Who else likes gardening?

[ecomama]

Hi everyone

I hope you're staying well today.

Who else likes gardening? I would love to connect with people here who are happy to share their gardening adventures.

For me I know that gardening helped heal my soul during tough times. I hope it will again.
Then with other things going on, it became a jungle.
I'm part way into rediscovering it again and doing A LOT of hard yakka atm, when I am motivated.

I have new dreams and ideas to put into the many bare places, as I remove thickets of lantana etc. This will all be on a tight budget and I'm ok with that.

I want to create a peaceful place where I can be.
I would like to grow food again (tell 'er she's dreamin' atm lol).
I would like to re-establish my worm farms and compost heaps.
Autumn is such a beautiful time of the year in the garden.

I'm 'alone' in my gardening journey and would love to share and hear about other's gardening antics. Hopefully we can troubleshoot any issues in our gardens and talk about any healing we're feeling too. There's a lot of knowledge we can share. I hope this thread can brighten your day!

Love Ecomama

Please

[ecomama]

Hi Mark, what a beautiful thing to hear that your aunty is still with us and both her and your mum had such wonderful gardens.

They gave you a great life long skill that FEEDS and keeps you busy lol.

When I saw that your aunty is 75yo it really hit me that all the people in my family that lived the longest were gardeners... and LOVED gardening.

One of my grandmothers lived until 99 gardening massive areas of land and in almost perfect health... then declined in a nursing home after that age.
I gardened and learnt lots of other skills from my great grandparents who also lived until well into their 90s.

One of my favourite family stories is of my great uncle who served in WW2. The sweetest, most gentlest man. He was in Darwin during the bombing and amongst the devastation he saw a frangipani tree knocked down. He brought branches from that tree all the way home to us here.
A big strong tree is growing in his sister's garden still, my aunty is 90yo now.
It's a family tradition when we get a new home, to get a cutting from that tree to plant in our garden. It's our never forget, never repeat tree.... repeat only what grows in beauty. And it is BEAUTIFUL.
I've planted them in every garden I've rented and owned lol!
My last one here was destroyed by the evil creature but our happiness will be to see MANY new frangipani trees blossoming here.

I have so many family stories of gardening, WONDERFUL memories.

This weekend I'm making a fire pit WAY down the back yard so the neighbours are confused about who is having a fire lol. Then I can burn more of the logs, sticks etc. I love having a fire.

You absolutely spoil us by showing us beautiful photos of your plants Mark.
Thankyou for doing this for us... sometimes if I'm feeling low, I see your photo and it warms my heart to think of your land with all the natural bush and your food gardens and fruit plants. I really appreciate the HAPPY trigger! lol.

Love EM

[Moonshadow1]

Hi

Yes gardening is great therapy. Fresh air..seeing changes in the garden.

Although it is addictive! Been to Bunnings..so often this year.

[ecomama]

LOLOLOLOL Moonshadow1 gardening SURE is addictive.... a healthy addiction!

I saw our Bunnings has stopped selling seeds so I'm pretty cross about that... if they are giving in to "things of times to come" then that's worse.

Moonshadow1 Welcome to our gardening thread! It's so nice to have you here.

Are you growing anything? or is that a silly question lol.

Let is know what you're doing in the garden or growing inside... it's wonderful food for thought for all of us.

EM

[Tay100]

Hi Matchy69

So great she's still here! And it looks like the garden has been well tended to over the generations too 🙂

Sigh, ecomama... no community gardens near me that are running actively at the moment. Or nature strip finds either... things get broken here and I live on an enclosed dirt road anyway hahaa. But yes Pinterest really is the hero here, I can still get my fix of the plant aesthetics I enjoy!

[Matchy69]

Hi Tay and when I go and visit my Aunty it's like seeing my mums garden. I gave my Aunty a lot of plants and garden ornaments out of my mums garden when she passed.

[ecomama]

Hey Tay100

The Community Gardens don't need to be "active", many are not doing anything near the workshops etc they were doing pre covid. They just grow stuff. You can usually pop into one any time and pick foods to eat or take cuttings to propagate.

Hey Mark

Love your family stories! And plant pics and recipes lol.
Freaking cold night here tonight... apparently the coldest night for ages. It feels like there's snow outside lol, but ofcourse there's not. My Clivias are loving life!

This weekend we are planting.... drum roll.... my grandchildren's placentas ugh! We are planting a pomegranate tree on top. Yep full on eco warriors lol, utilising all available resources.
Actually it's ceremonial in our family so a very special time.

Love EM

[blondguy]

Hey EM

this is a really helpful thread

I love gardening too....as its connecting with mother earth and a peaceful place to be

I planted a Robinea 'Mop Top' and its a beautiful deciduous grafted tree.....too close to my paving and it sends mini roots everywhere.....doh!

Fantastic shade tree away from the house though

Have a really good week

Paul

[ecomama]

Hi Paul

I had to search to find out what a Robinea Mop Top looked like and they're very pretty!
Looks like a tree they'd use in those magnificent gardens in Europe. Gorgeous.

Yah I did a thang or 3 too close to my house too lol... I planted 3 Crepe Myrtles to shade the house in Summer from the hottest afternoon sun and drop leaves in Autumn and be bare in Winter to allow the sun to warm the house. The whole passive solar idea...

NOW oh dear ... 10+ years later we have a problem lol or series of problems. Their roots are pushing up my driveway. And because they've grown SO tall (I preferred the natural sculpted look so didn't prune them), they drop SO many leaves... I had to sweep up around 20 x 11L buckets of leaves from them. If I don't then the leaves block my drains and flood the house during rainfall. And people can slip over on the leaves too.
And now also I have to lop their tops to avoid the electrical wires above.

I do love them BUT looking into my older age still living here, I may have to remove them sadly.
For the moment they're keeping me young and healthy with all the work required LOL!

I also love having lots of leaves for our leaf moulds.

The suckers of roots will be an issues if I remove them. But I have been thinking outside the box after Googling as many ideas as I can read. I plan on dealing with the suckers in the back yard in a weird and wonderful way. Only wonderful IF it works... yet to be seen.

Thanks for the thumbs up!

EM

[blondguy]

Hey EM

The Robinea mop tops are a gorgous tree....and dont grow high..about 3-4m high...yet the root system is evil!

Crepe Myrtles are beautiful..I didnt kow they can lift a driveway?....How far away did you you plant the Crepe Myrtles from your house?

The Mop Top Robinea's are fast growing though...to provide shade from the west ....

Paul

[ecomama]

Thanks for the info on Robinea Mop tops Paul. I was thinking I could replace my crepe myrtles with those but they're not tall enough. Lol. Fussy, but I need the trees to shade the top story windows from the afternoon sun, if I replaced them at all.

It goes against my nature to cut trees DOWN lol.

I planted them TOO CLOSE to the driveway... about 50cm in towards the fence. I had a closer look and they are pushing up an additional long strip to the driveway, so maybe I can remove the cement and not the trees lol! The broader driveway could stay in tact IDK.

It's a bit mind boggling what to do really. I thought at some stage I could build a cabin way down the back yard.... IF I do do this one day then that specific strip of driveway (the strip I could pull up) will be kind of needed as a walkway for the tenants for the cabin.

I'm not sure what I'm doing at all about any of it right now. I'm way too busy trying to parent and support my children and myself after abuse, work etc. The garden is taking a back seat.... again.

Crepe Myrtles are MUSCULAR trees lol! They look sweet and gentle but man they've got incredible staying power. Great for drought and cope amazingly well in scorching Summers.

The Ring Tailed Possums eat their blossoms too so awwww I doubt I'll be taking them out lol.
We found a baby once, SO tiny just waiting at the bottom of the trees near some water I left there, before a heat wave. WIRES told me to lock my cat inside and leave it there. His mama may have left him in the coolest place with food and water whilst she dealt with the heat. We could see how his mama came to get him late in the night on our CCTV. So that was heart warming.

The BRUSH tailed possums are quite the annoying creatures atm lol. I had to put a House Insurance claim in to repair our roof because they were fighting up there and pushed the barge board and tiles off! Like yeah... just another crazy story from our household lol.

EM