Forum home The potting shed
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Hayfever and gardening as a career

Greetings fellow gardeners, and fellow hayfever sufferers! I've come here with a question I haven't dared ask because I was afraid to hear the answer. But I have to know eventually, especially since I want a career in gardening.

As you already guessed I suffer from hayfever. Specifically from grass pollen which affects me late spring. This year it was from the end of May till mid July and this is the typical length it affects me for. For me the symptoms are not crippling, just average with the usual symptoms of runny nose, sneezing, and eye irritation.

When I saw gardening as career I mean planting, raising seeds, the usual stuff we do.

So guys, what's your opinion? image

Posts

  • bulkerbbulkerb Posts: 258

    Hi Ruby leaf I work as a gardener full time and suffer from hay fever how ever I get tablets prescribed from the doctors 1 tablet each morning and away I go grass cutting planting weeding chain saw work etc.

    I even help my friend with the harvest and never get problems the stuff you get from the chemist for me don't work I have stopped taking them now but will look the name up later today for you. also if you want any advice that I can help you with then please P . M me God bless lester 

  • I suffer quite severely with hay fever.  I remember in school I was actively discouraged from taking a career in horticulture.... even though all those career quizzes etc we did pointed me in that direction.  I'm now in my 40's and have a nice comfortable office job..... however I do wish I'd pursued the horticulture career.  I now adore being out in the garden and I'm sure a horticultural career would of been very rewarding.  There are many different anti-histamine treatments available on prescription so I'm sure you'll be able to get a treatment that will enable you to manage your symptoms during the pollen season.  My advice - don't let hay fever hold you back if gardening is the career you want!

  • LoganLogan Posts: 2,532

    When I moved to Redditch in 1985 my son started to get it, when he was older he moved back to Worcester, it was almost gone. But if you treat it before it starts it might help. But you have to see a doctor to get it. Someone told me if the person takes local honey that helps.image

  • Bee witchedBee witched Posts: 1,295

    Hi,

    We sell our surplus honey from the end of our drive, and quite a few people buy it because they say it helps them with asthma / hayfever.

    We filter the honey to take out the odd bee wing etc ... but a lot of pollen ends up still in the honey.

    Shop honey from the big suppliers is likely to be filtered to within an inch of its life .... and also heat treated  ... so not much of the "good stuff" makes it into the jars.

    The theory is that by eating local honey people are taking taking tiny amounts of pollen from the area they live in. 

    Unfortunately this is not going to help you Rubyleaf as bees do not forage on grasses, so no grass pollen will be in honey.

    Good luck in your career.

    Bee  image

    Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders  

    A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
  • Bright starBright star Posts: 1,153

    im a hay fever sufferer too but mine is late summer into autumn.  All you can do is control the symptoms as soon as they appear by taking a daily antihistamine that contains either loratidine or citirizine which you can buy very cheaply from supermarkets. Don't buy branded antihistamines like piriton or others in fancy boxes, go for the cheapest but check the ingredients on the side of the packages. I also use a beconase nasal spray twice a day and this keeps the worst of the symptoms under control. if I'm working in the garden I sometimes put a thin layer of Vaseline in my nostrils and blow my nose periodically and then reapply. I won't let it spoil my enjoyment of gardening. 

    Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    you'll probably have hayfever whatever you do so you might as well do the job you enjoy image



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • RubyLeafRubyLeaf Posts: 260

    *****Hi Ruby leaf I work as a gardener full time and suffer from hay fever how ever I get tablets prescribed from the doctors 1 tablet each morning and away I go grass cutting planting weeding chain saw work etc.******

    I didn't know you could get hayfever stuff from the doctor. Did you find the name?

    *****My advice - don't let hay fever hold you back if gardening is the career you want!*****

    It is! The problem is I have no clue where to start!

    *****I also use a beconase nasal spray twice a day and this keeps the worst of the symptoms under control. if I'm working in the garden I sometimes put a thin layer of Vaseline in my nostrils and blow my nose periodically and then reapply. I won't let it spoil my enjoyment of gardening. *****

    I really hate those nose sprays. Its not a nice sensation having something sprayed up your nose :x

    I've tried vaseline before but the problem as with hayfever noses run, re-applying the stuff becomes a chore.

    *****THIS MIGHT SOUND DAFT BUT IS IT ONLY ONE TYPE OF GRASS?*****

    I don't know. Its certainly the one we have as lawns though.

Sign In or Register to comment.