Relapse! Coping, Symptoms and Tips.

[pulisa]

Absolutely, KK. At my advanced age you can't afford to fuss about foliage which has a mind of its own.

[Carnation]

KK, you may have to repeat that ritual every time I venture in to town for the next 3 months!

Yes, Pulisa, the natural and overgrown look is definitely 'In' and I know some people that are going out of their way to perform such a look.
Grass is no longer seen as long grass, it becomes fern.
Weeds are now natural flowers or herbal remedies.
Thistles are the ones that amaze me, they come out of nowhere and there they are, all 5ft of them in their prickly glory.
As for Ivy, well they just go where they like, even try to get in your house.
You'll be pleased to know that much of this natural forest like foliage dies back on its own, except for Ivy, she just keeps going until it's poking through your window frames.
I'm lucky to be physically able to garden. A bit unlucky with getting stung and bitten by flying nasties.
So, your garden is fashionable and self clearing come October.

[pulisa]

That's great news! I've huge admiration for gardeners but I've definitely not inherited my Mum's green fingers.

[Carnation]

Gardening has got me out of many a panic attack or when anxious from being left alone.
On the flip side, if you struggle with being a perfectionist, it can become a burden with wanting it to look just so all the time. So small and manageable is the answer with not too many wasp hives.
The place where I was before had nearly an acre and mostly natural woodland which a human hand had very little control over. There's a plant which is belongs to the celery family with a very thick stalk and has clusters of white flowers that grows to 5ft and spreads incredibly fast that is named 'Angelica'. Well you might as well give up trying to tame those.
I love foxgloves, why they called that I don't know, I've never seen a fox wearing gloves and the plant looks more like bells.
I love the amazement of new life in plants and seeds and it gives me a sense of encouragement in my own life.
In February I seeded 6 beans in a tray in my conservatory ready for planting out.
Only one survived and then the weather turned nasty, so I transferred to a pot, but still indoors.
We kept getting a frost, so there it stayed all through March growing to an astounding six feet tall and as it did, I kept replanting it to a bigger pot.
When I moved, still in the pot, I nervously left it outside and thought it may be more harmful to plant it in the ground so kept it in the pot.
Yesterday I picked my first couple of beans and I counted a further 28 in the making.
So even if you can't get outside you can still grow things and is encouraging for people that don't get out much as you can still have life indoors.

[Darksky]

The bane of my life is nettles, brambles and wild garlic.

we have similar to you had Mrs,C. Two acres of crap. I say crap, but it's woods left to wildlife. It's all on a slope so we cant do anything with it, so it's just left to the brambles and nettles. Although it's not all bad, in spring we get primroses and Bluebells in there.

when I move I have a fancy for a pond. Mr.D is not impressed because it's him who will have to dig it out. Not a fancy one with coi carp or anything like that, just a rustic one with a waterfall, frogs and plants, a few outdoor goldfish maybe.

we're growing tomato plants, a chilli plant and a merlot grape vine. It's got loads of baby grapes on it. Just enough for one bottle I reckon

[Carnation]

A pond is a great idea Darksky. My mum and dad had one and had a waterfall trailing down to it with honeysuckle over the top. It's a lovely place to sit and chill.

[Carnation]

So, we handed back the keys today to our old place.
Did a final tidy up and hoovered and left feeling a mixture of relief and weariness.
Despite that, still went to a neighbours invitation of tea and cake this afternoon.
And. Then I drove us both in to town to get something nice for dinner as a reward and celebration of our new beginning.
Who knows what the future will bring us, but for now we have accomplished some very hard work and hopefully found a better life for the both of us.

[DustingMyselfOff]

Sorry, Mrs. C, but you had me laughing with your grumpy rants. LOL Probably because I could relate to so many of them or I was in the right mood, but they were comical, as were KK's responses (regarding both types of overgrown bushes!)

When we moved into this house 20 years ago I was out digging a hole in the yard within the first month. Of course I was hitting nothing but rocks and roots so it was a nightmare, and many a night I would be out there at 10 or 11 p.m. (since it was finally cool enough) and my ploy worked.... my husband and son felt bad for me and pitched in. Well, I should say I then pitched in with supervising. Halfway through they decided they should have rented some machinery, but at that point, why bother. It's about 4,000 gallons, and I have a 3 tier waterfall running into it. I plant flowers all around and down the waterfall and I used to have tons of gorgeous water plants, lilies, lotuses, etc. Then I decided to add turtles. Now I have 24 turtles and no flowers or plants.... they eat everything! Still, I love my turtles and watching them bask in the sun from my kitchen window brings me pleasure first thing in the morning through the end of the day. When I walk anywhere near the pond all 24 come running to the side to try and get to me. I know it's only because I'm the hand that feeds them, but it's still very cute. Ponds are a lot of work, and the next time we have a major issue with it (10 years ago the liner needed replacing) I'm going to vote to just fill it in and give it up, but for now, it works. And you can never have just one pond: after that one was successful I dug a smaller one to keep the baby turtles in. With a smaller waterfall. Very addicting.
Sue

[Carnation]

Sue, I thought of you when watching a film the other day called 'Shark's Tale', no nothing to do with sharks, but they had a bit in the film where there were a bunch of seahorses having a race, (cartoon style as its film meant for littleuns) and it was so funny.
I can just picture your family of turtles. They sound very cute and probably quite needy.
Your pond sounds just like my parents old one.
What is it with us women when we want something done we go full steam ahead knowing how difficult it is going to be to finish it or more importantly doing ourselves an injury in the process, but we want it done now and there we are digging, drilling, chopping, even cursing.
Mr C was only commenting a couple of nights ago how he didn't understand how a woman could do so many things all at the same time and how he felt quite dizzy watching me in the kitchen making a meal, a cup of tea, putting the shopping away and loading the washing machine.
I see it as, "If I'm in that room, I want to get as many jobs done as possible".
Seriously, us women are like octopuses, (Sue, please tell me you don't have one of those as well)
The other thing is lack of patience waiting for a job to be done.
I remember phoning a tree pruner for my mum's garden and he didn't turn up! (This is like adding fuel to the already anxious woman that wants it done now!
"Sod it", I thought, "I'll do it myself"
And after a struggle to find my dad's old ladders tucked right at the back of the shed, "why do men do that?" I carefully wedged them against the tree, a 30ft eucalyptus tree at that, and proceeded up the ladder with the thoughts, "Oh hell, should I really be doing this?" *Warning, please do not try this*
So there I was gripping the ladder with one hand and saw in the other. Then thought I'd link the one free arm over a lower branch for more security and began sawing the branches. I was doing quite well until I saw my mum's face appearing out of the window tapping at the pane with her index finger miming the words "what are you doing?"
I thought to myself that it was pretty obvious what I was doing and doing pretty well so far as I look down at a least 6 branches on the ground with none of them even brushing a gentle breeze against me.
The trouble was, the more I was cutting the higher I had to reach and then it happened. The ladder moved, I swung back a bit, dropped me saw and re-landed with one of the smaller branches jabbing into one of my breasts.
I let out one of those pitiful screams/cry and the nextdoor neighbour came running out waving his arms in the air reciting words like, No, Stop, Get down" and even better for me, jumped over the fence and helped me down and finished the job for me.
And it only cost my mum a cup of tea and a slice of cake and luckily for me no severe injury, but I know I could have fallen and realised it was very stupid of me to take on such a challenge, but this is what happens when women get impatient or let down, they will try and do it themselves!

[BlueIris]

Okay, feeling dizzy now.

I don't do well with ladders; don't ask me why, but I can be three inches off the ground and my body will still be completely convinced I'm about to fall to my doom.