Gardening is so satisfying

It's said that laughter is the best medicine but gardening comes in at a very close second. You can lose yourself and nothing else seems to matter. I couldn't live without my garden.

I do think that everything is being very productive so far this year. Roses are laden, clematis laden with foliage and some flowering like mad. soft fruit looking really good. All the perennial looking very cheerful. Good isn’t it?

I think the relatively good winter must have something to do with it.

I often go out in the garden 'just for half an hour' and then find several hours have gone by.Today it was a godsend as our DD ,who is overdue with her baby,had gone in thinking labour was starting.Weeding and replenishing gravel kept me busy and stopped me fretting.Turned out it was a false alarm and she is back home,still waiting.I certainly got lots done !

I have ordered this metal sign for my garden fence. It says it all for me!

I bought some Iris on the "left over table" in the garden centre.
All of a sudden the number of them have multiplied. And are now flowering .

So what I did my brain do? It started getting me thinking I could put some over there. And over there. Different colours would be nice.
I am helpless.

My gooseberry bush is loaded this year. It is about four years old now and in the past i have been lucky to get a handful of berries.It is currently under a fleese to protect fruit from chilly nights and the blackbirds as i saw them trying to pull the fruit off!!! Love my garden and my DH says i 'mother' my plants, watering, feeding and covering each night with a 'blanket' to protect them. I am always pottering in the garden or greenhouse, well you have too don't you.

Used not to, but now I love gardening. We have a large plot which keeps DH and I busy. Next project is a stone wall to contain a steep bank . I have never attempted anything similar .

I've just finished helping water all the newly p otted up plants in our conservatory and garden. I usually leave the gardening to my DH as he knows better than me about plants. We've had a walk round, and noticed that the plum trees he bought have started to wake up, the cucamelons corms have begun to sprout, and the little rescued fi g tree has 15 figs. Gardening is indeed satisfying and very therapeutic.

I cannot stop, if I was not very tired and hot I would have still been out there. I am probably addicted,

I was crawling in the flower bed earlier.

So, true. Gardening is so satisfying.

MY garden is calling to me to get out there and do some chores.Just finishing off some housework chores then my plan is to be out there for as long as possible, hopefully it will be a bit warmer too.Happy Gardening everyone.

What on earth happened there?

Anyway, we got some rain, but not much so it all set like concrete under the plants. I have now scheduled 1 hour a day per week – movable because I have granny duty and, anyway, it sometimes rains – for gardening, which at the moment, given we have had a fair amount of rain, is mostly weeding. It is beginning to look better; so far I have done 15 hours of weeding and it is so satisfying to see the beds become orderly. Unfortunately, there is probably at least another 30 hours to do.

I don't have much experience of gardening but now I have a moderately large garden, so I try, We had a long-lasting drought during the summer when we were banned from using not just hoses but watering cans too. I watered the most vulnerable plants with recycled water from the washing machine, washing up and even the shower.

I don't have much experience of gardening but now I have a moderately large garden, so I try, We had a long-lasting drought during the summer when we were banned from using not just hoses but watering cans too. I watered the most vulnerable plants with recycled water from the washing machine, washing up and even the shower.

J52 I chop up old oranges and garlic to discourage the cats. It works for a while but has to be redone especially when it rains a lot and it doesn't look very attractive, especially when the mould sets in. I don't drink much coffee. Would instant do? The Vicks vapour rub is an interesting idea though! Dare I say it on here but I hate cats!! The smell of their disgusting poo knocks me sick!

Lisagran that is beautiful. I am relatively new to gardening and have grown loads of things from seed this year. A lot of the seeds have come from a weekly gardening magazine that gives a free packet of seeds almost every week. I have gained so much pleasure from sitting in my greenhouse with my little radio which is run with batteries or electricity, listening to radio 4 and planting seeds, pricking out and potting on. I wish I had realized years ago how calming and satisfying it is.

For those who have cats using their gardens as toilets, I’ve found a harmless way of putting them off whilst benefitting the soil. It’s three suggestions that I heard of combined.
Mix together spent coffee grounds, some citrus peal and a teaspoon of vicks vapour rub. Then scatter it on the affected area. I did this with the daily coffee grounds for a week and the cats no longer use that patch of garden.
The grounds are good for the soil and the combined scent puts the cats off.
I love cats by the way.

I have a largish garden by modern standards and a DH who doesn’t like to help. When I was thinking of the future when I couldn’t do so much heavy weeding and work I had areas cleared under the trees at the end and sides of the garden. At the side I had a lining and pebbles added, on which I have placed pots and an urn. At the end I had an extra 15 foot of turf laid.

Now I only have to cut the grass and attend to the many massive pots of blooming and lovely flowers I keep on my largish patio. It is neat and rather stunning with proper stripes on the lawn. I call it ‘lazy gardening’ but the effect is great.

I agree about the pleasures of being out in the open air engaging with nature. Nothing nicer.

I'm another who doesn't like it I'm afraid - especially when it's cold. We've been in this house 33 years this month and although the garden isn't huge it's a constant state of 'bothersomeness' as I can't seem to keep on top of it. Some years ago we had two very large poplars removed - they'd had a preservation order on them but were far too large and shaded the whole garden when in leaf and some of the neighbours too - they were completely hollow inside so not in a good state anyway. We cleared all the beds round them, put weed matting down and shale over the top with pots (which I don't mind doing). Over a couple of years all the plants which we thought had gone started to come through so now the whole area is overgrown again - a giant thing like a Yucca dominates the space as well as a huge rose bush and other shrubs. Poppies and ivy have taken over one corner. The clematis and 30 year old wisteria look beautiful when in flower but the rest just looks a mess

Although I have always enjoyed gardening looking after DGC has meant it has basically become tidying, cutting back and scraping up the moss lately. Still good exercise though and out in the fresh air is much better than indoors. My neighbour and I have just had our Leylandi hedge removed and have planted laurels so looking forward to seeing those grow and experiencing more sunlight! We are also communicating more now that the 8 foot high, mostly brown barrier has disappeared!

I used to love it. Now not so much. My garden sometimes feels like an enemy. Fences falling down. Expensive to repair. Honey fungus in tree and hedges cost me a fortune to remove. Neighbours rent and allow ivy and ground elder to go mad everywhere. Why would they care?! Would prefer just the patio and my pots. ?

Nanthewiser me too mares tail horrid stuff I just keep pulling it up whenever I see it same with bindweed hopefully I will win the battle

I'm experiencing the same with Monarda, had no idea how much they would spread, even more than mint I think - But it's pretty- It's a wild garden anyway, survival of the fittest ..

My pride and much joy is my Bird if Paradise . I have six blooms on this year and I am very proud of it. It’s taken me years to get to this size in the UK bit I’m a very patient gardener. In the conservatory for winter but in the garden for summer. Getting too big for me to struggle with to get outside . But where there’s a will there’s a way!

Nana3 - I'm battling celandines, there are several small clumps in the flower beds. Also lots of cuckoo pint has sprung up this year. I could live in the garden, it's a decent size (1938 semi) and the back garden faces south so quite sunny. Have just bought violas from the market to put in the tubs and troughs. Veg seeds are in trays in the lean-to greenhouse.

But it's a war zone. Ongoing battle with cats, there are lots of new ones on the block who try to catch the birds and they poo on newly raked soil. The blackies peck at newly planted pots and tubs and pull out the leek seedlings so I have to put a cage of chicken wire over the bed.

I buy windmills and sun catchers from Poundland to try to deter the birds.