Connect with people who understand what you are going through, seek advice and surround yourself with support. We're free, anonymous, and professionally moderated 24/7.
Unknown userMember
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?
In response to: Self care by growing a garden
Unknown userMember
In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
My period of love of gardening started with taking an Dutch Iris bulb and some pelargonium cuttings.
Before that it was just one of the seemingly endless chores.
its so exiting that I actually know what some of the names of the plants are .. as an inner city kid I only knew geraniums and cala lilies!
Here's a rose pic
In response to: Self care by growing a garden
Unknown userMember
In response to: Self care by growing a garden
SmcSenior Contributor
@Former-Member "Edibles, ornamentals or both?" Very much both! 
I did actually write up a long post about my garden last night, but something glitched and it disappeared... so here I go again.
Our family has had a crazy run of one thing after another for more than a decade. MI, major emergency surgery, natural disasters and other events and situations way too convoluted to list, so I decided a long time ago that my sanity-saver garden had to be crisis-resistant.
The past couple of years have been really tough, and it's wearing me down badly. As a result, the big annual veggie garden in the back yard has grown very little except weeds this year. The few crops I have planted went in too late. Doesn't matter too much with the cabbage and broccoli plants. Most of them survived summer by sulking, and from past experience, they'll start growing properly as the weather cools down. But the tomatoes, eggplant and sweet potato have produced little or nothing.
And now the "crisis resistance" advance planning kicks in. I've got lots of friuit trees, so with no attention paid to them, we've had a few apricots and plums, and heaps of peaches. There's assorted herbs all over the place, perennials like rosemary, sage, lemon thyme, lemon verbena, lemon balm, garlic chives, various mints, fennel and others; and self seeding ones too- flatleaf parsley, chervil and borage. Lettuce and silverbeet also self seed, although none of them made it through summer. I'm expecting the next batch will start coming up soon. There's an asparagus patch (but it's not big enough- need to plant some more!!) and heaps of Jerusalem Artichokes that are currently taller than our side fence and flowering. They'll be ready for winter soups and casseroles.
Same goes for the ornamentals. There's a lot of drought tolerant flowering plants like bearded irises, lavender, buddleias, chinese lanterns (very tough once they get established), agastaches, senecios, yarrows, a few natives. Bulbs like tulips, nerines, daffodils and jonquils, belladonna lillies, grape hyacinths and more that grow over autumn/winter/spring when there's moisture in the soil, and self seeding flowers that do the same- nigella, poppies, calendulas. (Not an exhaustive list by any means. There's all sorts hiding around.)
At the moment, the garden looks messy. There's weeds everywhere, and lots of things in need of pruning, but it's still growing and producing. I'm hoping to get part of the big veggie patch back into order to plant some winter crops, and wanting to use the fact that it's currently empty as an opportunity to relay the beds into a better plan.
We've got plenty of wildlife that love our garden, including some friendly but not really tame wallabies... they're a bit of a problem because they like fruit trees and veggies too, but they get away with it because they're so cute. This one's a female with a rather full and bulgy pouch. 
In response to: Self care by growing a garden
Unknown userMember
In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden
DeterminedSenior Contributor
Liking the new profile pic @Former-Member
I can see you are getting into the groove already 🙂
In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden
SmcSenior Contributor
@Former-Member... as yuck as it sounds, the odd caterpillar hidden in the caulis does no harm. They taste of whatever they've been eating but have a higher... erm... protein content?? I've found caulis to be the trickiest of the cabbage etc. family, but all of them are a bit pest prone.
The wallabies are unpredictable in their appetites, but I have to protect the trunks of young trees. Lost a few to ringbarking. They like snowpeas, so I'll have ot cage those.
I've read the article about the microbes in soil before. There's a tricky balance. If we're not clean enough we can expose ouselves to "bad bugs", but too clean and shiny's evidently not healthy either. 🙂
In response to: Self care by growing a garden
Unknown userMember
In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden
SmcSenior Contributor
And good afternoon to you. 🙂
I was out all day yesterday, and this morning too. The only gardening this weekend has been quickly spraying the young plants in my "nursery" section so that they didn't die, but I've got some other potted plants pleading for urgent attention too, so I need to get out there soon.
I tacked some of the pruning on Friday, and also distributed some manure rich bunny bedding to a few veggie plants. I chop the prunings up into short lengths, usually about 30cms, sometimes linger or shorter, and spread them over our paths as mulch. Cheaper than buying it in. 😄 (If it's edible stuff, it often goes to to the bunnies or guinea pigs instead.)
In response to: Re: Self care by growing a garden
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
Ahhh ... a file ... now why didnt I think of that. Goes off to sharpen secateurs. Thanks @Former-Member Mostly there were no gardens when I grew up or .. it was a huge and managed by a gardener ... I can be pretty slow in some ways .. lol
Help us push aside the stigma and discrimination surrounding complex mental health and change the way people talk about, and care for, mental illness.
SANE acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and to Elders past and present.
SANE values diversity. We are committed to providing a safe, culturally appropriate, and inclusive service for all people, regardless of their ethnicity, faith, disability, sexuality, or gender identity.
Help us push aside the stigma and discrimination surrounding complex mental health and change the way people talk about, and care for, mental illness.
SANE acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and to Elders past and present.
SANE values diversity. We are committed to providing a safe, culturally appropriate, and inclusive service for all people, regardless of their ethnicity, faith, disability, sexuality, or gender identity.
You’ll soon be able to use one secure login to access all SANE services.
For added security, members are now required to log in with their email address and password - member names are no longer supported for logging in.
If you had a Forums account before 19 May 2026 and haven’t set up your new login yet, you'll be prompted to set up your new secure login when you sign-in.
Fields marked * are required
