Gardening Thread

[Carnation]

I really love this thread and have no idea why I haven't posted here before because I seem to spend half my life in the garden. It's my therapy, my grounding, my peace haven, my exercise, my joy!
Pulisa I love it that you are feeding all creatures great and small on posh food, that did make me smile on reading.
We don't seem to get foxes near the coast but we get plenty of seagulls and pigeons I think are everywhere. Seagulls are huge and very striking when you get a rare occasion of one sitting still. I've been lucky with birds this year and was lucky to have nesting in all corners of the garden. Blackbirds, bluetits, and robins mainly.
As for my tomatoes catkins I failed miserably to produce a crop. So late in forming and then green for weeks on end. Chucked them on the last cold spell, they just weren't gonna make it. Same last year and the year before. I'm thinking they need to be grown in a greenhouse with this British iffy weather and that I haven't got.
Nora, I love squirrels, probably because they are so naughty. The last place we lived we had a walnut tree and I spent hours watching the squirrels collect their autumn harvest and bury in a secret place, lol.
Terry, I garden all year round. Always something doing.

[Peterthegreatworrier]

Ooh, a fox?! So lucky! Some live nearby but they've never visited our garden unfortunately.
However, we do get another regular furry visitor...possums! (for our American friends, they're a bit like opposums, but cuter looking). They do make really spooky noises at night though, I used to think they were some creepy person XD)

[Catkins]

I guess it's the time of year to start tidying up the back yard for winter. Already have got rid of a few dead perennials, but need to a bit more. Hoping for a dry day over the weekend (and some spare time) to do this.

[Carnation]

Catkins, you are more likely to find that spare time for the garden if you couple it with grounding therapy.

[Catkins]

Well we actually haven't got rain so I'm out in the yard now, although I'm currently sat on the bench with a cigarette and a decaf.

I think that's a very good idea Carnation, I will definitely do that!

[Carnation]

That's my starting point catkins.

[fishman65]

I so often find connecting with the garden is a way to escape from the sources of anxiety. OK it may not be for long, as the anxiety is only ever put on hold, at least for me anyway. I've managed to get nearly all the foxgloves in the ground, forget-me-nots relocated and delphinium requienii planted in tubs. So a sense of achievement. But gardens are never really complete, nature holds sway there and nature is transient, forever changing and shifting.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Terry, I garden all year round. Always something doing.

That's true, Carnation. A lot of what I do is maintenance as my dad is finding it harder to these days. But there can be some planting and he's had me building some brick tiers, walls, etc.

My GF does a lot of growing with something in every season.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I so often find connecting with the garden is a way to escape from the sources of anxiety. OK it may not be for long, as the anxiety is only ever put on hold, at least for me anyway. I've managed to get nearly all the foxgloves in the ground, forget-me-nots relocated and delphinium requienii planted in tubs. So a sense of achievement. But gardens are never really complete, nature holds sway there and nature is transient, forever changing and shifting.

I agree, fishman. I think the 'good 'ole honest toil' thing comes into play too. Something gets done, the exercise does your body good and you sleep better for it.

Coming from offices where one project just gets replaced with two more, I found the sense of achievement quite fleeting. But to grow or build something gives you something tangible that betters your environment.

The most satisfaction I ever felt was working weekends with my dad doing garden maintenance as a young lad. Slept like a baby.

[NoraB]

Any keen gardeners here? Advice needed!

I have some Berberis hedging and for the first few years it was beautiful - especially this time of year. However, for the last few years it's been infested with Sawfly and there's literally no foliage on the bushes from about July. I wondered if anybody has ever had this issue and successfully eradicated the b'stards?