Yard work/gardening - great therapy!

[mattsmom27]

Does anyone else here enjoy spring/summer planting? I unfortunatly live in a triplex now so can't have a vegetable garden. I miss it. I can't dig up the ground to put in flower beds either. Last year I felt so miserable. I absolutely love my apartment and the building and my 2 other neighbours are a group of wonderful people. But there was nowhere to enjoy spending time outside.
I've been having a really difficult couple of weeks and I just thought do SOMETHING. I needed to stay busy and I needed something that felt good for the spirit/soul, if that makes sense.
So I now have a gorgeous 2 person swing with canopy with end tables on each side. I have great big clay pots on the tables that I have hand painted and now have planted gorgeous annuals in. They are a riot of color. I picked up gorgeous iron candle holders etc and some of those neat torches you put in the ground for citronella candles (bugs here are nasty). I have a nice cover on my picnic table and beautiful pot of flowers in the center with more iron candle holders. I picked up these sinfully expensive huge ceramic planter pots that are topped with bamboo and had a blast planting them with all kinds of flowers. I am going to buy those patio lattern type strings of lights to hang up, and I am having some planter boxes built so that I don't have to dig up the grass and get in trouble.
The past couple of nights I have put easy child to bed, left difficult child in the world of Xbox in his room, made tea after tea, lit all the candles and sat on my swing until late, last night I think I came in around midnight. It was so peaceful and it felt all about ME, which was nice.
Anyone else enjoy this type of thing? I was listening to just silence last night out there, I heard crickets chirping and I felt like I was somewhere else. All without actually running away from home. I am so glad I decided to allow myself the costs of doing this for myself. I slept last night better than I had in at least 2 weeks!

Melissa

 

[Luminosity]

I garden too. But I have a house so I can dig. Dig is what husband and I did for the long weekend as the garden had gotten out of control with weeds so I dug all my perennials out, we dug up the sprinkler system so we didn't rototill it and then husband rototilled till his back was aching. I still have some perennials left to get back into the ground but between the heat and having an episode I have lost the energy or motivation. I did help husband put up the gazebo canapy and washed up the patio furniture last night. We will work on the pool over the next week. I am so happy to have the outside furniture out again as I can take the laptop outside and just veg.... I am all over the place here but back to the front garden, once I finish planting then we have to decide what mulch we are going to use and then the garden will be restored to its beautiful beginings. Haven't even thought about the veggie garden yet but that is my husband's domain and all he plants are tomatoes and peppers. Haven't wrapped my head around the annuals yet and by the time I get to it all the good ones will be gone. There is just something about having an outdoor room that calms the nerves. Not looking forward to the mosquitos though... blackflies haven't been too bad where I am for now!

Happy for you and your space. Sometimes you have to make that splurge to help you. If you aren't well then it's hard to keep the kidlets on the right course!

Luminosity

 

[Luminosity]

OK so this thread finally motivated me by showing me just how pathetic I have been. In a little more than an hour I got the rest of my garden planted! All that is left is the mulch....

Thank you Melissa for lighting the fire under my B utt !!!!!

Lumi

 

[Martie]

I have a yard but I prefer container gardening on the patio. I leave the yard to perenials and my husband :smile:

I hope you enjoy your new space.

Martie

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Melissa,

It's funny, but if you go back to when I first got on this board, you would have found me saying "I hate gardening!"

But, since bonehead moved out (three years ago this august) I have developed the love of puttering in the garden. It all began with my desire to make a haven for myself outside. I had a man come in a pull all the big old ugly bushes up that surrounded my patio. Then I created a bed around the patio, put down the black material that doesn't allow weeds through (although they are more and more every year), and planted a whole bunch of perenials. They get bigger and more lovely each year.

I have a wooden gazeebo type structure built over the entire patio. I have permenant chains and hooks around the edges that I hang large ferms from each year as well as a couple windchimes. This is the second year that numerous house finches have nested and started a family in my ferms! When you sit there, you feel surrounded by green like an oasis.

I have black iron furniture (large table with four chairs, small table with two rockers, bench with two end tables) with a large umbrella on the big table and cushions on all the seating. I have a standing occilating fan in one corner against the house, and then I have another corner with a slate fountain surrounded by clay pots with both flowers and greenary.

I built out another end of the patio with pavers and placed my gas grill on them.

It is my haven! I sit out there in the morning with coffee when I have time, and can be found out there most evenings. easy child and her buddies love to hang out there as well. I use the grill several times a week (just cooked turkey burgers and kabobs of baby bells and tomatos for dinner last night). Now, if only I had a pool back there it would be perfect!!!!

So Melissa, the long and short of it is, yes, I love puttering outside. It is a lot of maintainence, since I also have a small backporch with plantings, and clay pots around the house, and an old tree stump that has a bird bath on it surrounded by pots of flowers. I also have four bordered gardens back in the yard (although they are pretty established perenial gardens, roses a couple crepe mertle trees, etc., so they don't require too much anymore). I can be found watering in the morning one day, and the early evening the next!

I've come a long way from someone who hated gardening a few years ago. But, it has given me time to contemplate while I'm pulling weeds, repotting annuals, and watering. It has also given me a sense of accomplishment. It's so much nicer than when bonehead was here and when he does come out there while I'm sitting there and I see him looking around, I feel like sticking my nose up in the air and saying "nice isn't it??"

Enjoy your little slice of heaven - I know how it feels!

Sharon

 

[Sunlight]

flowers flowers flowers...I plant them from the seeds I save and harvest and dry out from last year. I have blooming stuff all over. if I ahd a do-over I would work ni a florist shop.

vege gardens...I have tried. and failed miserably. or should I say my soil fails..lol??

last year I had a few tomato plants a few pepper plants and I did grow our halloween jack be nimble (tiny) pumpkin.

I always am digging in dirt!

 

[flutterbee]

I'm so happy you've made a space for yourself! It sounds absolutely wonderful.

 

[timer lady]

That area sounds wonderful! I'm glad that you took time to create a "garden" area for yourself.

I love digging about the yard - even pulling weeds. I have more flowers to plant this weekend. There is no longer a threat of frost or so I'm told by our weather guys.

Enjoy your space.

 

[donna723]

Your little "garden nook" sounds wonderful!

My yard takes up 2/3rds of a city block and I've spent the last four summers trying to keep up with it all with a little push mower! I would spend my entire weekend just mowing, then doing it all over again the next weekend! Finally, this year, I just couldn't keep my mower running and the grass was really getting out of hand, so I got a lawn service guy to do it, and it looks wonderful! It's pricey and I really can't afford it, but he does a great job of it and with his big commercial mower he can do in a half hour what it took me all weekend to do - and he weedeats, the part of it that I kept "forgetting" to do, so it looks a lot better! And anyway, I'm getting too darned old to be pushing a lawn mower around in 90+ degree heat!

So now that I don't have the "drudgery" part of it to worry about anymore, I'm really enjoying working on my flower beds and containers! I have Petunias dangling from just about everything! And I'm actually going to go out later and plant all those gladiola bulbs I bought a month ago! On second thought, maybe I'll do it tomorrow.... :cool: