go to hgtv.com for some ideas and plans

I'm sorry, Ariel. I often feel like that too but I am my own worst critic. All my family and friends think my gardens are beautiful, even though they are only three years old and my trees are still small too. And I hear ya on the budget thing! I just lost my job, received a small severance which I figured would allow me to stay home for a few weeks and then the transmission went out on dh's car! There went my severance! I'm in "gotta get a job mode TODAY". It's tough out there.

Hang in there on the garden. Maybe you could post pictures and we could help out. Sometimes you just need fresh eyes. (((Ariel)))

~Betsy

Ariel,Don't give up. Concentrate on improving soil. Start a worm bin,they are cheap and you probably already have a bin around the house.wigglers can be bougt for less than $4 at a baitstore. Directions are available at your county ext service. Now find a fairly sheltered somewhat shady area and start adding the compost. Don;t forget shredded paper. This area can be great to start clippings.I call mine the hospital. As I am walking if I see a gardener I may ask if I could take a clipping. If the shrub is in the sidewalk space I consider it fair game but otherwise ,,,ask. Many people thri and throw alot out. Most of the time I just strip the bottom leaves and stick it in the happy hospital but once in awhile I use rooting hormone. Look for vines like thunbergias and jamine to add height and a backdrop.
Consider Gardening a journey. It will never be finished. I am always adding and subtracting and changing.
Regarding the weeds.I too enjoy the planting process but not the weeding. I said to myself . Self,,,No more plants until you get this area weeded and mulched. I put down paper beneath the mulch to make it last longer. Sometimes you need to spend on upkeep not another plant. I know I need to and am trying to do the same.Also I find the shade and weed accordingly .Shady areas in the morning that s whyere I weed.Shady at night,that gets weeded at night.
Good Luck

Ariel - I know exactly how you feel.

We moved here 4 years ago this fall - and I was so excited to move here from Michigan. I could do what I loved all year round - GARDENING!!! Plus, starting with a new construction home, I had a clean slate to plant what and where I wanted - a dream come true!!

At first it was great - planting trees, shrubs, perennials to my hearts delight. After a year or so, a lot of things started to die. Things that grew beautifully everywhere, even at neighbor's homes, would not grow for me. I amend the soil, mulch, fertilize, water apprpriately, to no avail.

In addition, about 6 months after we moved here, I began to get sick. I had to quit work and there went my gardening money. I have continued to get sicker and sicker and now I can barely even get out of bed. The garden has fallen by the wayside.

So, now I am embarassed of my garden - the thing I loved so much. There are more weeds than plants and we get nasty letters from the HOA about it all the time. I try to do what I can - I get outside about 30 minutes a week on a cooler evening. Since I cannot work, there is no extra money for the garden.

All the glorious plans I had for the garden are no more, just dreams in my head. Sorry to add my pity party to your thread, but it feels kind of good to get it out, ya know?

Also Ariel, check out the garden junk forum.I love to put whimsy in the garden and these folks and their crazy ideas are so much fun.
Here are some of my crazy things

Here is a link that might be useful: whimsy

Oh Ariel,

You are having a bad day today. When I was at your house this past winter, I thought you had a really nice yard. A bunch of nice, tall shade trees in the front and all kinds of sun and space in the back with a water view- right? Really, the perfect oasis for any type of garden. You had a lot of nice plants, and you're good at rooting things too! I remember that you need to keep a lot of open, grassy areas for those boys of yours to throw a football, I think. You just took a MG course and you have all the tools in your head! Try not to get frustrated.

I know I always preach this, but it's what I did and it's worked out. I would start with a small area and map a nice, large, wide, curvy bed with cardboard and put all kinds of free organic materials on top. We have spent zero money on doing this. We scavenge the cardboard, leaves, grass clippings, wood chips and keep piling as we get them. The weeds become a non-issue. Then take your time filling this one bed at a time. I love all kinds of plants and would love to be a collector but have tried to be more of a landscaper first. I try to get or root a number of the same type of plant to make a mass that looks the same and add maybe three types of plants to a bed. For me, I use a mix of foliage stuff and blooming stuff, since foliage stuff looks good much more of the year.

Not to say I am totally happy with my garden. I always have problems to tackle. Right now I have problems with my pond, but am finding solutions. Gardening is like life. There are good days and bad ones, but every day is an opportunity to make things better! It's thru these challenges that we get the satisfaction and reward at the end. Tomorrow will be a better day.

BTW, I am only an hour or so from you. If you ever are down my way, I would be happy to share plants with you. I would welcome giving my surplus to someone who would give them a good home- and what better person than you?

Anna

Like goldenpond said, go find yourself some garden art. It's amazing how someone previously loved stuff livens up an area you though was awful. I just went through the same thing, went to the flea market, and found a handful of inexpensive, silly things to put up. They make me smile :)

Based on previous posts, I have a feeling your place is beautiful. You're just going through a frustrating moment.

Ariel, your garden is fine, trust me! I have seen it and I was so hoping to see it again...
It is the time of year, all plants growgrowgrow and grow into each other and make this mass of green.
Go 'in' and start trimming back some. see if you can make a 'standard' out of a larger bush.
get some 'air' and 'light' into your beds.... and tadaaaa, it looks not like a wall of weeds anymore.

Btw, your bananas should really be huge by now? and how is your sweet almong bush looking? I bet it is blooming like crazy, yes? those are backbones!

Evelyn

I understand exactly how you feel. I think the same thing about mine. But I bet Anna is right, you are just having a bad day and your garden is lovely. I think the problem might partly be, we start with small plants, due to budget, but in our head see the mature ones. Then we look at the garden and it doesn't compare. I am trying to learn Anna's way of using a mass of something, instead of just one. I tend to be a collecter and am trying to think like a landscaper instead. This dry weather hasn't helped the plants look their best either. Everything's bound to perk up with the rains that have been coming in. :o)

Ariel, I think we all feel that way about our gardens sometimes. I've been building multiple beds but once they're done all I see are the areas that aren't done yet. I totally second Anna's advice. Concentrate on one area, preferably the one most visible to the house and do what Anna says to try to discourage weeds in the first place. It's probably not helpful in the short term to say this, but I've found it takes two to three years of diligent mulching, weeding (and yes I do spray sometimes also). But after a two to three year battle the weeds give up and my three year old beds are virtually maintenance free other than a 2 minute weeding once every couple of weeks and a top off on the mulch once a year. So I know I just have to hang in there and be more relentless than the weeds. Also I try to plant ground covers that spread to cover a lot of surface area. I love spider plants for quick coverage. The best advice I ran across early on was to plant some conventional low maintenance stuff (crotons and variegated arboricola never look bad) around the entry way so I alwasy have an acceptably tidy welcome home. I keep a couple of pots by the front door for extra color and flare. I can ignore the other beds if need be for a while.

I also second Goldenpond's advice about keeping the existing beds maintained before starting new ones or adding more plants. That's one thing I try to be disciplined about. It makes me stay on top of keeping them up so I can reward myself with new plants.

Lastly, I agree with Kate that we picture the mature trees in our heads and when we look at the reality it doesn't match our vision. I planted a whole area of palms and the only one that was mature was the bottle palm. But of course it's eventually going to be the smallest palm so it's planted in the front and all these tiny twig-like palms are planted behind it. Definitely not a particulary nice look right now.

If you have any gardening buddies near-by maybe you could ask them to come over for a couple of hours one weekend and help you get a jump-start on sprucing up a particular area. I've done that before when I really felt overwhelmed and unmotivated and didn't even know where to begin. It seems like two or three people can get four or five times as much done versus one person alone -- and have a lot more fun doing it. Instant results can be very motivating. Good luck, hope you get to feeling better. I think it would be great if you could post some pictures and you would probably get some great suggestions about minor changes or moving a few plants that could have a big impact.

Julie

Are you upset with weeds or the garden plants looking weedy? What is your overall theme? Cottage, tropical??
Are you lacking color? fragrance? flowers?
Would a garden statue or well potted container help? What would be the #1 thing you would change? With the way stuff grows in this State of ours, what do you have that isn't lush and beautiful?
(I'm zone 10 so feel free to knock me up side the head if I don't get that you had freeze damage or something)

Ariel ~ I think this happens to a lot of us. Our gardens are never ending works of art. Our problem is patience and seeing the beauty that surrounds us each and every day. Life hands us curve balls, like needing new ac's or whatever and we cannot satisfy our desire for new plants, better gardens, that we want now. I see gardens all the time via pictures here on the web, that make me green. I wish I could grow the things that others can, but I need to relax and go with the flow of what I can and what will grow right here in my bit of paradise. Each garden is unique with it's own beauty that reflects the gardener's personality.

Just my 2 cents worth. Hang in there and don't give up. From what other's have said, you already have a nice garden growing.

FlowerLady

Perrisquirrel I am so sorry to read that you are so sick. All my best wishes for you to regain your energy and be able to again do the things you love to do outside.

Ariel, was it your garden I visited after TampaArt's swap last year? If it was yours, your garden it is all sun at the sides and deep yard to the lake (am I in the right yard? I hope). If so, probably your flowers bloom much better than mine but the sun could be kind of tough on the plants. Seems one can't "have it all" unless, as you say, you hired someone or had an endless supply of water. And if my memory is right, you gave me lots of cuttings and babies, many of which are growing - and from your beautiful ginger I am thrilled this month I have my first ever ginger plants making progress - thanks to you.

Ariel, how long are you in the new house? It can't be more than 2 or 3 years, because I remember you saying you were moving. Time flies, but hang in there. We are here 7 yrs. and this year my gardens finally look good. Even my DH commented on them! It's going to take some time to see what works and what doesn't. I'm sure it looks fine.

Perrisquirrel, I've been there, done that, too! I blew out the 3rd disc in my back a month after moving here, so the tropical gardens got scaled back to manageable beds! Some days even they're too much, but it keeps me busy. Feel free to vent anytime. Come on over to the conversations page and tell us how you're doing.

Julie

Ariel, I know exactly how you feel! It can be soooo discouraging to look out into the garden and see the gazzillion things that need to be done!

Everywhere I look, I am reminded that I need to weed, prune, spray, fertilize, build walls, dig holes, fill in holes the animals have dug, haul away Areca fronds, weedwack, trim Bamboo, finish the side fencing, get my rainbarrels finished, hand pollinate Annonas..... the list goes on and on....

I have many potted plants that need to go in the ground, others in the ground that need to be moved. Sigh... My veggie gardens have 8' tall weeds filling them. I need to replace the sides, and haven't been able to force myself to do that big job yet. Every project is complicated!

I planned to finally get my tender tropical fruit trees planted this spring - but I'll need to buy truckloads of soil, unload the truck myself, hire a backhoe operator to spread it around, dig deep holes for 3 telephone poles, set them up somehow, and then finally plant the trees, mulch and fence it in! The amount of work is staggering!

I'm dealing with having no large trees too. All our canopy was lost in the hurricanes. It makes planning a pleasing landscape very difficult, to me. I'm not sure I want a property so filled that I cannot see my animals when I look for them. I like being able to see what the chicken flock is up to. I need to be able to see my front gate from the door or living room windows. If I had a lush garden like Ricky's, I doubt I could find my birds at all, and pretty, curving paths would block the line of vision! So, I still have way too much open grassy areas. We need to be able to drive around the property, so those areas cannot be planted in.

I feel stuck, overwelmed and discouraged.

You are not alone...

Lisa

I too know exactly how you feel. One of the statements I read here really hit home: the thing I used to love so much is now a cause for embarassment. Yup. Me too.
I've put in more garden than I have the time and the knees to handle so now it often looks terrible! I get the letter from the homeowners assocition about weeds. I have neighbor friends who don't ask about the garden anymore and I'm sure it's because they don't know what to say! Like having someone in the family with a terrible disease! I always said I wanted my yard to feel like a jungle and now it does, but not necessarily in a good way. All you can do is laugh some days and hope you can handle it all another day. Then use more mulch to block a few more weeds.

You've gotten some good encouagement and ideas here - garden art/junk can perk it all up and make you feel better. If it's weeds, then try tackling it just a little at a time. Maybe it's time to abandon a small part of the garden for now and just let it go; that's OK too. We do this to make ourselves feel good and as soon as it feels bad we should make changes. (That is WAY easier to say than it is to do, but I think it's true anyway!)

Kate

You all are too kind, with your great words of comfort and wisdom. Thank you so much.

Anyway, I really don't have too many weeds in my garden it just looks like weeds- or an over grown mess. Which isn't always a bad thing.
One of my down falls is that I am definitely a collector. And I really need to be better about mass plantings. It really is more appealing to the eye. But I guess I just don't even know where to begin.

Garden art might help a bit. I think I will start looking through the forum and get some ideas.

Yes, some of you have been to my home. And your words are very kind. But like some of you said... the vision I have in my head is very different then what it has turned out to be. And a lot of it is me being to impatient to let the plant grow and mature. I know that my twig trees will be more to my liking in about 5 -10 years and provide my yard with some much needed shade.

Part of my discouragement is that I have helped a few people design their landscape and now their yards look amazing and mine still looks like crap. But again, they had a great budget and were able to buy large specimens. They buy the $150 tree and I buy the $25 tree. Yes, I know I am comparing apples to oranges.

Thanks again for everyoneÂs kind words. It was nice to get a much needed pep talk.

I think you all are right I need a fresh pair of eyes to help me figure out what to do. So I will try and post some pictures a bit later.

Thank you,
Ariel