Gardening - what's going on in your garden

Ellen

Hello @Macserv756

Welcome to the online Community. I see you have already found the 'gardening thread' and come straight here. It sounds as though you have plenty of experience to share with your fellow gardeners.

I wonder whether this might be of interest to you? It contains many tips for gardening with Arthritis and you say yours is in your spine. It would be a shame to have to give it up totally:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/living-with-arthritis/gardening/

While you're here you might like to have a look at some of our other categories such as Living with Arthritis which contains lots of useful information and threads.

I do hope you'll continue to post

Best wishes

Ellen.

Fran54

Hi

your garden sounds lovely with all the fruit and fruit trees. My garden is nowhere near as big and I have about 4 vegetable patches of medium size. Like you I have osteoarthritis but it is in my right knee and I am finding it hard to manage. One solution was for me to get a local gardener ( recommended by a friend ) who came and dug over the vegetable patches and I have managed to persuade my hubby to plant some veggies ( he has back problems ). I have potatoes, runner beans, borlotti beans, peas, courgettes and tomato plants and with all the rain, hopefully will give them a good start. I would be loathe to give up my garden, as it gives me so much pleasure and helps me physically as well as mentally. Also, there is nothing like picking your own home grown veg and fruit. I have flower beds, but most are perennial plants/bushes and spring bulbs.

Perhaps you could get someone to help manage your garden. Please keep us updated on what you decide to do.

Take care.

Persephone777

I love gardening, and I just ease off when aches and pains get too much. You can garden just with tubs on a patio - also lightweight, and shredded paper in bottom to absorb moisture/and save on compost. Our neighbour has raised beds/due to arthritis - they are all waist height.

I have some long-armed tools/and grabbers/but my best item is a cart/chug that you can sit on. Any mobile stool makes it much easier. I'm trying to grow enough shrubs and evergreens, so that there's less weeding to do... one day.

Meanwhile, do what you can for low maintenance - I avoid any fussy plant/those that need digging up to overwinter indoors... and an happiest with Salvia 'Hot Lips' - they flower for months/perennial/and bees love them. Just hack back for the next round of flowers. Like hardy geraniums... Californian poppies are self-seeding. And I swear by Mexican Feather Grass (also easy to split 2/4/8) for more plants. No trouble. And lavender are evergreen, and only need one prune after flowering/and take dry conditions. Less watering the better.

Jona

Hi all,

I planted some lily of the valleys last week I’ve always wanted them in my garden and they are coming up beautifully I’ve also set myself a goal I’m painting a fence panel every week it’s going slow but it helps me keep my hands mobile it may take a long time but it’s a focus harsh but when it’s done I want to say I did it

love to all

Jona 💐💐💐

Liza

I have spent time crawling around my patch with a garden stool to help me along. It looks bright and cheerful but only had bees so far on a visit as I have loads of Lavender. I love all the gardens you have so must try and arrange for some Norme visitors. Ha ha😄

NeilH

Got a balcony, but we have a couple of sun flowers, and lavender ( bees love them ) so easy to maintain.

Tom

Welcome to the forum @NeilH and thank you for posting. Gardening is a special activity to many forum members.

And this the information on our website:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/living-with-arthritis/gardening/

Keep us up to speed with your experiences and good luck.

Tom, Moderator.

Anne54

Hi l love gardening and love my garden but have had generalized osteoporosis for quiet a few years now. It has come to the point where I can not do my garden myself now body is too sore now. My hands don,t work very good now but hey hoo l try my best where there is a will there is a way l say. I find gardening very good for myself to relax and keep me calm.like nothing better on a good day to spend some time in the garden even if just for a little while. My very good friend does all the heavy work for me. Just wondering how others cope.

Anne x

PeterJ

Hello @Anne54 and welcome to the community. We are a friendly and supportive group and I hope that that will be your experience as well.

I understand that you have had osteoarthritis for a number of years and that your hands give you trouble amongst other things. Our website has a lot of useful information on arthritis, treatments, hints and tips and so on and I would recommend having a look around it. To help I've put a couple of links in below.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/your-experiences/hints-and-tips/

Please do keep posting and let us know how you are getting on and I am sure that others will connect with you to share their support and experiences as well.

With very best wishes

Peter

Saraleanne

I started a 'wild' garden about 3 years ago - setting aside an area and allowing nature to do what she will with it! First few years it was just a mess but this year, oh my goodness!

Fran54

Hi Saraleanne

I love your picture of the bluebells. I have several areas of them too in my garden and find that they will spread year on year, so less weeding to do! I have set aside a small patch under my apple tree and where my bird feeders are and am letting that go wild. As well as forget-me nots I also have more bluebells, red clover , teasels and plenty of dandelions and buttercups😊

I just find it so relaxing just being outside in my garden, but even trying to garden little and often, I find it quite rewarding and satisfying as well as being gentle exercise for me.

Happy gardening.

Lanny

I love being in the garden and pottering around. I now have a gardener who comes each month which is a superb help. My tomato plants are all getting their first trusses and my gooseberries and raspberries are coming along nicely too. I particularly like to be able to sit out first thing in the morning, even if it’s a bit chilly, with a cup of coffee and the sound of birdsong It provides a great source of enjoyment and well-being.😍

Fran54

Hi Lanny

I love going out in my garden early in the morning to see what has grown overnight and hopefully not been eaten by the slugs and snails instead!

My tomato plants have now got flowers coming on them and I have had a good crop of strawberries and raspberries and enjoy picking a small bowlful each morning. To me it feels quite an achievement to be picking and eating my organic fruit with no pesticides in sight.

I also enjoy a morning coffee outside ( weather permitting ) and have seen a few birds bringing their young down to my birdfeeders.

It feels good to be alive.😊

stacey1977

Hi

I was wondering if you any of you have grown sunflowers and if so what was the tallest one you grown?

I grow them every year in memory of my friend and with the help of my friends we grow them together having a competition to see who grows the tallest or the biggest head

I also grow tomatoes and strawberries had my first 6 strawberries today and I have to say the flavour is much better than shop bought Still waiting for my tomatoes but it won't be long

Fran54

Well there is not much to report on in my garden at the moment.

The heat is slowly drying everything up apart from my vegetable patch which I water every morning ( I only use the hose once a week as I am aware of using extra water at the moment in the heatwave and I am also on a water meter ).

I have had a good crop of strawberries/ raspberries and blueberries. But apart from that I have had one good serving of garden peas, and only one courgette. The tomato plants are growing alright with plenty of flowers.

It is a bit disheartening at the moment after all the effort and expense put in earlier in the year. Hopefully we will get some decent rain soon.

Has anyone else got any good news about their gardens/allotments?🍓

crinkly

Very good news from the first year of our new garden. Lots of seeds raised and plants introduced to discover what will grow well. Just a small amount of 'failures' with most things completely successful thanks to massive efforts of husband, assisted by son in creating raised beds with loads of topsoil and compost. Daily watering has produced a colourful show and transformed what was a barren plot of rough grass, dandelion and clover surrounded by a dreary fence into perhaps potentially the nicest garden we've ever had. (Our seventh home in 54 years of marriage.)

Dwarf fruit trees are settling in and learning to grow along wires along the fence while a major delight are the climbers purchased from a budget supermarket and already resulting in a promising display of clematis and honeysuckle - at a mere fraction of garden centre prices! There are a few plants from our previous garden, strategically placed herbs, tomatoes, soft fruit and veges, a shady corner of evergreen ferns, a mass of bright petunias, fuchsias just opening, huge sunflowers and an area of wild flower sowing - all making what we thought was a small garden look really spacious and productive.

Next will be to stock the new pond - enthusiastically dug out by 11 year old grandson and our greyhound. Our granddaughters newly arrived back in the UK after four years living in Dubai will help choose pond plants etc. Then just our older grandchildren to add their touches when they visit later in the Summer and we will have a uniquely attractive garden for the coming years.

It all makes us feel 'at home' after a year of learning to live in a new way in our lovely open plan Swedish-designed eco house whose solar panels are currently working overtime. I feel very blessed!

Fran54

Hi Crinkly

Your garden sounds wonderful and no doubt is a pleasure to be out in at the moment with this very warm weather. It is lovely to get various members of your family involved and hopefully they will love Nature in all its glory in years to come.

Apart from gardening, one of my other hobbies is birdwatching. I feed the birds and can sit out nearly every day and watch their various antics, they always make me smile and give me a much needed feeling of wellbeing at times.🐤