Hi everyone, Hi Blue, I'm a bit new to this but I saw the thread on gardening and couldn't resist! Blue,your comment about putting it on the whiteboard struck me as brilliant! I'm always writing my gardening notes on bits of paper and then losing them....I think I need a whiteboard!

I was only just pondering the usefulness of a garden yesterday as I pulled a few weeds. I haven't been in there much lately as my studies have been all consuming, but I have enjoyed visiting, and watching the bees dance in the self seeded cosmos, and the squash scramble up the corn.

It occurred to me- perhaps one of the reasons mental health is so generally poor in this day and age is the lack of gardening, for necessities sake! There's something about the fact that stuff will die and that will make me sad, that gets me out in my garden, pulling weeds and harvesting and sowing. Even when I'm really busy! A bit like my dog really. I walk for his sake when I won't walk for mine.

Lovely to find fellow gardeners!

Cheers,

Jstar

Hiya, Tayla I'm sure your bathroom didn't really mind being left messy and neglected, after all, you were still using it weren't you??

When I met my partner I always wondered why his bathroom was so filthy. (He is a neat freak)

Then I realised that he takes his glasses off to shower!! Lightbulb moment!!

I'm hearing you with the housework thing tho. Gardening is much more rewarding :)

Cheers,

Jstar

Hey Jstar49.

That's true, I just felt bad. I even struggle to get out of bed. I'm fine with my hygiene like showering (I sweat a lot so I shower morning & night).

- Tayla

Hey Tayla,

I've felt like that. I had PND with my daughter- didn't realise it.

Most days were just hard.

What do you find works well for you?

jstar

Hi all. Hey Jstar - glad the whiteboard idea helped. Mine is for self-care reminders, which includes a gardening note or two, and I find it really helpful. Hope you do, too. I think you're right about the lack of gardening being part of our generation's mental health trouble. Even a rubbish gardener like me gets a lot of pleasure out of just being out there, getting my hands dirty. I've read there are bacteria in the soil that have been linked to reduced depression symptoms. Food for thought.

Tayla - you're hardly alone, struggling to stay on top of housework. It's a nightmare for anyone struggling with mental health, a never-ending workload when as you say, just getting out of bed is hard. Don't beat yourself up, when you're not doing okay, the bathroom is low on the priority list.

Back on the topic of gardening... it's just about Summer, I don't expect to do much of use in my garden for a few months, but boy it's good that the grass and weeds are dying off and I can forget about maintaining the lawn for a while! It will all spring back up when the rain returns, I might have the mower working again by then... Beyond that, a bit of water on my fruit trees and I'll just sit out and enjoy my established plants.

Re my almond and cherry - probably the rootstock that's grown back. There is literally no life left in the rest, so whatever I've got now, I've got, and I'll be happy with that.

Blue.

Their is a mice plague here and they are eating my seedlings.Always something in the garden.

Hi Tay Tay!

So wonderful to see you here! I'm SO GLAD you came on to this thread.

BTW NOTHING is off topic here! Talk as much as you want about ANY THING you want to talk about.

It was gardening that saved me whilst I battled depression for many years.

There IS an "unofficial" thing called Nature Deficit Disorder, SO what we do with that is SOAK UP ALL the green you can lol! And colours and wormies and whatever you LOVE.

Just get out there!

Tay if you want to explore gardening with all of us holding your hands - and inherited green thumbs from your Nanna because they're there all right lol - please do!

If you have a Community Garden nearby your home, then have a wander around there and even pick some yummies to take home lol.
These places are a great indicator of what will grow well at your place - given similar considerations like soil, sunlight, shade etc.

When we first came to this home 20+y ago I had a 3 bay ie 3m x 3m with three sections COMPOST BAYS. I composted for ages as I watched and observed my garden. Where the sun fell in different seasons etc.

My garden's had like 20 lives since lol.

SO COMPOSTING is a great start and you don't have to GO BIG.
Go small!

Also WORM FARMING is SO REWARDING!
I don't use the big black expensive plastic things - I used 2 recycled bath tubs lol!

We can buy the whole thing from Men's Sheds here with the frame to hold the bath tub UP and everything. They even come to install it lol!

You just need a SHADY spot, that stays shady all year round.

I put a reclaimed screen door over the top to keep birds OUT. They LOVE worms lol.

If you set something up like this to begin with, then you can spend time enriching the soil, using your kitchen waste and observing the sun patterns etc.

You can get the worms for FREE from Community Gardens.

But I also have reclaimed poly pipe with biggish circular holes drilled in the bottom half and that half dug into the ground as worm farms too.
I have one near my morning cuppa spot and pop the tea bags in there.
I don't see the wormies this way but the soil and plants around it LOVES the stuff lol.

Any questions and any comments are most welcome!

LOVE EM

Wow HI Jstar49! and a very warm welcome to the gardening thread!

It's SO LOVELY to have you here and I love your beautiful posts all ready lol!

I REALLY have to hold myself back from moving into the garden full stop! hahaha.

Housework can go take a leap lol.

But I feel SO GOOD after getting all grubby in the garden and coming inside I feel lighter.

HEY TAY I also get in the shower with all sorts of scrubby stuff and scrub all that dirt off.
I leave my shower scrubber and cleaning sprays IN the shower cavity and do it at the same time lol.

I've already been in the garden in my PJs today lol... then realised I'm pretty excited to put my lost sheets and doona cover in the wash with nice smelly things and get them on my bed today.
Long story of theft and devastation at our home, so I'm SO HAPPY I hid all these lol and now FOUND THEM!

I thought those had been stolen too.

So here I am with PJ bottoms, slippers and a gardening dress on checking the BOOM in the gardening thread! LOL...

Talk about the most WONDERFUL addiction lol!

My chooks moved into the house, actually the laundry - aNOTHER story, so I took out 2 of their HUGE tubs full of yummy stinky stuff for my garden and had to leave it there till I get just a FEW indoor things done.

I really love our gorgeous group here.

Thankyou so much for sharing ALL your wonderful stories, gardening and otherwise.
And ofcourse for all your support for each other.

You all make an ecomama PROUD.

LOVE EM

Hi Blue!

Crappy news about the cherry and almond darn it.

I found that my kaffir lime tree's root stock had grown out and taken over poor darling lol.
It was ALL buried under the lantana for years.

When we cut it all back, we noticed the root stock BUT the most wonderful thing was it's a BUSH LEMON growing from root stock!

So I kept them both lol. I use lemons far more than kaffir lime leaves lol.

BUT not sure if everyone else here knows (I know you know Blue lol) that I was born in Asia back in the olden days lol, so I have alot of Asian food plants growing - the ones who survived the lantana era lol.

My eldest d's new beau lives nearby me.
His MUM was born in the province NEXT to where I was born.... seriously guys I CANNOT WAIT to meet her!!
My heart explodes with happiness lol.... I will have kindred spirits to share my garden produce with now!
Okay not NOW but when eldest d lets us meet lol!

TONS of chillies (watching the Red Hot Chilli Peppers Carpool Karaoke right now lol) and lots of lemon grass and a HUGE kaffir lime, Tahitian Lime doing well now Airies!

BTW my gardener was horrified I wanted to keep the root stock growing earlier in the year but last time he came, he was SO HAPPY to see it bountiful with lemons lol.

Crikeys guys even the Brush Turkeys have decided they like eating lemons ughhh.

Onwards and upwards lol.

LOVE EM

Matchy69 said:Their is a mice plague here and they are eating my seedlings.Always something in the garden.

Oh dear commiserations there Matchy!

A few ideas to ponder, maybe one to research (not sure how strong your stomach is lol)..

Permies often say things like "An overpopulation of snails really tells us that there's an UNDERpopulation of birds"... stuff like that.

My chicken eat said mice's young... pretty awful but helps alot.

So does my cat ofcourse.

BUT have a Google of "Biodynamic Mouse Peppers".... please read up as to HOW they're used!
There have been some interesting failures because of HOW they were applied.

I've tried to find someone who sells Biodynamic Fox Peppers so I can my chicken out of the house lol but I can't find anyone anymore sadly.

I think contacting the Biodynamic Groups might help...

Sorry about the mice, yep ALWAYS something to combat in the garden.

Good luck!

LOVE EM

It's the farmers I feel sorry for.They planted up after we had a bit rain and now they have a mice plague to deal with.My cat use to catch them but has lost complete interest in them now.

You guys must be down south- mice plague! Sounds horrific! Had mice in the house regularly in winter until they cut the bush down next door- that's bad enough.

Thanks EM for your lovely welcome- you sound beautiful!

I have a thread started about my daughter turning 21 and still refusing to speak to me, if anyone's interested. Was her birthday yesterday and I'm still pretty gutted. Bit of a MH day for me- tho I have assessments due and so can't sink too deep. But I sat in the yard with my chookies and cried for a bit- they're such lovely company. I swear, they all stopped and just listened. Tho they didn't try to come and hug me- maybe grief and sadness is different in the chook world.

Take care everyone

Jstar

Hi Jstar49 I am in qld where we have a mice plague because it has been so dry they are saying.The farms are just inundated with them at the moment.

I re ad your other thread and can relate to you and I feel your pain.I missed out on a wedding and a birth and many other things.It does hurt and probably hurt for the rest of my life.

Hi,

Oh of course, I only considered QLD after I posted that. Has it been dry? They've been forecasting a wet spring here, but it's not been real wet. It's raining tonite tho. I love the sound of rain on a tin roof.

It's so sad that you missed a wedding and a birth! Weddings especially are the sort of thing that people should just call a truce for. Weddings and funerals. It's the only time our extended family gets together. Well, funerals anyhow. Weddings are too expensive now, generally.

I missed my sisters wedding (strange story- and she was separated less than a year later) and she has been 'too busy' to let us visit with at least one baby.

I finally got to a place of acceptance about it, sort of, when I realised (several times actually) that she was/is very toxic, and whenever I am in her life I just run around doing stuff for her and her kids, which puts my life on hold. It's still very hurtful tho. My kid hardly gets to see her cousins.

Back to gardening! That's a much happier topic!

I harvested a ginormous cucumber yesterday- it looks like a snozzcumber! From the BFG?! It is so weird. Its from seed which is s'posed to be better suited to the subtropics, so shall see how it goes over summer. I didn't even know it was there I have neglected my garden so much- nearly stepped on it.

I finally planted out my lettuce seedlings, and some corn seeds. Hopefully the lettuce will be out by the time the corn is taking all the light and nutrients- I'm trying lots of companions this year. I rarely seem to have enough room in the garden for everything I want to grow- not that it all comes up of course!

The birds really like bean leaves, which is a pity. definitely affects the bean harvest. As you say, there's always something!

ATM I really love my cosmos. Even when nothing else is really growing as it should they're still shining their lovely faces, giving the bees and butterflies somewhere to land. They're incredibly hardy too- love dry weather. Last year they waited for the rain. Went from 20cm tall, in Dec/Jan, to over a metre in Feb rains! Lousy as cut flowers tho so don't even bother lol.

Take care

J*

Hi Jstar.Wow a monter cucumber sounds great.What variety is it.I use to grow a lot of cucumber and make bread and butter cucumbers out of them.I would have jars of them.Yes Em I will put my recipe on other thread.I am just about ready to pick my corn.I all ways grow corn as my son loves it.I picked my first lettuce yesterday and pick the rest this week.My iceberg lettuce seedlings unfortunately the mice out them.My tomatoes are all fruiting and getting nice size fruit on them but still green.

It has been dry here.We had all most a 100 mm last month but it didn' soak in at all and this month not much rain.Storm forecast for this afternoon.Will see if we get any.Ww are still drought declared here and town two towns over gets water trucked in for them.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

Hi

Cucumber 'Suyo Long' form Green Harvest. Variety is from China, considered 'burpless' and copes well with hot weather.

Dry spring is unusual for Qld is it?

I always grow corn too, tho I have had mixed results. Fond memories of my dad bringing in the corn just picked and mum popping it in the giant pot. Eating it an hour after it's picked. Shop bought just doesn't compare.

Happy gardening,

J*

Hi Jstar I think most of our rain in the warmer months comes from storms mostly and then they can be damaging.Sorm forecast for about 5pm today.A lot of the farms out here last year were bare paddocks as it was to dry for the farmers to plant.

My corn is absolutely delicious.I have happy childhood memories picking it off the plant and eating it straight away.My mum always had a vegie garden in the back corner.

Happt gardening ,

Mark.

Hey Mark,

I grew corn one year and the birds ate it.

The next year even the birds wouldn't eat it.

The next year was great.

We'll see what this year brings.

Happy gardening

J*

HI Happy gardeners lol

CORN!
Yes the adventures and memories are abound.

One year I asked my children in what formation I should plant the corn in our new round veggies bed. One son suggested in a SPIRAL! Well we are really into Steiner philosophy so it made sense lol...

So we did.
And I planted the trusty Marigold seeds in between the spiral rows.

OMG it was magical!
The very tallest corn stalk was in the very centre of the spiral and they spiralled down in length.
We had a bounty crop this way.

The entire 7 circle Mandala garden was pulled apart many years ago.

My garden has had so many lifetimes lol!

I'm cutting the garden in segments now.
Back segment is for the cabin to be built in.
I need to build a low retaining wall (I HOPE it's only LOW!).

Then a long path down the left hand side of my property segmented for the path leading to the cabin (which will have a fence on either side to give our garden lots of privacy)...

SO because of all these angles, I was thinking terraces in staggered formation down my garden slope.

And Balinese.

I have to laugh because SINCE I put it out to the Universe that I wanted a Balinese style garden, the plants just KEEP coming.
I found 2 Palm seedlings growing in the past few days and I haven't got ANY growing anywhere near these.
They'll go in a pot soon and keep for later planting out.

Also my Cliveas are multiplying and I want swathes of these in parts, so I need ALOT of them.

I'm planting food plants within these gardens around the already established fruit trees; swathes of lemon grass, chilli plants and whatever else goes with the theme.
Haven't decided about any dedicated food growing areas, they may go way down the back - not good for access but hidden of sorts.

IDK yet - might just grow what looks great and get involved in the many Community Gardens instead.

THANKYOU Matchy!
You already anticipated me asking you for that recipe lol!!!

I need to post a Fusion Thai sauce my eldest daughter finally gave me the recipe for and the Rice Paper Roll recipe too.

Love EM

Hi everyone,

ecomama your corn spiral sounds amazing! I harvested some of mine today, a bit early but the birds are getting into it. Sigh. Not as amazing as last year! :( Oh well! This year I have spaghetti squash, so hopefully that will make up for it. Besides i don't think I've ever gotten a corn harvest this early before, so I'm learning something hey!

Your lantana struggle sounds like way too much work! Are you sure you can't plant a quick growing tree or two which will shade it out? Thats what they do in bush regen. And your garden sounds fairly conducive to shade....?

When you talked about your Balinese style garden I thought of vietnamese mint- grows well if you have water.

I am amazed by the sound of all the work which has gone into your garden so far- mandala gardens are BEAUTIFUL!

I miss emojis! And I'd love to see pic of everyone's gardens. Or produce.

Matchy I didn't know anywhere was still in drought- that's dreadful to hear that some people are still getting water trucked in. Hope you don't get stormed upon., and that your garden survives.

Thankyou all for your support in my sad days. It's been lovely to share my pain with you and know that...well, that it's been heard. I have popped it away for another season now, altho Christmas is just around the corner. That always makes me want to run for the hills.

Cheers,

J*

This is the earliest I have picked corn to.When I planted I worked out it would be the second week in December I would be picking it.

No storms yesterday just some wind and no rain.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

Hello Em, Mark & all,

I've just enjoyed reading this thread right from the start. Wow your gardens & garden plans are amazing. I moved here 5 years ago & haven't done anything with the garden yet except not long after moving here (Em block your ears for this bit) remove a number of plants I really hated & some eucalypt trees that were much too close to the house.

Given I can normally kill a pot plant just by looking at it... I had been feeling very proud of myself having pot plants on my back verandah that I had managed to keep alive over the last 3 years... this past fortnight 90% turned up their toes.... I now have lots of pots full of sticks or nothing. No idea why... a variety of types of plants & herbs... even my mint has died (not just died back).

I have been drawing up plans for how I want my garden... and I keep changing them... but because of my ptsd I struggle to be outdoors... I do aim to get there one day... even if it's only for a short time in one small bit of the garden... in the meantime I will read along....

Paws

Hi paws good to see you on here.Their is nothing wrong with chopping down trees especially like gum trees close to the house.I have a bottle brush I have to chop down as the roots are in the septic.When I chop down a tree I will probably plant 6 in its place.The thing with gardening is to grow things you enjoy growing if you can.I hope you can get outside soon and enjoy it.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

Just to let you all know my profile photo is taken at a property I own that is a 20 acres bush block that I keep as a nature reserve.It has kangaroos and emus and some amazing plant life with a rare tree variety.I really enjoy the bush.

Hi folks, my garage reeks of garlic .Pulled up a good crop.you don’t need much room, only time. Planted , a couple of haircuts so growth is put into the bulb and 9 moths later presto.

Em I run 2 bits of of plastic downpipe with holes and run that either side of my tomatoes. Great to water deep, compost as well and as I grow heirloom varieties I support you tomatoes with star pickets and use a system called Florida weave. You tube has been a friend, trial and error. Down south here in Vic I’m sticking to cherry varieties. Massive crops and once they start producing 4 plants produces ample for family of 4.
happy gardening folks

Dear Jstar

I felt that way about special occasions like Christmas and birthdays for a long while. Still have the odd cry about it like this morning when no one's looking lol (we have a birthday next week so yeah)..

Then I decided about 2 weeks ago TO GO ALL OUT.

Why should I OR my kids and even my Community miss out on CELEBRATING anything just because crappy ppl were in my life that made me feel crappy?
Well my answer was... they don't own my life.
I DO.

So I'm dragging up ALL the Christmas decorations I can find and putting them EVERYWHERE!

I'm neatening and scrubbing my house and garden paths to spruce up for Christmas and going in there with a bang!

These special occasions belong to me too.
That's my SELF-CARE about this.

One thing I'm doing which I haven't done for years is decorating the 2 conifers at the front of my garden. Everyone LOVED it when I did it for years. Then I stopped bec of the pressure of crappy ppl.

I always did this just before my eldest daughter's birthday bec she loved it.

It's my gift to myself.

Re: my lantana lol!
Omg I've watched everything online there is to watch about it's removal. Even bush regen ppl use poisons which makes me sad but I can understand it!
Only one thing works ie cutting it all off and pulling out all the roots.

I can't plant another tree! I have so many trees that it's an issue.

Ho hum lol.

I've ridded around 300sq metres and none seems to be growing back there.

There are only a few "hotspots" left which are persistent but I have to be MORE persistent lol!

Love EM

Hi folks, love this thread, it’s so informative and descriptive. It takes you to a happy place. Something is eating my basil. Never had much luck really but you have to keep on trying. Any tips on a home made spray . . My wife wants use pyrethrum spray but we’ve run out and I’m a huge fan of trying home made stuff. Opened up my flow though worm farm and found the biggest slug I’ve ever seen on the inside lid.Like 8cm. Think it’s been eating my worms. Gave it a stab and wormy, yellowy gunk came out. I know it’s all part of the eco system. I feed them well, shredded cardboard, aged horse manure, ground coffee, chook pallets and wheat as a treat and they are happy as. Off to do some gardening. A labour of love. Have a good one .

cheers

I managed to identify a couple of cuttings I struck by visiting Bunnings.I hope everyone is surviving in the heatwave areas.

Hi everyone,

Sad day today- don't know why. Guess we all have them.

Airies- can you explain the tomato thingy? It's for deep watering is it? I didn't know that about toms, altho I knew they don't like to dry out- or be in boggy soil. I'm in mid north coastal NSW and have trouble with leaf fungus type stuff- the leaves inevitably die off, no matter what I do (except derris dust! Won't use that!) and the remaining tomatoes kinda get a bit burnt usually. Then the plant dies. I struggle with tomatoes except for the self seeded cherries which come up everywhere, they're very healthy.

Oh EM! I love your energy for Christmas! Maybe I can stir myself to get in the festive spirit. Last year I and my d went camping by ourselves for a week after school broke up. It was so nice to just chill and get away from the pressure- shopping, presents, planning!

I totally love the idea of reclaiming the celebration! I once made plans to attend an 'orphans christmas'- didn't end up going, things got too much, but I love the idea of sharing Chrissy with others who don't have family. My little family doesn't exactly agree... my d gets so sad about not seeing her cousins, but my sister has disappointed last minute so many times, and doesn't consider the effect on others than I feel TREPIDATIOUS about the whole thing! Not sure if thats a word, but it describes exactly...

J*

Hi Jstar last year J had blossom end rot on my tomatoes and I had never had that before and I think that might have been the variety I was growing as it was a completely different variety to I normally grow.My neighbour had a different variety near mine and hers wasn't effected.This year my crop looks great with nice looking fruit on it and no signs of bloosom end rot.
I use a milk spray for powder mildew on my vegies.Just some milk and water mixed together.I don't blame you not wanting to use derris dust as their is a possible link to dimentia and Ahlzheimers and is ban in some countries,Not Australia as yet.
Happy Gardening,
Mark.