Unfortunately, I often let things go too long. Last year, I even had pots I had bought that I never got in the ground. I am often just overwhelmed by how much I need to do (especially weeding and clearing) and then when I do get busy, I need a bottle of aspirin that evening to dull the aches (not really an entire bottle, but it seems like I need that much-ha).

I did get out yesterday and pulled a bunch of liriope which was really difficult, so I have decided to just cover it all with cardboard and cover that with mulch until it is all dead. It just took over when I was having knee issues and couldn't even walk easily for two+ years. Then, I finally had the knee replaced, so now I am goor to go. Fingers crossed I simply force myself. I do love being out there and I want to stay in reasonable shape, especially now that I am almost 72 and if I don't do it now, I never will.

I am also one of those who buys plants I just MUST HAVE and then I wonder where I will pit them . Sigh. Also, my 88-pound lab mix has been known to trample shrubs and perennials when chasing something...or nothing.

So no, you are not alone.

I’ve found my people!

“Manic buying sprees” — I RELATE. I went heavy on the pre-orders with a plan… but now they’re all arriving at the same time. Though I have made room and prepped for them- my seedlings that I also went overboard on and have zero energy to tend to are getting closer to needing their container homes…. That of which I did not make plans for.

I usually stick to annuals but started perennials indoors to see what works and what doesn’t. A few annual seeds from last year that were laying dormant in pots in the shed surprised me this year as full on plants!! I don’t know how they made it with the lack of light/water! LOL

Despite the chaos, it’s really nice to see buds, blooms, and all things greening up over here. It’s a cure to my seasonal depression for sure.

Oh, to add to the chaos- i didn’t label any seedlings this year. That’s how out of it I’ve been. About 20 different varieties of plants and i have no idea what I’m working with.

Oh wow, you didn't label anything?!? Well, good luck with that...I mean, eventually you'll figure out what they are LOL!

I try to do chores at the appropriate time of year, and like everybody have a burst of energy in the spring. But, usually things get done on MY timetable -- I still work full-time and have a household to run, I just don't have time to spend hours a day outside unless it's the weekend, and unfortunately with getting older I don't have the stamina for the all-day gardening marathons I used to, after a few hours I'm done and move onto other things I have to do or want to do.

I have to say, though, I have close to zero motivation to do anything right now. Spring is in the air and usually I'm raring to go, but not this year, I just don't feel like it. I'm in the midst of seed-starting season so I have to stay on that timetable of growing under the lights. Usually I get much joy from it, but not this year -- not the past couple years, really, not since my gardening buddy took ill and eventually died (it was our annual "thing" for me to start seeds for her, we'd pore over catalogs in the winter and decide what to order and plan out things for the year -- those shared activities are all gone now). Also under stress from my job, I recently told my boss this job is aging me...she laughed but one of those laughs like yea, I know me too. Kinda sounds like a bit of depressive state is doing me in this year, doesn't it...

I think once the spring weather finally settles in for good and the bulbs start blooming I'll get a burst of excitement. Gotta get out there and finish cutting things back and spreading leaf mulch that I didn't get around to finishing last fall. My favorite gardening months are May through beginning of July, then I pretty much do nothing except putz around here and there and harvest vegetables until fall, it's too hot and humid here to want to do much of anything mid-July onward until fall.

But yea, I can commiserate -- some days I just don't feel like doing a d*mn thing...so I don't.

Also running really late this year. In my climate you want to have the roses pruned and any other pruning and all the weeding done by Valentine's Day as new growth is emerging. Then you want to fertilize and mulch. Well, I had a big sewing project that held all my attention for about two months. Also we got our winter rains, a genuine blessing not to be unappreciated. So I am scurrying to get the work done now that it is March. I did a rough weeding and spread fertilizer but I am going to be spreading mulch on a less clear canvas that I normally do.

Why? Well, we are putting our house on the market in a couple of weeks. The house is ready to show but the poor garden still needs work. I don't want to scare potential buyers into thinking the garden is a burden. (Which it is not)

I’m sorry to say and I hope you won’t mind, but it’s been the opposite for me!

In my 12 years of gardening, I’ve never been so prepared. I’m even planning to clean and sharpen my tools over the week-end, which is unheard of for this gardener.

But then again, I’m in zone 3, which means my gardening season is from April to September. It leaves a lot of time to think and plan and yearn.

This is the third year in a row that I’m not planning to buy any new plants because I have enough. But then I look at the snow outside and I « Add to Cart » a lupine, delphinium, clematis or rose that caught my eye (yes, I bought all those and more).

Then seeds catalog are ready and it’s too darn easy to shop. Especially on a Friday evening, when I’m tired and want to treat myself.

So now I end up with over 200 petunias, 75 impatiens and 75 vincas sowed under my grow lights that I have no idea where they will go. I’m praying for a low germination rate because the thought of repotting all these…well let’s think of something else.

I hope your garden will bring all of you joy and energy this Spring!

I’m sorry for your loss mxk3!! I am hoping those bulbs and blooms (and a little sunshine) will kick the blues away.

I’ve spent most of my youth/early adulthood on O’ahu… I’m just now learning what real seasonal depression is like and OOOOF it is rough.

The sun has been out and experiencing temps in the 70s all week here in the Carolina’s.

We purchased our first home in 2021 and have a 1 and 2 year old- I have roughly 6,500 SF of space to work with and have been spending any ounce of time I get trying to cultivate garden rooms that my girls can enjoy for years to come. That first year I got my shrubs in and I’m just now seeing them take off. It’s been a LOT of prepping the soil and planning, but now my many pre ordered plants have been arriving the past 2 weeks and I’ve been getting everything in the ground!

I cannot wait to see all of my hard work pay off.

The sun isn't strong enough during the winter months until mid April to allow Vitamin D to be produced on the skin. A good quality Cod Liver Oil in small doses, is often recommended to try to keep up your Vitamin D levels over the winter. And eating salmon, sardines, mackerel more often makes a difference too.

One thing I also noticed is how much of an effect, chocolate has on me. When I stopped eating it for a couple of months and then went back to eating it, my husband and I noticed it right away. On the days I ate chocolate in a morning smoothie, I was upbeat, motivated, energetic, my muscles worked better and were more comfortable and I actually found I talked more. lol So I looked it up. I thought it was just a caffeine effect, but I discovered it was more than that.

https://www.byrdie.com/why-chocolate-makes-you-feel-good-5094761

[you might have to copy/paste the web address - I couldn't get the link function to work]

Theobromine is an ingredient that blocks receptors to keep you from getting tired. It also has another ingredient that is a potent anti-depressant. So for a temporary lift when you you have a lot to get done, you might try chocolate.

O PrairieM, back in my chocolate eating days, I never noticed much lifting of spirits but possibly cos I was also attempting to lift my gigantic arse and tree-trunk thighs into action as well. For some unknown reason, I completely went off sweet things but lost a shedload of weight (3 dress sizes!)...however, I suspect you are suggesting a couple of squares of decent 70% cocoa chocolate and not the massive 200gram bars I could consume in a morning (plus biscuits and cake).

Anyways, I have picked up the pace a bit...which is just as well as the allotment and gardens are looking open,accessible and pleasingly uncluttered, so I have a window of opportunity to get some things planted before mayhem takes over.

O,mxk3, I truly sympathise.We get so much joy in sharing and working together. I know it isn't really the same, but the ongoing dialogue we have on here is sometimes the only motivation I have...which is also why I am really aching to sort out my uploading skills, if only for bragging kudos. I have managed to break down the offspring,one at a time, into becoming gardeners. I supplied them with plants for years until they are now capable of doing it for themselves, but I still have not lost the habit of growing for everyone.

All this talk of house-moving is making me feel slightly ill. The need to move from,my lovely but stair-filled townhouse is becoming a dreadful probability. In 40 years of living in one place, I have filled the house with books and enough yarn to last me 4 lifetimes. And fabric, and tools. I know I should be dealing with things but the task is so enormous, I cannot bear to even think about it, much less make a start.

I'm pretty enthused about my garden but things are looking more cluttered with the weeds starting up. It's very sunny and mild today in NC..I might get out my weed eater.

We eat a little chocolate a couple times a day. My parents ate it almost every day and lived to be 88 and 90. They ate desert most days but would share a piece of pizza. My mom was tiny and her idea of a portion helped my dad shed his middle age inner tube.

Just read a book about statins by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick. He says he eats dark chocolate every day, sometimes not so dark. He's a cholesterol heretic.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend, Mxk3..you really are dealing with grief.

Erasmus, that is a great story about your parents. I love it! lol My Mom had a 1/2 a candy bar every day and she lived to be 87. Of course, the fact that at work, she walked up and down three sets of stairs many times a day for most of her adult life probably helped. [g] I'll have to check out Dr Kendrick and see what he has to say about cholesterol.

Spring is such an exciting time, I can't wait to get out and start getting things done. I'm still pruning a few shrubs and I'll have to time the clean up around late frosts, but plenty to do...lol.

No doubt the stair climbing helped your mom, prairiemoon. I walk up and down the stairs in my house a good many times a day and I think it helps me. My husband has a blockage in a leg artery and his dr says exercise is probably the best thing for it. Walking seems to help build additional blood vessels.

I've read four or five books on statins and thought Dr. Malcolm Kendrick's book, A Statin Nation , was the best. It was hard to put down. Had some pretty technical parts but he made them fairly understandable. Got into what happens on a molecular level. I read some pro-statin books but they seemed much less documented and more like, " Don't pay any attention to that man behind the curtain." I mean, just dismissing the cholesterol skeptics as conspiracy theorists. But I do think these anti -statin books should come with a warning: " May put you at odds with your doctor and cause you to think you know more than they do." Which might be good, might be bad. In my case, I'm having to look in to finding another doctor.

Erasmus - We live in a neighborhood that is very flat and climbing stairs is a good substitute for having some hills.

It is a hard place to be in, Cardiologists are intensely committed to keeping the LDL as low as 70, if you have any cardiac problems and that is just really difficult to do without a Statin. Yet there are side effects with Statins. There is quite a bit of controversy out there about whether cholesterol is the issue with blocked arteries or is it something else? There are things that are not controversial. How important exercise is and how much it helps, and keeping your saturated fat intake low. And a doctor that at least accepts that there is another side to things, could maybe help you sort through the dilemma.

I believe in exercise. This author I'm talking about is not sure eating saturated fat is a problem. He has another book about cholesterol. Says women in particular live longer with higher cholesterol and they have better immunity to infections. He's big on Vitamin C and some other vitamins. Says when someone has scurvy, ( lack of vit. C) their blood vessels become very damaged. He thinks arterial plaque collects at damaged places in the blood vessels and that cholesterol didn't do the damage. Inflamation can be caused by sugar and carbs..carbs turn in to sugar. I don't like the pressure to buy in to the cholesterol club. Calcium seems to have something to do with plaque too....I am just someone reading a book, not a scientist. But I said to my dr. , " What about calcium in plaques?" and she said calcium has nothing to do with it. I think that's probably ignorant.

She learned all she needs to know in med school. My father -in-law was a doctor and studied all the time. He didn't believe in cholesterol as the cause of heart disease and ate a diet rich in saturated fat but then he died of a heart attack.

I believe being overweight is bad for your heart. Stress is bad. Smoking and too much alcohol are bad. I don't smoke and don't drink much.

Been outside pruning roses...it's a beautiful day!

I agree with you, I don't think they know everything yet about what causes the arteries to get clogged or how to prevent it. Although, according to them, if you keep your LDL @ 70 or below you keep your risks low. That is the bottom line for cardiologists. It’s just very tough to do that. Of course, they also tell you to lower your stress and exercise and eat a balanced diet.

Alternative medicine focuses on a healthy diet with low processed foods and staying away from additives, etc. Getting enough sleep and exercise. But one of the theories they offer is that insulin resistance has something to do with it.

I’m still uncertain about what to do about saturated fat and we try to keep our LDL low and pay attention to keeping a balance blood sugar level. So I try to keep an open mind and listen to what makes sense to me and I keep looking for more answers.

I was out pruning today too! We had to move roses in the Fall, which I hate to do, so I was anxious to see if they made it and sure enough they've already started sprouting new growth. It was windy again today but full sun all day. It was great!