Allotments, Stress & Depression

[Trixiebelle]

Sorry I don't come on the forum very often to post (but I'm always lurking for advice  ;) )

But I was 'musing' today as I sat in the shed tinkering with the paraffin heater (trying to make it work for the 3rd year in a row) and looking out over the allotment:  Winter dug, sprouts, leeks, parsnips, cabbages, herbs, cooking apples, 2 ducks waddling on the grass eating slugs, 3 chickens in the greenhouse beds having a dirt-bath, elephant garlic sprouting through the soil, privet hedges that need a trim before Christmas and my 3 yr old son rampaging around with a big stick (it's his 'weed-whacker' by the way ... nothing more sinister! He likes to 'whack' dandelions and docks .. can't fault his logic!)

And I thought to myself ... I don't know what I'd have done without this allotment for the last 3 yrs.

I go there to de-stress and it's helped me counter depression that I couldn't even contemplate the outcome of without being able to dig, plant , harvest and interract with all the brilliant people I've met up there (average age 89!)

I know this sentiment has been documented in a couple of books that I've read: Monty Don's 'Jewelled Garden' and Robin Shelton's 'Allotted Time' but I'd just like to give my own thanks to my own allotment and share my stories.

Would you like to share yours? And whilst you're at it ... can you recommend a few winter jobs that I can keep busy with so I don't go over-board ordering seeds and unneccesary gardening implements from websites  ;D

Fixing the paraffin heater is obviously number 1 on the list but I need at least 300 other jobs to do  ;D

[Trixiebelle]

[saddad]

I haven't read those Trixiebelle. Our next plot and door neighbour is 90 in May. We still have jobs to do... I want to put in some Cherries and move a greenhouse..
;D

[grawrc]

OMG ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)
My lottie is currently THE major source of stress. Too much to do at work. Not enough hours of daylight. Freezing cold or p****ing down when I CAN go. And a list of jobs to do as long as my arm...  :'( :'(

[tin can]

family tree??
VERY addictive and a good bad weather activity. Also good to do when jnr is sleeping and you need to be quiet.
It's very rewarding when you find a match , and would be something to pass on to little-un and then his kiddywinkies!!
I've made contact with some really lovely family members - such as my father's cousins - who are now in their 80's who have let me copy their family photos.When you have a child of your own, you can compare facial features of distant relatives.
I'm just about to start my mother's side and got cousins I've not seen for 40 yrs who are looking forward to seeing me again!!
no fresh air though!!!

[Mrs Ava]

Trixie, coming from a family of crrrrrrrrrrrazy people, and being the most highly strung manic person in Chelmsford, I have to confess that if I didn't have my garden and my allotment, I would probably have ended up in one of those attractive white overcoats with the buckles down the side!  :-\  No matter how weedy, how waterlogged, how arid, how disasterous a crop is, I smile and am happy and peaceful and calm when I am on the plot.  I chat to Jack, and never feel the need to rush away from our natterings...I wander around the whole site checking out what other people are up to whilst drinking my coffee and I sit and watch.  What to watch....?  The birds, the bees, the squirrels, the deer, the farmer going about his business, the fox, the ducks in the pond next door to our site, the sky - have you ever just sat and watched the sky for a while?  An amazing and beautiful thing. I am not mum, housewife, taxi driver or gardener, I am EMMA JANE, ALLOTMENTEER!

[Trixiebelle]

Tin Can! Thanks for the suggestion of tracing my family tree :)

My dear departed Uncle did this a few years ago and we traced our family back to shoe-makers in Sheffield in the early 1800's. TYPICAL! We trace the family expecting to find a few bob and all we get is a LOAD OF OLD COBBLERS!

I was thinking more of things to do on the allotment though!

[Trixiebelle]

EJ! I cross-posted with Tin-Can and didn't see your last message.

That made me smile! I'm a lot of things myself! But when I'm at the allotment I'm all things ... (or so I tell myself!)

Sometimes I think it's being self-indulgent to enjoy something so much but that's part of being depressed/with low self-esteem (well it is in my little world!!!! No-one has to agree with me!!)

I have been Winter digging over the past few weeks and I've been looking forward to doing it every single day (unlike last year ... I was dreading it and it was a chore)

It's been doing my heart and soul good to take a spade, turn over the soil every morning and see the frost on it!

And today my little/huge Aylesbury duck came close enough for me to pick him up and give him a cuddle. Sometimes there's nothing better than cuddling a duck!

Trix XXXX

[shirlton]

Oh how I would like to live in the country and be able to keep chickens and ducks.We do have a pool but Tony said if we had a duck it would just make a mud bath out of the garden. We also have a lot of nasty cats around and not to mention a fox. talking about Allotments being a stress buster. I quite agree. 2 years ago I went from being an outgoing confident energetic person to an invalid. My thyroid gland more or less stopped producing. I couldn't walk or do hardly anything energetic. I was a pain in the butt for my lovely hubbie Tony. What he put up with was nobodys business. I had to stop gardening (the other love of my life). After being on thyroxine for 12 months I stared to feel better and began to get into the garden again. We then took on half a plot and I started to get my ncentive back and gradually my strength. I am now more or less normal as long as I take my meds. i have a dear old mom to take care of (she has altzeimers) but I can cope now. If I get stressed I just go and have a dig and I feel much better. I strongly recommened it for anyone that needs some therapy

[muddy boots]

Know just how you feel.  Can't really help with gardening projects but, that's not a problem, loads of others here who will.  However, will say, just when things are always getting worse, just a little thing comes along to get you up again, then there are more which do just the opposite but, eventually, it does come good again.  It takes a hell of a lot of time but it does happen.  Stay around and take what we can offer and then enjoy the day you wake up!  Been there, got the Tee shirt, can assure you it does happen!  And, best of all, you have a little helper who makes you keep doing it  :D

[Trixiebelle]

Shirlton! I don't live in the country, but Tony is right! Ducks do make mud-baths ... hence the phrase 'mucky ducks'! But I do love them!

Nice to hear your story about gardening/allotments! I wish you all the best XXXX Anything you need then just PM me!  :)

[mc55]

I can't imagine being without my lottie now, it brings me so much pleasure - digging and admiring newly dug earth have a particular attraction !  Its such a great way to get life back into perspective - bit of digging, chopping, tending, caring, admiring and lifes stresses and worries soon diminish, at least until I rejoin real life anyway.

Love my time at the lottie - it is extremely precious.
mc

Trixie - glad to see you back.  Winter project - painting your own seed / plant markers ?  Its quite theraputic

[glosterwomble]

Hi Trixiebelle, this is a subject that fascinates me. I love gardening and my partner and I have only just gained our first garden after living in a flat for 15 years. When we had the offer accepted on this house I couldn't wait to get my hands in the soil and breath in the scent of it, feel it, sit out in a summers evening and drink in the intoxicating scent of the plants....basically ground myself and feel as if I am part of this planet! Maybe I sound a bit trippy but I really craved contact with nature and plants etc. I have highs and lows in my moods (quite a few lows!) but being out in the garden, and now my allotment, is just bliss and really helps if I have a black mood! I arrive home from work, open the front door, drop my coat wherever it falls and straight out into my little bit of heaven. I wouldn't be without it now!

(p.s. I am reading 'alloted time' at the moment and hoping for 'the jewel garden' for my birthday next week)

[Emagggie]

I'm sure it's my imagiation, but when I'm at the plot, the sun always seems to shine! I've gone up in the rain and within a short space of time the sun has come out....I like to think it's my old Dad up there helping me along......now he was a gardener. ;)
Also, where does the time go? 1 hour becomes 3 with no trouble. I always feel sorry to have to go home. It's very theraputic.

[caroline7758]

I've read and enjoyed both the books you mentioned, trixie. Plenty of studies have been done on how gardening is good for your health- both mental and physical. Some of you will have read my recent moan about being overwhelmed by my plot- and made me feel much better about it- but that feeling was much more rare than the enjoyment of growing my own veg.

As for jobs over the winter, sounds as if you're on top of things! How about building some wildlife habitats?ladybird houses etc.

[Trixiebelle]

Awww thanks for your replies on this thread! I was feeling a bit fragile this morning when I went to the lottie and now I know it's not just me that's an 'Earth Nut'!

Sometimes when I wake up @ 5am for no particular reason I think "YAY! I'll go to the allotment!" And then I realise that there's a little 3yr old asleep next to me and however tempted I am to wake him I just CAN'T ... babies/kids and sleep are sacred to mothers!

Thanks for your ideas to do stuff over the winter .. but I reckon I'll do what I've always done for the last 3 yrs:

Sit in the shed with frost on my eyebrows and thermal underwear in me trousers!!! Even THAT makes me smile  :)

[newbies]

Hi Trixie, Great thread.  My answer may be a little sad to some.  I got an allotment through my Dad.  He was always really busy working, and just helped out in the allotment shop now and again.  Then he got quite poorly (cancer, that dreadful state), and ended up sharing a plot with his mate.  At this point, he bribed the plot steward, and got me a plot.  I have a new plot to rescue, and no Dad to share it with, but like maggie, he is still advising me for sure, and if nothing else, I've made great friends, and it's a great place to be.  I quite like my pet Robin who comes out when I dig, and I also have a pet toad under an old door.  Can't move the door until he goes to the pond in the sky.
And, on a positive note, my oh loves to construct, so fences, sheds etc., he's a happy bunny.  So, good all round. ;)

[busy_lizzie]

Trixiebelle, Can only endorse what others have experienced.  I have repeated this story many times, so hope people aren't bored with it, but I had a chronic fatigue illness, could hardly walk was on anti-depressents and felt in the depths of despair.  I met up with an old friend who I hadn't seen for years, and she saw my white face and said what I needed was an allotment.  It just captured my imagination and despite everyones warnings and prophesies about how mad I was, and how it would make me worse and I would'nt be able to manage one in my state of health.

 I put my name down on a council list for one and in a short time I was offered my present one which I have had three and a half years, and although it was a struggle to start with, and my OH did most of the heavy work and I could just potter at first, I have never regretted it.  It has been one of the best things I have ever done, and I just know that getting out in the fresh air and cultivating the soil was such a healing experience, and put me on the road to recovery.

If you are down, there is nothing like going to the allotment, working in the fresh air, listening to the birds singing, and feeling part of nature - the feeling of wellbeing is wonderful. To dig up your produce, take it home and make a meal out of it, is so fantastic.  The produce you eat is amazing and why wouldn't it be better than shop stuff when it is freshly dug and full of your own nuturing energy.  I know this sounds so cheesy, but I can't speak too highly of having an allotment.

The winter to me is a time for planning and doing projects I don't have time for in the main growing seasons. I am still picking winter crops, and we have our Japanise onions and our garlic in which are looking good. Our seeds are ordered and we just need to tidy our beds for over the winter. It does sound as though you have everything under control Trixie.  :) busy_lizzie

[supersprout]

What a lovely thread trixie :) couldn't put it better than everyone already has :D

can you recommend a few winter jobs that I can keep busy with so I don't go over-board ordering seeds and unneccesary gardening implements from websites ;D

hahaha oops ditto :-[ ::)
I'll be trying to distract myself with these ;)

Off plot:
planning - can never have too many plans can you ;D

On plot (nice and slowly):
sharpen, clean and oil tools
spread muck
sell surplus tools and gadgets on eBay (or ByGum) or give away :P
sort out and put up shelves in shed
tidy paths and scary bits :o and make several trips to the tip
prepare planting holes for fruit bushes
stick the bottoms of canes into preservative
make leaf mould bin
paint plant labels (thanks mc)
sit in shed (thanks trixie)
chat to lottie neighbours
watch overwintering crops grow :)

[wahaj]

You're like the rest of us here trixie bell.

One thing i can tell you is people here are fantastic. I've never met a more friendly and helpful bunch. A few weeks ago was one of the worst peeks in my depression and everyone was incredibly supportive and helpful. And some were extremely good to have around.

I'm still really down most of the time......but not at that stage anymore where i don't get out of bed....even if i don't want to lol.

I know life is such a stressful ordeal sometimes. So go to the lottie and let it out. Even my counceller uses gardening as a stress reliever.

And i can totally understand there's so much to do. You're being told left right and centre....this month you must get this done.....and that done. by the time you've got a list written...you'll need about 80 hours of daylight to get it all done lol.

You can never do everything. do what you can and take pride in it.

and if you ever need to have a heart to heart.....all of us are always here.

[LILACSPLASH]

Oh yes, one of those nice back to front puffer jackets that only come in white! With 2 girls with 15 months between them I know exactly where you're coming from  and that's number 3 + 4 lol. The support from everyone on my lotty has kept me going and a huge thanks must go to Graham who has took the elder to feed his chooks lots of times (they must waddle now!) just to give me a brake. And to all the grandparents who look on my kids as theirs and put up with the noise, bless them.