What Stops You From Gardening?

[TrueNorthTreasures]

This thread is directed at folks who would like to garden and grow some of their own food, but don't.

What stops you from gardening?

1) No land/not enough space
2) Landlord forbids it (on property, balcony, etc)
3) Health problems make it difficult or impossible to garden
4) You have no gardening experience/don't know where to start
5) You don't have time to garden
6) Putting in a vegetable garden is too expensive
7) Other

[Ciel]

Last year, it was father aiming the lawn tractor chute to deposit grass clippings on the small veg patch. Pulled out my few crops (radishes & lettuces at that point in early June) and let him seed grass.

He's the same person who had no problem giving a new to Canada relative garden space for a year. Just because the relative was a guy and no, he was not living nearby.

This year, I did a late planter using soil removed from a paver readjustment-failed to realize how claylike the mud becomes after I planted three herbs. Only a succulent weed popped up after a month's time-tipped the contents behind something near the garage. I'll laugh if chives grow now where the grass/weeds are now.

Basically, it's a matter of having space and others respecting said space to garden.

[Darth Penguin]

7.laziness and apathy.

[TrueNorthTreasures]

7.laziness and apathy.

Interesting! Usually, genuinely wanting to do something blows laziness and apathy out of the water!

[ninna]

lol. I love Darth Penguin's response. That was the first thing that came to my mind as well for myself

I'm lazy. I hate weeding (partly because I wouldn't know a weed from a legit plant and partly just because it's back breaking sweaty, dirty work). I don't like dirt under my fingernails and I like the idea of growing my own food but not the idea of getting off my duff and actually doing something about it.

It's sad, really. I come from a family of people who LOVE to garden and grow things. I just didn't inherit the gene, I guess.

[MrsSunshine]

lack of space, lack of good quality dirty. plus the little freakin critters that attack everything we grow, whether its plants or veggies.
however next year were taking over my parents garden.. woohoo. can't wait.

[tobiwobi]

8. Terrible beginner experience with nothing growing and producing despite lots of work, discouraging to do the same the following year.
9. Not enough SUNNY space in urban jungle where just because you point south doesn't mean you'll get sun because of dense buildings shading each other.
10. Bugs on stuff that you somehow did manage to grow. Not appetizing.

[terry2144]

I live in a townhouse and there's very limited space. I used to grow things wherever I could. Now my dear is in 2nd year of horticulture and has invaded my space. We do have places to rent for gardens in the city that are pretty cheap but the thought of driving to garden seems like work.

[Natalka]

We used to garden where we lived before, but after years, the soil just was no longer good for it, and we couldn't afford to redo it - and the landlord wouldn't.

We moved in the fall, there's a big garden patch here - but in the spring things were very bad for us so

6) Putting in a vegetable garden is too expensive - we couldn't afford to get someone to till the garden, and we weren't able to turn it over ourselves. We couldn't even have afforded seeds this year.

3) Health problems make it difficult or impossible to garden

Husband has a broken back, and I have a plethora of health problems - those affecting my legs/knees and arms will make it hard to garden.

However, we have HOPE that we will garden next year!

[Ciel]

Natalka, maybe one of your neighbours in the new area might be willing to till the ground before October to prepare the ground for next year? Perhaps you can offer to swap some goodies in return for the work?
Money seems to be hard to free up for things beyond necessities-at least it seems that way to me and to others.

[Crochetlady]

Hubby used to have a garden but poor health put a stop to that. We seeded grass in half of it and BIL uses the rest. We have to keep an eye on the tomatoes so the neighbours don`t take them.

[xlxo]

-bugs
-time

i just have enough time to mow the lawn and water it weekly.

[itsmewhoelse]

Not much stops me, well I try to not let it stop me. I have health problems, and cant do any of the heavy stuff. So for mothers day I get my ds's to get the gardens ready and do heavy stuff. Gardening gives me joy and a reason to move most days, so I do things in little steps. I want to raise my raised beds a bit more so I dont have to bend as much. I put more things in containers/planters and use as many wheeled plant castors as I can to make them easier to move. Dollarama is great for these. I have a compost area which gives me free mud and cuts down on garbage. I say area cause I dont have it in anything just in a corner.

[ninna]

What a shame that some of you would like to garden but can't because of space or physical discomfort. I have nearly an acre here of perfectly wonderful soil that could be a gardeners dream and sometimes I feel a little guilty that I'm so lazy about it. Truth is, I just don't enjoy it. You've got to love something before it will hold any value.

I should add that gardening happens in spite me though.

I have some very lovely pepper squash and butternut squash and tomato plants that have taken root in my compost pile.
That's honestly the only things that I ever grow. Purely accidental things.

Every summer some kind of growth spirals its way out of the muck--usually from the squash family--but we are never sure whether it's going to be squash or those silly ornamental gourds we're going to get. This year I was impressed to have two varieties of squash AND tomatoes. LOL. My kids get SO grossed out at the idea I might make them eat that stuff too because it grows in the compost (which we call it our "yuck" pile. )

I've always wished a watermelon would sprout itself from there just to see their reaction. They dislike eating squash. But I've always wondered if they would eat a watermelon out of the yuck. Part of me wants to go buy one at the store and "plant" it in the yuck as a test to see if they'd turn their noses up at it. LOL.

Gotta love the squash though. Even a lazy little gardening moron like me can't stop it.

[blueeyetea]

I do a little bit of gardening, but mostly herbs because they're either hard to find fresh, or they are too expensive when I do. Since I live near a farmers market, I found that the buying the food in season is cheaper than the cost of putting in and taking care of a garden. I mean, tomatoes are cheap at this time of year, the same time I'd be harvesting them in my yard. So, I might as well just buy them.