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It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!

So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?

What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?

Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)

Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?

Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?

What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?

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Daughter of 1930,
Thank you for that suggestion for ants.
It would be nice to think they are not coming back.
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Can you leave the Gazebo up through the winter Cwillie?
We removed the cover, and just have the frame which divides an otherwise very plain and empty side yard. The plants surround it.

Congratulations on your peppers! I like using peppers in so many things to saute a one-pan meal. Quick and easy.
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Bedraggled and sad pretty much sums up my garden too but I don't think I can blame the weather, we've had a real shift in the seasons and fall is already settling in. I've started gathering slips from the plants I want to save but I still need to bring the houseplants back inside and think about dismantling the gazebo, which always makes me sad. On the plus side my peppers are turning red and yellow.
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We’ve had weeks and weeks of zero rain so the plants look bedraggled and sad. I’ve watered but rain just does a better job of it. No cooler temps yet, but looking forward to some fall planting.
Send, I had some really large ants in the house a few weeks ago, sprayed with Bengal and haven’t seen any again
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Ants in the kitchen.

Red ants in the driveway.
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Perfect timing to be getting outside as the summer ends 9/21.
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My garden has had mixed success this year. I'm always happy to have anything growing but I can't help but compare to the gardens of my past, then I had more of everything than we could possibly use and today I must fuss and cross my fingers and rejoice that I get a handful of veggies. The beautiful flower gardens that were here when I bought the place have been taken over by the toughest plants and the more delicate have either died or are struggling (but the rudbeckia and echinacea are beautiful too in a disordered kind of way). Even my lawn is more weeds than grass.
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Hello! Just stopping by to see how your garden grows.

It will seem like a very little while has passed before the garden became too hard,
and you no longer have the hope that you will be out there again.

Still, there is Spring, with new opportunities for all.
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Maybe the toad was encouraging you to make a wind chime! It does sound like a nice idea
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I have an old 2" L shaped copper plumbing pipe beside my deck that I planned to disassemble and make into wind chimes but so far I haven't gotten around to it. Today a toad has been chirping inside the pipe and it's LOUD, took my quite a while to figure out what the heck I was hearing! 🐸 😄
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Cannot get outside for several days, but I plan on it today before it's hot.

Coffee on the patio.

Visit my plants.

Feed the Blue Jay that has returned, some sunflower seeds to plant.
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I had several extra plants hanging around from when I was thinning and separating them earlier so I decided to expand the flower bed between me and my neighbour (the problematic ones). There's not a lot of space between us and I'm not sure I like the results but I'll give it some time. Levelling it off and replanting grass is easy enough if it comes to that. What I really want is somewhere to put all the flowers I wish I had - a pink poppy, delphiniums, lupines, peonies, lilies.....
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Another frost warning for us tonight, this after a couple of days hitting 30°C. But today was a good day for getting a lot of work done in my yard/garden, I've been edging beds, weeding and dividing plants. I'm tired.
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Sounds lovely Send! 🌻
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It is a sunflower!
A flower has bloomed yesterday on one of the 4' tall plants.
It blooming next to a cactus that has just bloomed two bright flowers, just beautiful.
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It was actually the birds who planted those seeds, they grew so fast, and do look like SUNFLOWERS. No blooms yet.
Now, I want more.

The plants are not sorghum.

I will ask the Blue Jay to do it for me. It moved away further down the block for safety, but visits sometimes.

Wherever they plant them, I will enjoy the majesty of nature. I've got to get outside more.

Thinking of putting a few Andironack Chairs in my front yard, throwing down some pea gravel. Whatever I can accomplish without help from busy husband.
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I’m in the South and we’re having weather whiplash. Warm spring days, cold snaps, dry spells, large rainfalls, just all over the place. My soil has been amended a lot but is by nature rocky, so moisture doesn’t last long, the heavy rains don’t benefit much. The winter blooms are having their last hurrah and the spring ones are trying to get going. I also have bird feeders. Hubby low temp bakes the seed before I use it so it won’t germinate when it gets dropped. Also add cayenne pepper oil to make it unattractive to squirrels and raccoons. Hope the birds appreciate the effort! I’m not sure I’ve ever successfully grown a sunflower. They’re so pretty, not sure why I can’t make them work. Hope you get one!
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I hope your mystery plant is a sunflower and not something dull like sorghum Send!
I have a picture in my mind of all the perfect new planters and trees and large compost bins I want in my yard, I just can't summon up the energy to get any of that done.
I'd also like a new carport and a permanent roof over my deck. And maybe a remodelled kitchen (but that isn't gardening)🤔
Dreams, all just dreams.
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Sounds better if you listen to music "the police" Try it.

Every step you take,
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Cwillie,
FB reels, the algorithms are feeding me gardening reels.
I think I just like to buy the plants, in hopes of a dream garden.

However, the two rose bushes I bought had to be returned.
They couldn't be planted in time, and dH had broken tooth issues,
taking up extra time, so I did return them.

Always thinking of ideas as I scroll through landscaping and gardening techniques.
If only I could move around as fast as the videos on speed and fix my front yard in 20 minutes.

I fed the wild birds a few times by throwing out seed. Something grew, 3-4 plants of something unknown. Looks like a big weed, tall now about 24 inches. That was so fast! Wonder, what is it, maybe a sunflower...
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A cold spring has had me shuffling plants outdoors during the day and indoors again over night and it's getting old. (Mind you I didn't like the kind of weather we've had over the last decade or so either where we went from snow to summer overnight). I'm still not sure whether I'll make an effort to garden this year, I've got lots of plans in mind though.
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Where did you come across that little ditty Send? While I empathize with the lyrics I can't stand the music lol
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I chose the garden over people
Because people annoy me
And I am mean.

If I'm feeling blue
I don't need to see friends
I just need to see green.

Oh, you think I'm talking money
No, I spent all that on plants.

If you invite me to a public event
I'll tell you I can't.
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What is the name of your little grey tree frog?
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I was pruning some of the winter damaged stems from my boxwood and there was my little grey tree frog from last year (or maybe it's cousin lol). Wow, I'm so happy!
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Oh how nice, there are so many juncos this spring!
Hm, I wonder what they could be eating 🤔
(google, google google)
Oh of course, I should have known. They're eating all my grass seed 🙄
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The garlic I planted in October are growing great, should be a good year for them. Added 25 onion starts (sets) last weekend, hope they don't mind their little snow hats today. Snap peas in the greenhouse that should be ready to flower right when it gets warm enough to prop the door open during the days so the bees can come in.
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Husband took phone outside and took pictures and a video of around the house and driveway, garden plants in large pots.
This will make planning easier.
I enjoyed watching that over 5 times already!

The neighbor is encroaching and planting invasive plants. Boundaries will be going up.

The one small crocus we had in years past did not come up, but the paper white Narcissus have spread around. There is a few gophers.

Good fences make good neighbors.
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I woke up to a dusting of snow this morning but the brave little snowdrops are undeterred. Some of the neighbour's early crocus might be toast though.
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CWillie, the bane of gardeners, the eternal things you mention. One day there won’t be anymore humans on this planet, but I believe the bugs will be alive and well. And my post about spring? We now have at least two more freezes within the next week. Spring is a tease
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