Putting garden to bed for winter.

[Littlecook]

Just put our garden to bed for winter and I'm completely shattered and very breathless bass of back painful and I've done no heavy lifting , need a good sleep.

[Ageingfast]

ok, I am jealous. It takes me all day to put one bed away for winter. How did you manage the whole garden ?

I have one day a week to rest then six days to get gardenning, weather permitting. I get a lot of benefit from having replaced hedge trimmers, strimmers and electric mower with lightweight battery driven units.

Just think how nice it will be when summer comes around.

Sooty

[sandandkev]

I used to be able to be out in garden for ages,now 30mins and am done in- haye being dictated to by my body!!

[Czech_Mate]

I enjoy the garden but trying to simplify it with raised beds. First real frost of the autumn here this morning. I try to keep to the philosophy that the garden is there for me, not me for the garden.

Cheers CM

[Cee-Cee1]

It's such a lovely feeling knowing that this is another job you can cross off the to-do list for a while!😊 I love my garden, and find gardening very therapeutic but, since the bypass, these days when I'm out there weeding or tidying up, tend to have quite a few short breaks in-between and have found it really helps. I keep a bucket beside me and every time I fill it up with weeds etc. to 'decant' into the big bin or the compost, I have a little sit-down for a minute or two as well as a sip or two of water.

Like @Ageingfast, I've also replaced my hedge trimmer with a much lighter rechargeable G-Tech model without the weighty battery which helps a great deal.

It's such a lovely feeling coming indoors in the evening when I've finished, feeling pleasantly tired knowing I've been out in the fresh air all day and getting a bit of extra exercise!

As my dear Mum used to quote "A garden is a thing of beauty - and a job for life!"😊 Carol

[Anginalady]

sounds familiar, a few hours in the garden and back ache all afternoon. We do ours in short spurts weather permitting, can’t manage a whole days work. Roll on spring!

[4cokecansBHF]

sounds normal

[Thanksnhs]

Hi I had to really change my garden to make it easier for me, I had a 7ft hedge that was in a bad way so it went and I got a fence built, I got both sides chipped and my partner built two large planters to save me bending down, he had never done anything like it before and he made a great job . I put plant pots on the chips and I still have a bed at the bottom where I have beautiful lillies, clematis, bluebells etc. it's been a work in progress and living in Scotland I don't get too much use out of it, I hope next year the sun will shine and I can enjoy it.

DIY planter

[Cee-Cee1 in reply to Thanksnhs]

It looks lovely, Thanksnhs - and thank you for sharing some great ideas too!

[Hidden]

Goodnight sleep tight hope the bed bugs don't bite.🤓❤

[Littlecook in reply to Hidden]

Your garden looks lovely, he's done a great job on the planters .

[Littlecook]

The above photo is my little garden before I put it to bed for winter. It's getting to much for me now ,I can't do the things I could do before having fnd .

My garden before putting to bed for winter.

[Cee-Cee1 in reply to Littlecook]

Your garden's beautiful, Littlecook, it must give you a lot of pleasure (as well as the hard work!). I love all your little ornamental figures as well. I've lots of those too, but the squirrels love to knock them over and I spend half my time putting them upright again. 😊 Don't mind though as I love watching, and looking after, the squirrels, birds & other wildlife too, it's so relaxing.

These days I tend to do things that need doing in short bursts rather than all at once. It gives me more time outside in the fresh air if I spread it out over a longer period and I try my best not to overdo it. It gives me more time to enjoy it too.

[JAVA12]

One idea to make gardening a bit easier is to make your garden for wildlife. Nature doesn’t like things too tidy. So you can leave some areas virtually untouched, leave some long grass, have piles of leaves and twigs. It’s hard at first as it feels wrong and looks messy. There is a Facebook group called Gardening for Wildlife UK which has lots of good advice. Doing this makes it easier for us but it benefits nature too. I love seeing all the insects like grasshoppers and crickets in my long grass and in the summer I counted 11 meadow brown butterflies on it. One important thing is not to use chemicals at all which is no bad thing. Gardening this way I’ve learned that what we think of as weeds are often vital food sources or homes to insects so I tolerate many and just pull up those that are growing in a place that’s not so good. I remove moss that may become slippery by sprinkling with bicarbonate of soda. Leave a few days and it dies off as the pH has changed. It’s definitely made me enjoy my garden more without all the hard work.

[Desertflowerchild]

I had a cardiac catheter ablation on October 2. Afterwards, I realized gardening was quite more strenuous than I had realized. I find myself fighting syncope with the repetitive up and down of weeding and, in fact, several chores in the garden involve repetitive bending over or squatting and then standing. Digging soil, loading it in the wheelbarrow and unloading it with the shovel to top off raised beds had to be done in little bits. I hope I regain some conditioning as I don't enjoy the slower pace; the to-do list is growing way to quickly!