Am Not Coping

That is wonderful @Adge - maybe you could plant a potted herb garden too and we can share our progress here together with @Faith-and-Hope and anyone else interested. It might be good for me going forward to post in the Community Garden but I will remember to tag you as well

Thanks @Zoe7

I planted about 100 plants at home, over 10 years or so.

Established a lovely garden from scratch on bare sand, with virtually nothing already there.

Sadly I've not planted anything in the ground in years.

It's not as beautiful as it once was.

It's the toughies, well-established shrubs & trees (that I planted), that are still going.

I still have some lovely flowers, including Hibiscus & Grevilleas, & a few surviving Roses.

Adge

I do love a Rose @Adge - have quite a few in my garden. I am still planting around the Roses but gradually getting the gardens to where I would like them - need to remember in Summer to water them though lol

When it gets a bit warmer I am going to organise a section near my shed to plant some beans and carrots - might even plant some lettuce but depends on how much room I can clear out!

Yes remembering to water in Summer is the issue @Zoe7

I didn't often enough, so I lost a lot of plants.

Beans & carrots sounds good. Beans are fun.

When I grew carrots (only once) in pots, the pots must have been too small - the carrots turned out like squished mutant carrots (not much like carrots).

I'm a fan of the Old World Heritage Roses. Rather hard to find to buy, very different from most modern roses.

I have one Heritage Rose left, it's Lamarque, from the 1800's. Very fragrant.

Adge

I will have to look those roses up @Adge. There were quite a lot of already established roses in the garden when I bought the place - I have cut them back to manageable levels and added some more along the way. My yard was an overgrown mess when I bought the place and it has taken nearly 5 years to get it to where it is now but things are beginning to grow and it is looking much better - net big job is to pull up the brick paving and replace it all. That is one job I can't do presently - both physically can't and money wise.

Sounds like our gardens were opposites @Zoe7

Mine was a barren empty wasteland of sand (backyard & front), 16 years ago.

Pulling up concrete pavers, yes big heavy job.

I am not physically capable of that, too many health issues, & high risk of hernia (from surgeries).

Yes, expensive I'm sure.

Many of the old Heritage roses don't have any thorns (or hardly any) - which is nice & handy for pruning. Plus they're usually very fragrant.

Zephrine Drouhine is another lovely one (bright pink fragrant), with no thorns.

Mermaid is lovely, it's a rambler with bright yellow single-petal flowers - it's very thorny.

Adge

Mermaid sounds lovely - I would like a yellow rose - have mostly pink and white but have no idea of any of their names - they all have thorns @Adge

I have done more work on the outside than the inside of my house - I love a nice garden - something serene and lovely being able to sit in the sun in a nice, colourful garden.

I L💕VE them @Zoe7 ..... 🤗🌱🌱🌱

Sorry I was MIA there for a while. Ended up ”having words” with mr. via text (harder for it to escalate from there) and was able to tell him what I thought of what he was doing ..... it has cleared the air a little for now .... renegotiated some boundaries with it all.

Have kitted D3 out with some art supplies, so that’s under way too ....

Have found some cheap nail polishes to use for some sculpture stuff I am doing ..... yay .....

@Former-Member I will help where I can with the declutter as well. Have you considered renting a lock-up garage storage space, and hiring a room in a small country hotel as a “tenant” ? Combined, that might be more affordable than renting a whole house. That way you can still access whatever you want from the storage unit, but you still get sheets and towels laundered as a part of the hotel stay cost. The room comes with a kettle, so a stock pot, sandwich toaster etc might be enough.

Just a thought ......

Friesia is a lovely yellow modern rose @Zoe7 It's small or compact, so doesn't take up much room. One of the best yellow roses (Floribunda).

I put in far more work into the garden (outside) too.

Sadly, I don't spend much time out in it now - something about it became too triggering (psych reckons).

So I'm being prodded & encouraged to start spending more time outside in my garden.

Having a garden & enjoying it is wonderful - for people who like gardens & plants.

Adge

@Faith-and-Hope I will no doubt add to our garden as things start to grow. I have many, many packs of seeds that I can use but really wanted to start it with seedlings so you can have something to look at while the other seeds germinate and grow. I could yet end up with more herbs than I can use lol - but it will be worth it to bring some joy into your world

I actually thought there may have been a little 'conflict' for you today - that is often when you go MIA - but glad you stuck up for yourself and it has worked out ok for you. It is a really hard situation for you and takes so much courage to both sit back and let things unfold but also to voice your opinions - not an easy situation at all.