To not like gardening because of this?

[chocisnotsweet]

I really want to get my garden looking nice and I have all the ideas in my head but as silly as it sounds I can't do it as in afraid of worms no one in rl believes me and they just think I don't like gardening but honestly I really do want to make my garden look nice. I've tried planting some flowers a few years back but as soon as I spot a worm I panic and can't carry on. It's really pathetic isn't it?

It certainly makes gardening difficult

Get a gardener

But I want to do it myself. I don't want to have to pay someone else.

Maybe try CBT or hypnotherapy or something. Worms are the gardener's friend! In the meantime try planting in pots?

I hate worms too. I have to wear gloves. It gets easier the more you do it.

You can do lots of gardening which doesn't involve disturbing the soil. Planting pots with bought compost, mowing the lawn, watering even light weeding shouldn't cause too many problems. Then get someone else to do the other stuff.

Get some CBT. Simply phobias usually respond in about six sessions with an excellent success rate.

Get one of those 3 tier planters that is well above the ground and use bagged compost ... I do this and have 3 tows of different plants and that is me sorted and no worms can get in!

How are you with slugs?

Then set fire to rest of garden and cover it in concrete --for your dear neighbour nephew to leave footprints in--

What is it with worms that you are afraid of? If it is the feel, then were gloves. If it is the look, then plant in pots. If something else, tell us and we can maybe find a way around it. Also as the poster above said, you do get used to them if you garden regularly.

wear

I have to post because I share the same phobia. People think it's bizarre, but I think it stems from a traumatic experience I had and I hate the way they look & move. I don't mind knowing they exist in the soil but uncovering one is awful. TV is sometimes difficult. I even hate reading the word written down. For years I even found it difficult in autumn because when I saw a wet leaf stalk and thought it might be one, I screamed and panicked.

Getting my first house with my first garden last year was a real transition point. I wear gloves. At first if I was digging and saw one I'd have to stop, but slowly and gradually I've been able to carry on. I don't scream at all if I see them now. Often I have to stop what I'm doing and just pick up another task elsewhere. And the compost heap is 100% DH's responsibility. But it has got better by just doing a bit more. The other day I even used a shovel to move one that was stranded in the patio (perhaps the pinnacle of my fear at one point). I was so proud.

I think you are the only other person I've ever met with this fear. It's sort of nice to know I'm not alone!

Can you keep a trio of bantams, because they would love to eat the worms.
Or try desensitising yourself so you can pick them up on a spade and put them in a bucket, then return them to a hole when you are done.

Could you look into some hypnotherapy to help with your phobia?

Did you hear/see Vassos on BBC radio 2 meeting a snake after his hypnotherapy? ''Twas amazing!

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05391w3?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_radio_2&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=radio_and_music

Wear gloves? I'm not wild about the creatures but I can co-exist as long as I don't have to touch one! What sort of garden do you want? Would you consider going for some sort of wildflower meadow / prairie planting type thing which wouldn't need digging after it was initially prepared. Or shrubs, so that once they're planted you don't have to disturb the soil again. A little orchard? You can get all sorts of fruit trees on small rootstocks if space is limited. Again once they're in, you don't have to deal with the worms again.

DryHeave I genuinely thought I was the only one! Hats off to you for moving the worm off the patio. It's definitely the way they move that creeps me out. Just the thought makes me shudder.

I always wear gloves. I hate spiders and I feel much braver with gardening gloves on. It might help you feel better?

I have a wormery outside my kitchen door. Love worms.

I don't like them either OP. Or slugs and snails. Have hated them since i was a child - dont like seeing pictures of them, i shudder if i talk about them and would scream if one touched me. I'm otherwise a reasonably sensible person!

Gloves are my friend. As is a trowel - if they're only small I can bring myself to scoop them up and move them. But not the big uns!

So I just move away until they've hidden themselves away and garden somewhere else for a while.

It certainly makes gardening difficult