Given up on gardening

[maddie]

Are the times in your live when you have given up on gardening or at least thought it was not worth it? I have always loved gardening and yet there are times I have felt like there wasn't anything I could do right. However, I never gave up on myself. Now, it seems like I really have a green thumb.

 

[dconklin]

This year I was thinking that my garden was going to be a dud with all the weather, but I haven't felt like giving up on it this year. I seriously thought that I wouldn't have one this year tho since everything was going wrong with it from the rain to the slugs and even the birds picking all the branches off of my tomato plant!

Glad you didn't give up and that now you are doing well with it I have thought that it wasn't for me in the past, but I decided to stick with it through the good and the bad.

 

[claudine]

It has never happened to me. I'm so in love with my miniature roses and with all roses in general. I'm pretty sure that I don't have a green thumb, but I still enjoy taking care of beautiful plants

 

[zigs]

Must admit i'd got down about the slugs eating everything in last years wet summer/autumn (Second wettest on record in the uk)

But after taking extra precautions against slugs this year things are picking up. Still didn't stop them eating the growing point out of one of my Corgettes last night though

 

[ACSAPA]

I haven't given up on gardening but I'm not buying any new plants until I find a new place to live and move. I'm just taking care of the plants I currently have and not buying any new plants that I'll have to move.

 

[maddie]

I am so glad that none of you ever gave up on gardening. If you had I wouldn't have had the chance to met you here.
Each time a plant dies it kind of makes me miserable. I have learned to deal with this though to some extent. Watching some of my plants struggle made me post this question.

 

[Babble64]

I have had times when I'm just let things go. I'm not sure why but when I had a house full of kids I had more time (or maybe it was that I was younger and had more ENERGY! LOL) to spend lots of time keeping things in order, planning new stuff, and keeping things up to snuff. But the last few years I have put less and less time in. I've managed a must-do level of maintenance re weeding so that things actually look more or less like a garden (mine are all flower beds, veggies went by the way side years ago when we started losing everything to deer.) Between caring for my elderly Mom and just having other activities that demanded my time my gardens weren't tops on my priority list anymore. But this year is a bit different. My new husband is a bit more interested and my Mom's no longer in my care so I am slowly waking up from my gardening lethargy. We've done a few small things and I'm starting to look around at the parts of the garden that I've just let go rather wild and wonder what might be next. Thankfully, I'm patient enough with myself to realize I can't and won't get this all done this year, but it's nice to be thinking about it again.

 

[ACSAPA]

I have had times when I'm just let things go. I'm not sure why but when I had a house full of kids I had more time (or maybe it was that I was younger and had more ENERGY! LOL) to spend lots of time keeping things in order, planning new stuff, and keeping things up to snuff. But the last few years I have put less and less time in. I've managed a must-do level of maintenance re weeding so that things actually look more or less like a garden (mine are all flower beds, veggies went by the way side years ago when we started losing everything to deer.) Between caring for my elderly Mom and just having other activities that demanded my time my gardens weren't tops on my priority list anymore. But this year is a bit different. My new husband is a bit more interested and my Mom's no longer in my care so I am slowly waking up from my gardening lethargy. We've done a few small things and I'm starting to look around at the parts of the garden that I've just let go rather wild and wonder what might be next. Thankfully, I'm patient enough with myself to realize I can't and won't get this all done this year, but it's nice to be thinking about it again.

That's great. It's nice that you're starting to get back into gardening again. It's true that you probably can't transform your whole garden in the next 6 months, but you can still make a difference. Good luck.

 

[ACSAPA]

I am so glad that none of you ever gave up on gardening. If you had I wouldn't have had the chance to met you here.
Each time a plant dies it kind of makes me miserable. I have learned to deal with this though to some extent. Watching some of my plants struggle made me post this question.

I know what you mean about being miserable. I brought back a mint plant from the dead. Someone threw it out because it was dying and I took it home and took care of it until it grew back. Then some of my ants and garden pets decided it was yummy and ate away the leaves until it died. I felt almost like I had lost a pet.

I don't know what is wrong with the ants in my yard that they eat my herbs. The myth about coffee grounds scaring away ants and slugs isn't true in my case.

 

[ChanellG]

It's hard to have a great garden when your life is super busy; it's almost like having a pet because you need to be home to tend to it first thing in the morning during hot months and to cover and protect it when it's cold and the garden is threatened by frost. My mom had a lot of plants that said they were low water requirement so she put them on the portable greenhouse shelves and covered them with plastic. Well, it got hot as heck and the plants baked while she was gone.

I don't know what is wrong with the ants in my yard that they eat my herbs. The myth about coffee grounds scaring away ants and slugs isn't true in my case.

Have you tried mint and the specific plants that repel ants and other pests? I just put eggshells and coffee down around my strawberries. I'm not sure if it's helping, but I haven't pulled a snail off the plants yet. I'll see what happens now that there has been so much rain, but I am trying to multiply all my herbs to improve the pest control.

I have a few more eggshells ready that I plan to try on the marigold since the snails absolutely LOVE them. I went out today and the snails were all over the driveway because of all the rain. I couldn't even walk without stepping on them!

 

[tiera patterson]

Gardening is like any other talent or skill you have to keep trying your hardest to become the best at what you do. Gardening takes a lot of work and dedication because it not as simple as follow the instructions sometimes you have to come up with your own solutions based on your specific location and many other things.

 

[Amalia]

I had a very bad year some time ago and the thought crossed my mind. I also took a break from gardening, but it didn't feel right, so I went back to doing it. I'm very satisfied with my decision.

 

[ACSAPA]

It's hard to have a great garden when your life is super busy; it's almost like having a pet because you need to be home to tend to it first thing in the morning during hot months and to cover and protect it when it's cold and the garden is threatened by frost. My mom had a lot of plants that said they were low water requirement so she put them on the portable greenhouse shelves and covered them with plastic. Well, it got hot as heck and the plants baked while she was gone.




Have you tried mint and the specific plants that repel ants and other pests? I just put eggshells and coffee down around my strawberries. I'm not sure if it's helping, but I haven't pulled a snail off the plants yet. I'll see what happens now that there has been so much rain, but I am trying to multiply all my herbs to improve the pest control.

I have a few more eggshells ready that I plan to try on the marigold since the snails absolutely LOVE them. I went out today and the snails were all over the driveway because of all the rain. I couldn't even walk without stepping on them!

Ants actually don't seem to be repelled by mint. My mint was swarming with ants before it died. My ants look like normal small black ants but mint doesn't scare them off and they seem to eat it.

 

[ChanellG]

Ants actually don't seem to be repelled by mint. My mint was swarming with ants before it died. My ants look like normal small black ants but mint doesn't scare them off and they seem to eat it.

I am finding a lot of these insects don't seem to be repelled by stuff that is supposed to be distasteful to them. I have three peppermint plants and three lavender plants. Ants haven't really been an issue for me in the garden; it's the snails and mosquitoes!

Oh, and eggshells don't seem to bother snails one bit! Perhaps it's because of all the rain we've had and that the eggshells weren't dry, but at least having the shells in the pots is good for the plants. I put both coffee grinds and eggshells around the strawberries, so hopefully I will see very nice fruit.

 

[happyflowerlady]

As I am getting older, and the arthritis in my knees gets worse, and it is hard to bend over, and impossible to kneel, I really think that I need to give up on gardening. My garden is in dire need of weeding again, it it has been either pouring rain, or so hot and humid that I can't breathe outside, so it is just going to have to wait , as I get it done a little at a time.
I am not ready to give it up yet, but as it gets harder, I can have less and less of a garden.