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Self care by growing a garden

Self care by growing a garden

A SOS to any green thumbs out there

I have always found gardening to be therapeutic and it has given me great joy. However, after a major crisis with Mr Darcy's health I have not had been able to get back into it. Have other gardeners suffered from a similar hiatus and how have you recovered and got going again?

Darcy

PS have a spot that needs filling any recommendations for a 1m high cool climate white flower plant?

2358 replies

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In response to: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

A few more bucketfuls of weeds out. The garden (and the potplants) are slowly re-emerging. 🙂 Some of the succulents I've brought back from Mum and Dad's place are a little bit frostbitten. It's a little warmer where they live- only a little, but it makes a difference. I'll need to keep them in a greenhouse over future winters. This one's really been quite mild. A severe winter would have completely destroyed some of them.

More and more flowers on the way all the time, and more than enough green vegs to eat. 🙂 Most of the stone fruit trees are in flower, pears are getting close too.

I bought a punnet of cherry toms yesterday. They're inside on a windowsill, and I'll be potting them on to give me "advanced plants" ready to put out sometime around late October/early November when our frost danger is finally past.

In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

@Former-Member, when we first moved here, I was setting up veggie beds that were about 4' x 6', according to a book that recommended that as a size because you could reach into the middle to plant seed/seedlings or pull out weeds.
Methinks the author must have been a 6' tall bloke with long arms to match. I've started remaking them into 3' wide beds, which are a much more reach-able size for 5' tall me! 😛 I'd made the paths 2' wide, but have also concluded that they're the wrong width. OK to walk on, but not for getting a wheelbarrow in. So they're going out to 3' wide.
I keep the weeds down (or try to) by heavily mulching the paths, so you never know, I may even end up swapping the beds into paths and vice versa at some stage to take advantage of the built up organic matter. 🙂

In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

@Smc

there have a floriad festival near you this weekend

In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

@Smc

The raised veg beds we are looking at come in a width of 600mm or 900mm and are 740mm high (length variable).

Based on your comments I am wondering if you think the 900mm ones would be too wide? I am keen on "square foot" gardening and hope to divvy the beds into 30cm squares.

In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

@Smc

Garden slowly emerging = 🙌

Flowers blooming = 🌷🌸🌹
Getting veg started = 👍

More than enough veg = famine averted

@Shaz51

Garden festivals = 😀

Just done the conversion from ' to mm @Smc 900mm will be fine.

Adequate room for a wheelbarrow to get through = a necessary consideration and one I had not thought of.

With things happening I did place a seed order ...

In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

@Former-Member, 600mm/2' is good for against fences where you can only reach from one side. 🙂 Glad I mentioned the wheelbarrow!
@Shaz51, I'm down in Central Vic, so nowhere near Floriade, but there's display gardens in our local area that are starting to look good. I've just been discussing with my sister re. a visit to one that features a lot of spring bulbs. 🙂

In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

ha ha @Smc , @Former-Member

it is in camberra

In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

@Shaz51 perhaps the Tesselsar Tulip Festival might be a bit more accessible for @Smc .

In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

@Former-Member, @Former-Member , @Smc , @Adge , @Determined , @Appleblossom

In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden

Re: Self care by growing a garden

@Former-Member, @Shaz51, nah, Tesslar's a long trip too. We're out the "wrong" side of Melbourne, and getting all the way across through city traffic... um no. We'd arrive too tired and stressed to enjoy it.
We did live in Melbourne a couple of decades ago, and used to regularly go out that way on family outings. I never got to the tulip festival, but I think I visited Tesslar's on one other occasion. I've seen more spring tulips since moving down here, and they're one of the consolations of our cold winter- we can leave them in the ground and they'll come up and flower each year. If I had to go through the fuss of lifting and chilling them in the fridge lin frost free Melbourne, I think I would have given them up as fussy-spoiled-hard-work-Princesses.

Take a pampered princess...

turn her upside down, and she's a tulip! 😄

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