Inspiration

[bimbobaggins]

Hi

I wondered if anyone could give me advice on how to actually be interested in my garden. I don't even mean to make it pretty, just to actually cut the grass and do some weeding. I absolutely detest it, I think it stems from being made to do the gardening as a teenager.

Go out on a sunny afternoon take the radio with you so you can get engrossed in a play. I find it helps with the dreaded weeding.
Get a friend who is a gardener to come and help. My lovely friend( who died) and I used to weed her garden then mine alternatively and chat. I learnt a lot from her.
Set yourself short goals- half an hour

Otherwise : just pay someone to do it! I have to get someone to help now because of an accident. It is great. I have lovely, handsome, young man comes around about two / three times a year. He does all the heavy digging and pruning and he brings me rejects from the garden centre he works in part time. They get thrown out and with a bit of cajoling flourish in my garden. I get to do all the fun stuff and just weed what I can manage in short bursts.

definitely pay someone, if you hate it you hate it. Or just suck it up and do it if it's small. DH calls gardening outdoor housework.

It's OK not to like gardening.

My question is: why do you want to be interested? Is there a part of you that would like to like it? If so, what part of it do you think you could get into? There is a world of difference between, say: collecting a species of plants that you love, growing hardy perennials for flowers, having a contemporary, low-maintenance design-focused garden, growing veg. They are all completely different.

I think it's a bit like sport, in a way. Not everyone loves the gym. Or cycling. Or running. Or football. Or karate. Or zumba. Or yoga. But there's probably something active out there for everyone who is able to be active.

I think it's also about mindset. If you see gardening as a chore, then it's going to feel like a chore. If you see it as a kind of mindfulness, an attentiveness to something very different from normal life, it becomes a very different beast indeed.

It's an investment in time and money but you could change your garden so it needs less work.

Low maintenance evergreen shrubs
Put down membrane then gravel
Get rid of lawn (depends how big your garden is, I guess) or aim to get rid of a section of it per year

Just work out how to get rid of the need for gardening jobs! then pay someone to fix it all the way you want

The reason i want to be interestedly because it looks like a jungle. It takes me all my time to muster up the Enthusiasm to cut the grass . I love all other areas of housework so its not laziness. It is already quite low maintenance.

Thanks for your comments, especially that its ok not to like it.

Grow interesting vegetables!

www.glassgemcorn.com/

Or pear-shaped yellow tomatoes!

Or Oxalis Tuberosa (related to wood sorrels, but with edible roots)

That's what gets me interested in gardening.

Granted, turning the whole garden into a corn field will not make it an average, pretty garden, but you will be putting it to good use!

I really didn't think I'd like gardening having only ever had a backyard in my own houses. My DM loved her garden and I wished I'd paid more attention growing up but something's have sunk in

Now I've got a garden (which was weed and bramble heavy when we moved in) it became very satisfying to slowly see the weeds decrease and things begin to change and I didn't have the worry of killing plants!!

Now I'm on top of most of it I've begun to plant things and weed for maintenance - and I can't believe how much I enjoy it - every opportunity I'm out there

My planting is random and not as pretty as the neighbours but I don't care as its building confidence as to what grows where and when

Try to keep your expectations and goals small; section up the garden mentally and see if that helps how you feel

I'm absolutely sure it's not laziness! It's OK to have a jungly garden. It's probably really quite good for wildlife, for a start! I guess my question is: why do you feel unhappy about it?

Probing a bit more (sorry, I'm not being nosy, I'm trying to figure out what to suggest)... when you say you struggle to summon up enthusiasm even to mow the grass, what do you mean? Here are some things that people sometimes say to me, and I'm wondering whether any of them might apply - or whether it's another reason altogether:

• That you feel judged for the state of your garden, so that when you do go out and work in it, you feel resentful and like it's not something you're really choosing to do?
• That you hate being outdoors and getting dirty?
• That you would actually like to get into it, that you try at gardening, but it feels frustrating because you turn your back and things grow again?
• That you've tried before, and been upset when plants you've put in have failed?
• That it feels like physically too much effort for you to manage (and therefore overwhelming)?
• That you don't know how to achieve the 'look' that you want outside, though you're quite confident indoors?
• That you just plain find it boring

I love my garden and will spend hours and hours in it. Housework I do the absolute basics, hate anything above that with a passion, and, basically, pay someone else to do it.

So if you can afford it, get someone to come in and do a maintenance hour or two a week. They will get more done in that hour than you will in a whole day - and you can do something that you don't mind doing.

Im not really sure why I dislike it so much. i dont feel judged by anyone for the state of the garden, only myself !