Gardening

[SulaBlue]

So last year, which I'm thinking is really when this all started, I didn't do any gardening at all. Two years prior I had panted dwarf plumbago and it had taken over and it was beautiful. It all died out over this past winter, however, as despite being above freezing we're also already in Stage 3 Drought (I swear, it seems like we never really leave it!). This year I did some containers but it's almost exclusively succulents that I can leave to their own devices, though I may repot one of them because I'm not happy with the pot it's in - too shallow and no drain hole, no matter how pretty it is.

I'm wondering if any of you have tips for gardening with fibro? I miss actually digging in the ground, though given that I live in an apartment that was limited anyway. Now, though, even with the containers I was more limited than ever, having to rely on my husband to move bags f soil and move pots once they were filled.

It looks like the roots of my dwarf plumbago are trying to make a comeback, which is funny. In most places it only lasts a year, maybe two, and this will make at least 3, possibly 4 years now that I've had it? It rained three days in a row last week, heavy, soaking rains. I do have some weeds that I'd like to take care of, but bending/stooping/squatting just isn't in the cards. Can anyone recommend a good garden stool that's for, say, the less than petite of us? The "flower bed" that I have is filled with golf-ball sized rocks, so footing was a challenge even BEFORE I started using a walker!

 

[mudrock]

I love gardening but I'm taking a break from buying any new plants for now, because I'm apartment hunting and I don't want to plant anything that will have to be moved. I'm just taking care of my existing plants and not adding anything else for now. By the time I move, all the summer plants and yard stuff will be on sale so I'm not doing any new projects until the summer. It's not easy because there are a lot of springtime sales and I saw some tempting marked down closeout houseplants at Home Depot today. I'm trying to be patient and disciplined. There'll be other sales.

 

[1sweed]

Sulablue,
I am in the same place as you. I finally moved into a small house with a big backyard and now I can have all the garden I want, however, I am finding out that the more I bend or stoop over the less energy I have to do the harder jobs. I need to redo my compost heap and this spring I found some cement blocks in the woods behind my house. They are the older heavier blocks which lifting them to carry was way to heavy for me so I borrowed my neighbors wheelbarrow. I got the blocks hauled but now have to rebuild the compost bin. I was going to make raised beds but it costs to much money. I would say try to find a bench that you can set pots up on to avoid stooping. Put some soil in plastic buckets so you can handle them better. And plant in pots and flats that are lightweight and easy to move. I just ordered some vegetable seeds and am hoping I can get the gardening done.

 

[twiztc]

If you can afford it raised beds are the answer.
There are ways of doing it less expensively if you can get hold of reclaimed timber. Another good idea is make walls from pots. The kind small trees are sold in. I keep my eyes out for them rubbish (garbage) day. Lots of people just throw them away. That way you can plant the pot as well as have a garden inside the walls of them. Or just fill them with rocks sand or anything else you want to get rid of.

 

[SulaBlue]

I live in an apartment. They were thinking of making some raised beds, and they might even let me build one (They really do let me get away with anything here! I was the first to dig up the rock area behind my patio and plant stuff back in 2009 or so), but I haven't quite figured out how I'd get the half yard of dirt that I'd want for a 2-foot high bed in there.

This time around I sat in a chair and my husband would bring me pots and I'd fill them from the bag of dirt by scooping it out (spilling quite a bit all over myself in the process) and then he'd take it once it was full and go put it out in the area where I used to have flower beds. We also added a shepherd's crook and a bird bath, so it's actually quite colorful back there.

 

[glacier]

I used to live in an apartment and gardening is very limited there for obvious reasons. Now that we are living in a much bigger space, I enjoy gardening so much! It can really be an effective de-stressing activity. I had real good times just digging and planting and later appreciating the product of hardwork. It can also be relaxing just to be in there, sitting and chatting with my husband and my kids. Sometimes friends would come over and it becomes more livelier. However, due to the back pain that keeps on attacking me lately, I would rather go to the bedroom now to have a rest rather than check the garden. I make it up on weekends, though.

 

[SulaBlue]

I, too, live in an apartment. I'm in a downstairs apartment, and each one has a roughly 6' in radius semi-circle gravel area. My apartment complex let me scrape the gravel out to the edges a few years ago when I was still capable of that kind of thing, and I planted dwarf plumbago. I thought it had all died, but nope, it's coming back AGAIN for the third year in a row, right when I'd counted it out! All of my other plants are in containers. My tomatoes are scaring me! We planted these little 4" starter plants back the week before Easter and they're already about 3 feet tall! I mistakenly bought "Heirloom Black Cherry Tomatoes" thinking they were suitable for container gardening only to find out that they can grow as high as 6-8 feet tall and produce 200-250 cherry tomatoes. I bought THREE, and I planted them in miracle grow soil! Whups