How gardening makes you happy. Step 9. The garden Bootcamp.




I am writing a series 'How gardening makes you happy', to make young women enthusiastic for gardening.

Dear garden girls,

Did you gain some weight after a relaxing summer vacation with ice creams, cocktails and tasty meals on a sunny terrace? I certainly did! I AM NOT AT ALL HAPPY ABOUT THIS.

Something else I am not happy about is what the garden looked like as I returned from holiday. Perhaps your mother looked after your garden while you were away, or maybe a sweet neighbour boy. If so the damage will be small. But my GARDEN IS A JUNGLE.

Do you pull the hair out of your head because you do not know where to start in the garden? Well here are some tips to get the garden back on track. It is a good WORKOUT for your body too!

LET'S DO IT.

Pick up your phone. Yes, you are reading it right! Choose a DANCE number HELLO for instance,  with a strong beat and plug in your ear buds. Here we go….

Do you have a lawn? Mow it first. Do cut the edges neatly. This gives your garden a mega boost.


Look at my lawn!!


After mowing.


If you have one cut the HEDGE. "A well-cut hedge is the sight of your garden," my neighbour used to say. And right he was! Everything looks better against a neatly clipped hedge.


Clip the hedge.



In your example garden there is neither lawn nor hedge, but a lot of weeds growing. Pull out the weeds before they go to seed. Weed, weed, weed!


Before weeding..


... and after.


If you have a balcony garden, cut back all fainted flowers. Most flowers will say thank you by flowering again.



Do not forget to shower after this garden boot camp!! Finally, reward yourself with a bunch of flowers from your own garden.


Reward yourself with flowers.


After an hour working in your example garden all weeds are removed and put into the bin. I admire the roses, which appeared flowering under the weeds and the zinnias that I have sown. The corncobs grow thicker and thicker. 


Rosa 'Boscobel'


Zinnia and Osteospermum


Corn cobs are growing.


I can feel my body, so I must have done something right. Most certainly I will lose the holiday weight quickly. The garden is OK, I AM HAPPY.


How is your garden after the holiday return? Share it with us!
                                    

And this is what happens if you don't mow the lawn, a kitty cat sleeping in your front yard. Thanks for sharing this lovely picture garden girl Y.



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Comments

  1. Gardening always makes me happy and I loved your post on gardening boot camp. Thanks for sharing and have a great week. Happy Gardening!

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  2. Your garden is so lovely - and as for your lawn... WOW!
    Thanks for dropping by to share at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2017/09/inwardly-gazing-with-monochrome-eyes.html

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  3. Dear Hetty,
    this is a great post! Especially as you don´t only show ´the good things` about gardening but also the ´downsides´. I think many bloggers (including myself) only show their garden when doing its best, sharing success rather than failures or problems. It is good to hear that other gardeners also experience problems or that their gardens don´t look perfect all the time. Your post reminds me on my experience after my England vacation in June this year. My mum looked after my garden but since it was so extremely hot this summer, the garden looked bad when I came back. The following weeks stayed as hot and we had hardly any rain this summer, so my garden hasn´t improved much since then. Especially the lawn makes me unhappy. It got really brown from the drought. I just can´t water enough. I really hope that next year we will have more rain.

    P. S.: Since days I have been thinking about mowing my lawn and after reading this post I will finally head of to the garden and exactly this.
    Best wishes,
    Lisa

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  4. Wow! You have been away for a while... I haven't, but the last week(s) have been too hopeless wet for gardening.

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