31smilenbloom

Depression and how gardening saved me

A garden is the best alternative therapy! xx

Depression and how gardening saved me

Two years ago I went into a `mental meltdown` always a positive, happy and smiling gardener I withdrew from the world, walked out of a job I loved, shunned everybody, gave up on my garden and my allotment. I chose not to take medication, n was referred to a `depression group` which helped me to understand why meltdowns happen! I decided to go back to nature and basics.. I virtually lived in my greenhouse sowing anything and everything, replanted my small front and back garden, watched the birds, walked for miles and gradually started to smile again!  I have decided to put a sign up in my front garden offering my services as a gardener and perhaps try and sell some of the plants that I grew in my sowing phase...all I know is that if I hadn`t had my garden and greenhouse I`m pretty sure I would`nt be here now....so to everyone out there in a `black phase` I`m sending you all a big hug xx go garden xx sit in a park n listen to the birds xx sow a few seeds in a pot and grow with them!  You`re never alone in a garden...xx 

Talkback: Mice in the garden

I love wildlife n do all I can to encourage it into my small back garden. I had seen the odd mouse out there,but wasnt that bothered....until I deceided to redesign `the plot`....mice had built nests all along the fencing behind climbers, underneath the shed, underneath shrubs in the borders, in the greenhouse n worst of all in several large pots-that when emptied revealed several families living happily amongst the old compost n roots....n a mum with a baby mouse attached n feeding....I was torn (being a mum myself) between clearing the whole garden of every mouse or ignoring the `problem`.  I couldnt bring myself to even look at humane traps or boxes of poison...so I settled for cutting down, emptying and generally desecrating....with a clear conscious....sort of!!  ps guess what ive just caught sight o

Talkback: How to take lavender cuttings

ok x for all novice gardeners out there....if you take a lavender cutting..........be patient......don`t be tempted to yank the little plant out of its pot to see if it has roots......leave it in its pot and watch the leaves.....if the plant wants to grow it will smile at you with new leaves....slowly but surely!.... if the cutting that you`ve taken has gone black n mankey..try again...equally dry n crispy:) Never give up...the`re not the easiest plants to take cuttings from.....xx

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