community

logo

Hello

Linda Q

2024-04-11 5:06 AM

Anxiety Community

This Month’s Leaders:

Most Supportive

Browse through 411.750 posts in 47.055 threads.

160,551 Members

Please welcome our newest members: Water&Forest, MBERNICE ASTRID, SLOVELY MAE, BXAMUELLE CHRISTIEN, Heinz57

Therapeutic Effects of Gardening


10 years ago 0 4027 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Davit,
Check out the website for harvesting rain, since you'll have a free source of water.  I'm so slow that it's a question of priorities, or I'd get this done. 
 
In the big city, you have to be careful who you deal with, unlike a small community, so I'm worried I'm not going to get any masonry done before the frost, at this rate.  But I guess I'd rather be late than sorry, and gouged.
 
Sid,
It's a great retreat in the garden...
10 years ago 0 2508 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Davit and Everyone..
Thanks for the encouragement and positive energy..Your right things may not work out like we planned but life is still beautiful and good..Sounds like a interesting day up your way..Not much going on here today. The temps are Spring like today, really very pleasant..Thought about going and doing something today but decided it's such a nice day and I'm enjoying the peace and quit here at home today..So maybe tomorrow..There is a big holiday weekend coming starting tomorrow so today is my last week day to enjoy it here at home..Might go to the swap meets this weekend for exercise..The beaches and bays may be too crowded..Last weekend we went to the swap meet on the coast and than the bay to have a picnic lunch. It was still a bit cold but still a lovely day without any crowds..We stopped by 2 animal shelters on the way home. Didn't bring any home with us, but it was nice visiting with and petting them all...
 
As for the garden and how it goes..Picked some oranges and have lots of red and tricolor roses blooming today.
Oh I almost forgot to mention the sweet smell of the jasmines drifting in the front door today..
 
Life is sweet...
It is a good Day.
 
Red...:)
 
 
 
 
10 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
I give up. 

Still no rain. It started out nice this morning, cool and overcast. Getting hot already. It has been getting hotter and drier every year yet when we do get rain it is nuisance rain. During haying time it will rain just enough to prevent harvesting. I remember being a nervous wreck when I still made hay till it was put up and safe. Often I had to put salt on it to preserve it because it was not quite dry. It was like a heavy load was lifted. I avoided the coffee shop because you could cut the stress with a knife. I never heard the birds or smelt the flowers. My beautiful mountains were only for catching rain clouds. 
Ah life is so much better now. But see, I'm still complaining. I mean sheet, I have sprinklers.
Puddy came with me to help me plant. I planted he rolled in it. There might be some bare spots.  Thomas used to love smelly marigolds and roll on them. Fatten them out but they would bounce back.

Mosquitoes are starting now that there are no more cold nights to kill them. Only females bite and both live on pollen. Feed the humming birds, they also eat mosquitoes.
I have boxes out for house swallows. No purple martens this side of the Rocky's. Too bad really.

A trick for planting small seeds like carrots. Mix the seed with half a cup of clean fine sand and sprinkle it with a tea spoon in the rows. If you mix it well you have very little thinning to do. White sand works best, but don't use sugar or flour. It attracts bugs.

Tea break is over, time to go back to planting.

Davit.

PS Thomas would say as long as you have shelter and food the rest is just for enjoyment, like rolling in the Marigolds.
One should enjoy their garden.
10 years ago 0 177 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hugs, I like the sound of the Save the Water website, I might check it out sometime. I get confused with inches and ounces because I've only ever been taught metric so mm and ml suit me. One cubic centimetre is one millilitre. What confuses me though is rain is measured in mm which is a length, and not ml which is a volume. The volume would make more sense I feel. I hope this hasn't confused you more!
As for pesky ants, I've heard that talcum powder is meant to stop them in their tracks. You put a trail across where you don't want them to go and it's like a barrier to stop them. They musn't like the feel of it on their feet or something. I haven't tried it myself but it was in the handy tips section of a magazine I was reading so it's worth a shot!

Davit, the sun is trying to come out today which makes me happy. I love your practical approach to gardening, and how productive you are. I can see why people enjoy it, but being a city slicker I don't know much about it all as you do. We could learn from Thomas the Fearless, we shouldn't let the fear of pain stop us from taking the risk in the first place.

Thank you Red. The lily was a birthday present from a friend of mine so it reminds me of her. You sound like you've been busy yourself, despite having the health problems. It's a good excuse to bring you and Edd closer though, which is a positive. I hope your gastro problems get better.

Kaitie.

10 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Where is the rain I need. Too hot again today.

Hugs, sugar and borax, the recipe is on the net. It works for me.

I'm taking it easy this evening, the garden can wait. I'm still tired from yesterday. I have a headache from the sun anyway.
Supper and then a movie I think. I have watering to do but it can wait till morning. Nothing will die.

Hmm, I don't have trouble with chicken but then maybe I'm lucky. I do use a thermometer for whole chicken but pieces just no pink or anything close. Having chicken tonight.

Davit
10 years ago 0 4027 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Darn ants in kitchen just make me really panicky, making me feel like I've been invaded, since peonies attract them.  On top of that, I cooked chicken, which makes me uncomfortable.  I really wish to get a proper cooking thermometer, since I've been using a candy thermometer, but things turned out okay.
 
Reframing the ants, as indicators of where the gaps are in the wall, will help me to discover and close those areas with caulking.  At least I can feel in control, since I'd feel helpless, and at the mercy of a landlord in a rental unit, if I lived elsewhere.
 
Rushing around today, trying to squeeze in too much has left me drained, so I'm going to look forward to time in the garden.
10 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Up till ten last night getting my tractor ready to till. Up at six this morning so I can have breakfast and do it before it rains.
I hope to get the manure in the greenhouse today too.
Tractor was late getting here so I'm behind again. Going to be another long day. Birds are singing though. 
This is more like when I still farmed. I used to love the mornings and fresh mowed hay. Petting cows noses, collecting eggs for breakfast and letting the ducks loose to go to the pond. 

Times change and I'm slower and spend more time looking than doing but I still love it. Life is good even when it rains. Now if the mosquitoes are not bad this year I will be real happy.

Davit.
10 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hello Red.

Things do sort of work out even if not as we planned. It is ten in the evening and getting dark chased me in. I would still be out there otherwise. I'm having trouble mounting my tiller to my new used tractor. An arm is bent a bit. I'll get it in the morning. I have some scrapes and bruises now. They will heal. 

I had an umbilical hernia before my last operation, they fixed it unintentionally. I'm glad though. It was a nuisance. I had a very long day today, starting 13 hours ago. And I'm fine so I hope very much you can be like this too. It seems to be my reward for all the operations. Ive got 15 scars from being opened up. I look like a Raggedy Andy doll. It isn't fair that I had to go through that just to end up half a person stumbling through life, but I've adjusted and I'm enjoying life for what I can get out of it. Like today, I can smell the fruit trees and next will be the lilacs. I planted 36 Petunias and a bunch of Marigolds in my manure spreader. I don't use it so I filled it with dirt. Same with my grain roller. I have lavender to stick in somewhere too. I'm running out of room. Like you said to hugs, I'm just doing what I can when I can and not worrying about it. Like my Cataract, it is a nuisance but not time to get it fixed yet. In time I will. So tomorrow I should be able to till some of my Garden. I need to dig up and move 40 hills of Asparagus before I can finish tilling. I should do it Thursday because it is supposed to rain Friday. We shall see. Still not going to break my rule of housework before I go out. 

You are so far ahead of me, my potatoes are just sticking out of the ground and my tomatoes are still in the containers as are the squash. I can't do much in the greenhouse till I get the manure in it. And the worst part is there is no one to hire to help me. Whine whine, just do it. Or as much as I can. Need to find time to take pictures too. 
Theodore wants in so I can go to bed now. 

Davit.
10 years ago 0 2508 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Everyone..
Davit..Sorry to hear of your recent loses..Thomas had a very good life living on the land with you..
Shari..Learning a new language sounds like great fun. Good to hear you are having fun with it.
Hugs..Not to worry to much about the gardening just do what you can and it will work out just fine.         Katie...Your lilly sounds lovely and so do your roses..
As for me and the gardening this year..I have been put out of commission for the time being..So Edd is doing all the weeding and gardening this year..We put in a new rose bush yesterday and some more lavender..The radishes are ready and we have been enjoying them. The squash is producing now so we have them to enjoy too..The potatoes plants are big and green and starting to bloom..The tomatoes are green and getting ready to ripen..We are growing sweet peas flowers this year on a trellis..I used to grow these with my grandfather when I was small and am looking forward to seeing and smelling their sweetness again..Edd is growing a lot of your vegetables from organic seed this year..which is something I have never had much luck with. He seems to have a green thumb and is turning out to be a fine farmer..Oh ya..I am waiting for the zuni crape myrtles to blooms..they are beautiful..
 
As me me I am learning patience this year and lots of other things I am sure..Not sure what they are yet but I am sure things will materialize in their good time..I called and visited my primary Dr. again last week for some gastric issues and pain that seemed to have started with stress. I have started my Asacol again for inflammation and am being sent to the Gastro Doctor on June 4 to talk about it..Not sure what will come of that. Once I get well my Primary doc has given me a referral to a surgeon to talk about a couple of hernias that I seemed to have gotten from my robotic kidney surgery I had a year ago last April..Any for now I have to get well first and after that maybe I will take him up on the offer of a referral and just have a look see. For now it does seem like less is more and more surgery would be like trying to even up the piano leg again..So for now I will rest and let Edd be the gardener and help me.. He is really quite good at it and this is the the best vegetable garden we've had yet..
 
Red..:)
 
10 years ago 0 6252 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Yes that is the criteria for tilling with a small tiller. I remember that. I have done it when it was too wet and made a mess.
The tractor has two clutches, one for the tiller and one for the tractor. Often farmers will till a field to get it to dry. My problem might be that it is too dry so will have to go real slow. Anyway I won't do it today since the tractor won't get here till late after noon. I lifted the plastic on the greenhouse and will push manure in it first anyway. Almost a ton so that is too much to pitch fork. Manure gives off Methane and Hydrogen Sulphide so the greenhouse will have to be vented after before each time I go in it. Same gasses that kill mushroom growers. But the plants love it. There is a lot of nitrogen gas too. As the manure decomposes it leaches Potassium Nitrate into the soil. Manure and compost take three years to break down under good conditions. Anything that burns propane will run on the gas from composting if it is collected including diesel engines. 

Wish I had Hostas, I like them. The Hospital garden has lots of them. 

Going to look at that site.

Davit

Reading this thread: