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It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!

So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?

What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?

Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)

Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?

Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?

What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?

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I tried to tackle the bamboo this afternoon - it definitely was NOT therapeutic! I have 2 large patches that the original owners planted when they built the house in 1977 and I think they’ve been left to their own devices since then. Lots of dead and dying canes in the middle with healthy ones growing around the outsides. It was like trying to cut and pull giant sticks through the bars of a cage. Someone please tell me something pleasant about your garden today!
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Oh! I did not know Milorganite would deter deer! I have some and was saving it to use on my rhodies (as fertilizer, not repellant, since deer don’t touch them.) Maybe I’ll break it out and try it on my deer candy. Thank you for the tip!
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I use a fertilizer named Milorganite to deter deer. It does seem to help. Comes in a bag, maybe 10 or 20 pounds. Just sprinkle it around the area they aren’t wanted. Downsides are it smells like #*@% and it has to be reapplied after rain.
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Hahah! You girls are a hoot! (As my dear grandma would say)
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Maybe at Halloween. lol🎩
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Golden, I'm picturing a hat too on your tree. Neighbors will think you lost it. 😂
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Psue - the deer especially liked my globe cedar in front, so we had to trim it off to being a 1/2 globe which looked ok as the whole tree was about 10 ft tall. When the snow was piled high they could just reach the lower branches.My backyard was fenced 6" high so the cedars there were safe, They did come up on to the deck and nibble on the shrub roses. I never found anything to deter them. The wildlife officers said to put a coat on the tree and the human smell would keep them away. Never tried it. Didn't especially like the look of clothing on the tree which is right at the front of the property.
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Pea, I have 2 cats, that go in and out. One is quite the hunter. they keep the little critters away. But in a lot of areas that's not possible, we are at the end of a village, no dear or coyotes, if we were at husbands farm they would never be able to go outside, with all that and eagles and owls, among other things.

Ive taught them to stay in a yard really well.

So the cats smell, keeps the critters away.

There is an apple orchard, near buy, they use cashmere bouquet soap, hanging off the trees. It's cheap and smelly.

I know many don't agree with outdoor cats,,but it's just up to who you talk to
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Daughter, so kind of you to accommodate your deer population by providing raised feeders!
Golden, I lost my very favorite cedar to the antlers of a buck.

Do any of you spray deterrent? How about anything for the moles, voles, gophers, rabbits, etc? When we moved here the previous owners left 9 (9!) sprayers in the garage - all were partially filled and unlabeled. I had to pay to have them disposed of at a hazardous waste site. I do NOT want to use anything that might find its way into the water or harm the predators but I would consider safe deterrent’s if there are any that work.
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I have plants both in the ground and in pots. The deer are happy to come most anywhere. Maybe they appreciate the pots so they don’t have to bend down as low, just like we get with some age 😉
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Daughter, I HAD a snapdragon but I accidentally pulled it up thinking it was a weed. Arrrgh. There is a big learning curve in this new climate. Plus, this yard is humongous and the snapdragon was teeny.
As you can see, I’m making excuses for my ignorance.

Do you have these plants you speak of in containers? And do your deer come right up to your house to snack on them?
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I’m fortunate enough to garden year round, even through the freezes, as the ground doesn’t freeze. I can grow dianthus, pansies, snapdragons, and ornamental cabbage and kale all fall and winter. However, we have deer aplenty, and they love pansies. And the ornamental cabbage and kale are like screaming “salad bar!” to them! So I usually stick to mostly snapdragons and dianthus. Glad to have year round color
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Thanks for the welcome!
Nacy, we moved away from the snow only a couple years ago so I understand that feeling of relief at the end of the season. Seems like it never gets cold enough here in the PNW to kill the weeds. If I don’t get out with the hoe over the winter, by spring they have trunks!
Golden, if the deer don’t eat it, they stomp through it, scrape their antlers on it or lay in it and stare at me when I try to run them off.
On a non-complaining note, just looking out a window here makes me breathe a little deeper and if I can get outside for a couple hours (or 8) I am a happier person.
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Peasup, it's nice to see a new name chumming in,😊.

I love gardening, but right now I am glad that it's starting to wind down, and that I'm in the Northeast.

I'm sure when we get 12 inches of snow I won't be saying that
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Psue -glad you are popping up on different threads. There is a lot to explore here. Good that your garden is therapy, even though sadly you have to do it by yourself. I'm with you on the critters esp the deer. They loved my cedars - not anyone else's just mine! That's someone else's problem now thankfully.
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Sorry I’m popping up all over on here but I’m new to the site and just beginning to explore.

My garden is a blessing to me but has been a mixed blessing since DH has declined so much. Yes, it’s the very best therapy for me, physically and mentally, but I didn’t know I would be taking care of it all by myself. Still, I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

I’d give up the deer in a hot minute though. And the moles. And the mice. And the spiders.
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cw - I agree - that seems a little weird
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Cwillie, some people are just not very smart.

He may even be sitting there thinking that you will be happy he cut them down. Thinking he did you a favor
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I think it's just weird that he would chat with me several times over the last couple of weeks about some stuff he was planting and then do that without even mentioning that my shrub was annoying him. I would have pruned it myself if he'd asked, and I wouldn't have left an ugly naked branch behind
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On another note, we are very saddened that the property owners of the condo complex are cutting down all the trees that were left from the original farm. We saw a large healthy mature poplar get felled this morning and heard the equipment munching up other trees yesterday. It hurts my heart that this was done.

R has talked about making a presentation to town council about the planned development on our side. Permissions would have been given over 20 years ago when there may not have been as much concern for keeping trees.
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cw - back at the house, I gave my neighbours to the west blanket permission to trim anything that grows over the property line - and they have. We haven't discussed any of the instances, and we do get along well. She is watering my house plants since I moved down here.
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Cwillie, Oh man, elderberrys around here are pretty much gone, there was some when I was little but they seem to of all died off. I wouldnt be happy about that either.

In the spring I grow all these flowers, and I think to myself how sad it will be when the Frost hits and they die.
Now it's almost October and I'm still watering, and very tired of it and looking forward to them dieing off.
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I was cutting the grass and discovered my sometimes problematic neighbour has cut back part of my black lace elderberry bush, leaving a big dead branch. WTF? I do understand you can prune something that is encroaching onto your property (and maybe it was by 6") but who does that without saying something?
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Re: felling trees. Behold our tremendous skill! (or incredible luck) My avatar photo shows a dead tree my hubby cut Sunday, in the midst of a stand of saplings and seedlings. Bet that caged butternut panicked. When it's a tree close to the house we hire a pro. One with skill. And insurance. Just in case.
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Daughter, it's about the money, and honestly the people that higher the landscapers are more interested in what looks better than the neighbors,

That's the kind of people that higher landscapers and where the money is
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CWillie, my hubby and I are continually amazed, not in a good way, at the many local landscaping businesses around our area. They shouldn’t use the word landscaping at all. At best, they mow, haphazardly trim shrubs either too little or into oblivion with awful power tools, and plant things entirely unsuited to the environment or location. We see lots of loropetulums which quickly grow to 10-12 feet placed right next to house foundations, then they get ridiculously butchered for growing, and look awful and never bloom. That’s one example from many of having no knowledge of what they’re actually doing. There’s no actual interest in plants or gardening, just get it done quickly, and leave. Many people are happy to pay for this. I fully get gardening isn’t for everyone, but if you’re paying for a landscaper shouldn’t they have some clue? Okay, just my bafflement…
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Sends I think anger all over the world is just out of control. It's sad.

Are neighbor was cutting a tree down, a few years ago. Oops they missed and it fell on are car.

Accidents happen, and there homeowners insurance paid for it. Really wasn't a big deal at all. I actually thought it was a tad funny.

Oh my 107 , ugh. How does anything grow?
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I'm often seeing posts on r/gardening from people who have had a landscaping company annihilate their gardens either by mowing them to the ground, spraying herbicide or pruning trees and shrubs to bare twigs. I can't help but wonder how people in the business can be so wilfully ignorant and I have no doubt that confrontations can arise over it.
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GARDENING COULD BE DANGEROUS.....
Tree trimming incidents between neighbors could be increasing.
It's common to have disputes-one wants the trees to grow, the other objects to the overgrowth onto their property.

The tree company cut a nearby tree, and I heard yelling. Went to see, and the tree owner was yelling not at the tree trimmers, but the neighbors. Content was actually a hate incident (not a hate crime). Used profanity, told them to go back to where they came from.

Another person down the street was angry they cut her fruit tree on her own property.
Others with fruit trees were not cut.

So, in the news, a person was killed over a tree incident. First ever I have heard of this. Maybe the anger is out of hand, out of control.
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New Bromeliad plant is indoors. Easy care.
We are about to get pups! (Something the plant does to reproduce itself).

Something is terribly wrong when you buy something beautiful you might like, bring it home, and find that you want to give it away to neighbors. It's been that way for awhile now.

My own garden is neglected in 107 degree heat.
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