mxk3, I think a lot of us are feeling the same. We have a large place to care for and at first we were happy to have the time to be out in the gardens all day but now find ourselves “over it”. The toll of not seeing friends and family has caught up with us as well as the realization that there is no easy fix any time soon. We realize we are lucky in our situation and are grateful for that but still can’t push back the worry and anxiety of these times. You are right that the circle of life will continue and in the garden it just means more work for us when Spring comes again. On the bright side, in my own case, I have inched toward enjoying nature more as it is with a lessened emphasis on my to do lists...

I agree that many of us are feeling down because of the situation, but for me, it was just the opposite - I've spent more time in the garden this year than usual. One reason is because I lost my job, so I have lots of time, but also I found my usual peace and solace working out there. Well, except for parts of July and August when it was way too hot for me. But spring and fall were beautiful and it was very therapeutic for me - although, sometimes when I was out by myself I would think too much and dwell on my job loss, but overall, gardening was my solace.

I just came in from working outside. It's almost mid-November and 70 degrees, and while I know it's just not right, I can't say I'm not loving it!

Mxk I hope that next year is better for you. I know the joy you have in gardening and what lovely gardens you have so I hope spring brings fresh motivation and joy!

:)
Dee

Beautiful pics, Zenman!

A lot of also has to do with the fact that home is my "happy place", I am a person who needs separation between home and work -- home is still a nice place, but it is now my workplace, so it's not a place I can look forward to retreating to and leaving all the stresses of work, deadlines, etc behind -- it's all here now, all day long. I know to some this may come off as whining about a good situation, and I really don't mean to sound ungrateful -- I am blessed to have a good job (and one that I enjoy and am good at) and know I'm very fortunate, it's just that home is no longer the joy and escape that it was, and I have been feeling down about that, it has been wearing on me.

But, I am out there this afternoon working on mulching, it does feel nice to be outside doing something productive and enjoying the nice weather. :0)

Diggerdee, I'm so glad your garden provided solace. I've had to take on a "new" job as we seek to find an employee at our office. It has reduced my gardening time to a fraction of what it was previously (and my GW posting time), but it is what has to be done. You have the opposite problems. If you are looking in the market, I hope you find the PERFECT job. If you are not, I'm glad your garden was such a blessing to your mental health this year.

I often don’t feel like going out to garden but what I do know is that if I can stir my stumps and get myself out there I always feel better for it. How about just going outside for a wander without any pressure on yourself to do anything? I bet you’ll find yourself starting to potter. My other tip is to pick one small job rather than thinking you need to clear up the whole garden. Start with telling yourself ‘I’ll do two barrows of leaves, or I’ll cut back one small section, then I’ll have a cup of tea’. I pretty much guarantee you’ll do much more once you’re out there. Btw if you have a weed whacker you can just whiz over the whole perennial bed and leave the debris where it lands.

I have to say that I’m amazed how big some of your plots are. I can’t help feeling that sometimes people just have more land than they need. No wonder the work is intimidating and possession becomes a pressure rather than a pleasure.

Thanks Deanna! As I said, sometimes the garden can be the worst place to be, (as, for some reason, it has been the last few days) because I think and think and dwell on things. Not only am I upset at losing my job for financial reasons and because I loved my job, but it was done very unethically and I have no recourse, so that is what is so galling to me. I feel so helpless in this situation, so most times being in the garden helps me to find peace, and realize, as a garden always, at all times, makes me realize, that the world goes on no matter what I am doing.

Floral, I can't agree with you more! I can't tell you how many times I've procrastinated going out to the garden, and once I'm out there, I'm berating myself for not coming out sooner!

Mxk, I see what you are saying. That is definitely the downside to working at home - your home becomes your workplace. Too bad you didn't have a room dedicated to work, so you can leave and close the door on it! That might be of some help. In the meantime hopefully if you are doing projects around the house (I'm actually typing this during a break in painting a room lol) that will make you feel better about your home and help remake it into your happy place.

Let's all pray that we may be starting to get a handle on this pandemic. With a new administration that will take it more seriously, and the great news today that one of the vaccines in progress is looking successful, hopefully we'll be back to "normal" soon!

:)
Dee

mxk3, I got my shredded leaves today. I've been keeping an eye out for the town's pickup crew to start dumping their collected shredded leaves in the huge piles at the Water Treatment plant outside of town (where I used to live).

Sunday I drove past and saw the first of the piles, went home quick and got bags, etc. However when I drove into the lot and got closer - it wasn't a pile of leaves, it was a big pile of dirt! ha ha It sure looked like leaves from the road.

Anyway, went to town to scavenge leaves from people because rain is expected for a few days here. I'll be darned if the town maint. crew wasn't collecting leaves. Hooray, I swung into the treatment plant and got six bags full. That's all I have room for plus it mostly lasts me until next summer. I envy your 30 bags!

Our Parks Department dumps leaves at our allotment sites. Here’s my barrow ready for action,

It's like looking at a pile of gold. : )

Wow, how lucky you guys are. I don't think my city actually shreds the leaves they pick up. But I guess I shouldn't complain. I've got at least 40 trees on and around my property so I have plenty of leaves (too many, actually, lol) even if I do have to shred them myself. The pile in my garden looks like floral's and most of my leaves (oak) are still on the trees!

:)
Dee

HAHA I try to collect under the cover of darkness, it's kind of embarrassing loading up the back of a pick-up with other people's yard waste LOL! Very nice perk that you have there with a drop-off, Floral.

Sorry to hear of your job loss, Dee -- hopefully things will be looking up soon for you on that front. I have been very, very blessed to keep my job and DH found something relatively quickly after being laid off -- I know many others have not been so fortunate.

I have an extra-long weekend starting tomorrow, hopefully can finishing up the mulching and cutting back. I learned the hard way I should lay down the leaves first and cut back plants after they're wetted by rain -- otherwise, the winds just blow them right across the property and into oblivion. ACK!

Just a note of caution to folks that use leaves coming from other properties-- I don't know if you have them where you are, but here in Wisconsin we are being invaded by Asian Jumping Worms, and their tiny eggs travel in leaf litter. Worth a Google search to learn more.

@porkchop_z5b_MI, I'm sorry you've lost your gardening mojo. As someone else mentioned, I would just go out for a wander here and there. I have had a lot of ups and downs this year and definitely had days where nothing seemed appealing, certainly not hard work. There was a long stretch this summer where I would just wander from garden bed to garden bed. I did find it soothing just to be out there. And one day, I decided to grab shears and start going after my garden phlox deadheading. Your garden will be waiting for you when you are ready to return. We all need to be gentle with ourselves during this challenging year.

P.S. If you really don't feel like you can muster for the fall cleanup, I believe many experts recommend waiting until spring anyway-- better for pollinators who overwinter in the standing stalks of perennials.

I am fortunate that we have a neighbour that shreds his leaves before bagging them and I am able to take all he collects....probably 10 bags when all is said and done. (The same neighbour 'donates' to us all his grass clippings....so much of our compost is because of his generosity :)).

That's great for compost.

Those seven bags of shredded leaves I got from the town? well turns out they aren't as shredded as I thought. Bummer. So I spent a couple hours yesterday shredding them with my vac/mulcher. Seven bags became four big bags once leaves were shredded. That will still do me pretty well. But oh my aching back. Work boots aren't as comfortable as they used to be either. ugh. No pain no gain I guess.

Bummer, schoolhouse! That was disappointing. I'm on my way out to rake and shred some more leaves. At least the weather has been decent to get this done. But the final part - putting the leaves back down - always has to be done in the cold, as I wait for the ground to freeze before putting them down. Want to encourage all the little critters to find winter homes somewhere else besides my garden beds...

:)
Dee

Schoolhouse - We didn't want another piece of equipment to store and maintain, so we didn't get a leaf shredder. We just use our lawnmower. We take the bags of leaves or barrels of leaves and spread them on the lawn on a sunny day, let them dry out and just mow over them. It does a good job of chopping them enough for our purposes. and then you are just emptying the mower bag where you want the chopped leaves.

I always have slip on shoes from LLBean in the garden. Very comfortable for me. My DH can't wear them, he needs better support of a sneaker. He buys a new pair for good and then the old pair becomes the gardening shoe until they are in awful shape and get thrown out. [g]. It's hard to work in the garden if you are not comfortable.

We're going to get the leaves done today too. Tons of them on the ground out there. The mower is gong to get a workout. [g]

You know Dee, I think you have it right. I don't usually wait to put them down, I skip that step only because I don't find it easy to package them up and store them. But I have had issues with moles/voles sometimes and not waiting does not help with that problem.

I found out about the leaves not being shredded enough when I decided to put some down on the perennial bed. Yeah, mistake. Now it's raining and I'm afraid there will be this big mat of wet leaves out there. I should have raked them off yesterday but was too tired, I'll do it later this week. Normally I wait until the ground is more frozen too.

PM2 I used to keep my shredded leaves in leaf bags in the garage (and handle them carefully when I dumped them in case someone had taken up residence lol!) but that was when I raked and used my shredder. My husband bought a tractor mower last year and now he uses that to shred the leaves, so they are just in a huge pile in the yard till I need them. I will bag up some to take a few blocks away to a garden I maintain,

schoolhouse, my husband and others ask why I rake out the leaves only to put them back, but you're right - those heavy wet matted leaves won't do any favors to the garden beds. I learned that from experience lol!

:)
Dee