Gardening to divert depression

Thank you, Wren! The sound of running water is soooo soothing!

Thanks, Mods! I don't know much about gardening, but that's the wonderful part - waiting to be surprised at what comes up!

I'm so happy to have found this thread. I grew up vegetable gardening. We grew all our vegetables. And I just asked my husband yesterday to till me a small area for a few tomato plants, peppers, and summer squash. I'm so looking forward to having some fresh veggies again, and I get so excited watching them grow.

Thank you, everyone.

We had this house built when we got married 7 years ago. The developer put in the front yard, but the back yard was a complete wasteland for nearly a year.

DH had moved down from the mountains, and he was determined to have a "water feature" in the back yard. He thought it should go in a corner; I said if we were going to pay that much money for it, I wanted to be able for people to see it the moment they walked through our front door. I won.

I also wanted a pool. I didn't think that was going to happen. But the day the workers were digging the hole for the pond for the water to flow into, DH said "Hold on a minute" and ran and got my inflatable little plastic pool raft.

"Make sure it's at least this big" he said. So when I got home, and the hole was all dug out, he proudly showed me my "pool".......

wow..this is such a nice thread to read. I do not own my own house but wherever I have lived I usually have a small flower garden and soemtimes I do grow vegetable in big containers. I just moved again and I have a patch outside my apartment to grow things. I will start to take some pictures so you can see how I do. I am not an expert but I like to do this.

Maya2...I read recently on a garden website, that a good way to grow veggies is in big cardboard boxes. Either line it with a plastic bag and put holes in it...or cover the bottom with rocks for drainage. I am going to try it.

0

Blessings! Well, at least you looked them up and, bless your heart, you know a friend when you see it now. But I can imagine I would have been horrified  to see the "invasion" myself.

Candie: Cardboard boxes sound great, they are a natural product, unlike all those plastic containers. One could still recycle at the end of the growing season.

On our rooftop garden we have a composter. It's amazing to watch all our proper Parisians carrying their carefully wrapped scraps to the rooftop for composting. A few who can't make the steps would ask a neighbour to take theirs. We always make sure they reap some of the rewards too. It's similar to a co-op. Each week small bags of veggies are packed and everyone gets some fresh eats.

OK, fellow gardeners, I have a question for you.   My problem is caused by a dead tree that we are going to have taken down as soon as we decide which tree service to go with. I was hoping to at least keep the honey suckle bushes but everyone tells me they will go with the tree. It provided a LOT of shade in the backyard for my ferns, shadeloving plants and also on the pond.  It is OK right now, but once the sun gets stronger, it is going to fry my ferns.   In order to help with this problem and since I can't grow a tree overnight, I had an extension put on the pergola that goes from the exisiting pergola out to the pond.  Once I get something growing on top of it, there will be some shade for the ferns.  The question, What to grow?  I have been reading about wisteria which I love, but it sounds like it is a PIA, not only takes time and effort to train, it may not bloom for years.  I have grape vines on the existing arbor and because there never was a lot of sun out there, it took me probably 12 years to get those vines established....plus they are heavy and putting strain on the structure.   So any ideas on an attractive, fast growing vine.....no morning glories as they are invasive and I am constantly pulling them out of my clematis and other plants because they choke them.  I love my flowers and plants and just hate the thought of the sun destroying them.   Thanks for your input in advance.   I am going to post some pics of the yard and plants.   Marybe 

dead tree and honey suckle  ferns

existing pergola and new addition 

See if Kiwi will grow in your area. They don't fruit here, but the vines were vigorous and leafy. We shaded our deck and used them as a privacy screen.

Marybe, in a magazine once they used scarlet runner bean as a fast growing vine.  A couple was getting married and wanted to get married under a pergola and wanted something fast to grow.  You might look into that.  Yep morning glories would work and they are pretty, but you will have to pull seeds next year if you don't want them again.  We planted morning glories against our garage one time and they were gorgeous but I had to pull a lot of seedling the next two years and some even traveled to my back yard and grew up the shrubs.  But the hummingbirds love them.  

Blessings oh what a beautiful waterfall.  And Day, the former owner of our house had planted a lot of lillies but the chipmunks or squirrels dig them up.  They don't bother the tulips but they love those lily bulbs. 

Maya having a roof top garden would make city living tolerable for me.  Oh course living in Paris might make city living tolerable without a roof top garden! 

I like planting in containers even though I have a yard.  We do both.  Its way easy to weed, and you can move your containers to a better spot, less sun, more sun as you need it.  It also keeps the more invasive things controlled - I'm thinking spearmint, for example. 

  Thanks for all the suggestions and I will research them.   I didn't know I could get a tree that would grow that fast......if we get the stump taken out also (costs extra of course), then I could plant a tree, but maybe just getting rid of the dead limbs and growing vines up over what is left is a good option.    Thanks again. I have a lot of sun loving plants out front and on the side, but like the idea of keeping it shade in the back. 

Hadley - Yes, your first flower is exciting.  Enjoy!

The family always joked that I have a gangrene thumb, any plant I try to cultivate dies.  Tjhe only flower garden I ever managed to grow was the Carpet of Old Fashioned Flowers that someone gave me.  It was a fibrous mat you just laid out on freshly tilled soil and watered.  I was thrilled to watch it grow and had lovely flowers all summer long.