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?
I am thinking of some tomato preserves.
This is the first year in the 12 years I have lived here that we have had to water our lawn. After we got so much rain, it has been soooo hot and dry. The grass was beginning to yellow. So I told DH I am gonna start watering it. It is looking so much better. Growing up in Cali, I use to water our lawn, something I enjoyed. But first year ever we had to do it here.
Had our first peach harvest. And I have started some seeds for fall crops.
I am still working on the potatoes. But being so hot and with time. I have failed to get it done. We have people that have been coming and digging them. they keep what they dig. But I just want to get them all up. But I just consider them being stored until I can get them.
Had a first harvest of our Armenian cucumbers. The most delicious cucumbers ever.
The cocks combs have bloomed. Mom has been waiting so patiently she remembers them from childhood and so she is enjoying them.
I think our dove just hatched her 3rd nest. She moves off center and watches the nest when they are hatching, her we can watch from inside the house, so we get quite a wildlife show.
Thank you for sharing 🤗 it is such a blessing to behold new life.
Hope you can see the babies.
As for us we’ve spent a hot weekend putting out composted cow manure, a layer of top soil and new mulch in our beds. We watched our neighbors leave for the lake Friday and when they came back on Sunday we’d just finished. I’m guessing they thought we’re nuts...
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/66840.php
I've sometimes thought about bringing my shovel to dig out some of the obvious weeds in the gardens I encounter on my daily rounds but I'm not sure that would be appreciated (lol)
I live in a suburb of Chicago. My mother who's 83 and has moderate dementia, lives with my husband and me. We have 3 kids, two of whom are still in college and thus are home periodically. My father has Alzheimer's and died of aspiration pneumonia in November 2015. My mom cared for him at home until about 20 months before he died, when she finally realized she needed to place him in memory care. He had become very violent and wandered a lot plus she could no longer coax him to bathe or go to bed or eat etc. I had about 1 year after he died before my mom started to show signs of short term memory loss. She has no chronic health problems other than back and hip pain which limits her mobility. So we sold our house (and the house my parents lived in which I owned and where I had gardened for 20 years) and rented the house that she can live in with us with a bedroom on the first floor. At this point she can't remember any new information at all. We had a wonderful relationship before she moved in. I struggle daily with our conversations, which are stuck on repeat, she challenges everything I do, and she has other emerging habits that cause other problems, i.e., she wants to eat nonstop to the point where we have food hidden everywhere and she lets our new (as of May 2019) rescue dog out of the house! We do not have a fenced in backyard and he just takes off! We've had to bail him out of the pound two times in 1 month. $187 each time. Anyway, I am going slowly crazy because I've had to stop working to take care of her. So this spring I posted on our local nextdoor.com that I was available to weed and manage perennial gardens for $20/hour. I got 6 offers within an hour. After it all shook out I ended up with two clients. After having perennial borders for 20 years and then moving into this rental house without anything planted I am ECSTATIC about getting my hands dirty again. Both people who I am gardening for seem to appreciate the help. The both have too many square feet of garden area to manage themselves and money doesn't seem to be an issue. I work in their yards on days my husband can work from home and in the weekday evenings and on the weekends. That's my story, thanks for reading! Marya
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Sod Tuesday!
Oh and central air did not work, it was only the fan on the furnace. Air conditioner unit would not come on. Thank goodness for the business I am in. Someone actually came right over yesterday, actually two someones, then they on the phone with plumber and electrician. Problem, my stove thought it was the air conditioner, wired to the thermostat. And air conditioner thought it was the stove. Mislabeled breaker box. It is nice an cool in her now! PHEW! Supposed to get up to 98 today.
The parents flying in circles above, being harassed by a crow.
Turtle doves come close to the window perched on a trellis to visit
Tweety the budgie in the window.
A hummingbird helicopters at the window to listen to the bird videos.
Neighbors having successes with almost wall to wall plants in varying size
containers.
Boulders are in. Dirt has been amended and graded. Sprinkler went in today, landscaper says maybe sod on Monday? Been a long time coming and I will believe it when I see it. Frogs living in window wells......
You are a real farmer and I am still trying to grow tomatoes out of a pot..LOL I'll get there! I hope!
Are you going to get a blow torch for the goat heads next?
I am so thankful for soaker hoses. DH did not realize the chore of watering the greenhouse. Until he had to do it one day, and then he only did half and I finished it. It is over an hour of watering each plant. But anyway, he bought some soaker hoses the other day and we installed them tonight in the greenhouse. So now, I do not have to spend so much time watering, just turn on the water and leave it a few hours and done. YAY! quite a blessing for me.
Thank you for sharing that.
I am not fluent in bird species so not sure what kind it is.
Glad,
This website looks interesting on goatheads. It sounds very labor intensive.
More goat head yoga today. I am tuckered out. Might see if I can find someone to burn them.