The New Iris Bed for 09

Ok, eeeeeeeeew. Mittsy, check under your car before coming out next spring.

The hard shelled possums have made it to southern Missouri, actually just south of Kansas City....I hear terrible stories. I use to live in Texas but in the city and never had problems with them.

Oh, I have lived with them, but I don't find them anywhere near as big a nuisance as squirrels, gophers, deer and raccoons. I think they are cute but I don't touch them. They are nearsighted, nocturnal and bumbling and I tend to just leave them on their own.

Here is what that same bed that is at the top of this thread looks like now. It's just a bit weedy now. My work is cut out for me.

Flowrgirl1, The rototiller I showed on 'cool tools' would really be a good purchase for you. I bought it on QVC for $71.00 &
it has been worth the money to me. You've planted your Iris far enough apart so you will be able to take care of the majority of weeds. Plus it gives you a great workout for your upper arms instead of kneeling.

At least it isn't pasture grass which we are dealing with here

yeah, it shouldn't be to bad. The weather is supposed to be nice here for the week so I should be able to get it cleaned up nicely. I have a tiller that should fit down the isles pretty well.

I planted hundreds of tulips and daffs today. It was about 55 or so today so quite comfotable work weather. All the bulbs are in now just gotta get that garlic in the ground, weed, plant a few more perennials and wala!

What a glorious garden, flowergirl. And what lovely weather. It is starting to really act like winter here -- clouds and snow. Good thing. The doc tells me I have to five up gardening other than pointing and telling someone else what to do. Since I am pretty short on servants, I am feeling sad. Am supposed to see 2 more docs. Hopefully they will come up with something!

Oh I'm sorry Betty. Would raised beds help so you would not have to bend so much? Doctor's sometime forget that the mind needs action as well.

oh no! I hope they and you can figure something out. Can't just stop gardening!

It isn't bending that is hurting me, it is the digging that is killing me -- especially with a hand trowel. It is the acupuncturist that told me to quit gardening. I have an appointment with a GP who will be able to interpret the two MRIs I have taken and another with a neurologist on Dec. 1 who is the person who caused the MRIs to be taken. I am very frustrated that this whole thing is taking so long. It has been a month since my last MRI but I am just now getting to see a doctor. And yes, I have terrific health care. It's just that it takes forever to get in to see a doctor no matter how good my health care is!
I do hope there will be some way to control this. Surgery? Steroid injections? These are not available to the accupuncturist who is helping me with the pain while I wait to see a doctor.

pajar, hope things get better for you and you get some answers, keep calling and bugging them, then they will see you!!!! hope you feel better, give up gardening, I can't imagine no gardening, when I injured my neck and had to stay home and really could do little without the pain being so unbelievable, I thought if I can't get out in the garden, life will really be bad......I actually imagined myself thinking even if I have to get on my hands and knees and can hardly do much, I still have to be able to do that much.......thank goodness I felt better and know I can do a certain amount before I have to say enough for the day, because I will feel it in my neck......feel better....M

I have mild carpeltunnel & wear wrist braces in the evening & at night which helps a bit. I gave up my cape cod weeder & bought a weeding tool with a long handel which gives more leverage. I don't rake any more as that got the tendinitis in the shoulder.

I suspect I will be doing all of those things. I have carpal tunnel syndrome badly enough that the doctor wants me to have surgery this winter, but the acupuncturist has fixed me up so I can sleep without the wrist braces. The neck and shoulder are another story entirely, unfortunately. Thanks, Makj, I will definitely keep bugging them. I don't plan to give up gardening but am having to go easy until I can find out what exactly is wrong -- it has to do with bulging and dessicated discs in my spinal column. I know that much. Who knows what they will do about it.

I feel each of your 'pains'! It has been 2 1/2 years ago when I finally gave up and said, O.K., it's time. But my problem
was Ulna (outer 2 fingers being numb from the elbow pinching the nerve) & I had a lot of dystrophy in my hand muscles. The Dr. operated on my carpal nerve (not the Ulna) and after $4,000.00 (thank God for Insurance) and a whole bunch of tests that really didn't need to be done (whole body scan, MRI, etc.) I still have the same problem...my ring and pinkie finger are still numb. The main thing I miss is playing the piano but I can still dig in the dirt. :o)

I certainly hope they can do something so you can keep on gardening, Betty.

Did the shoulder pain just come on? Maybe bursitis with the change of weather?

Unbeleivable how long it takes to get into the Dr there. Ours will have us in the same day, or at the outmost the next.

I plan to keep gardening some kind of way, polly. Thanks for your hope. I am told that I do have bursitis, but that goes away eventually. I know part of this is tension because we have been dealing with my MIL's ill health and the need to put her in a nursing home very much against her will. That undoubtedly has contributed to the problem. My have degenerative bone disease in my neck, which I am told is virtually universal at my age, 65. I know I have arthritis in my shoulder.
And yes, it is ridiculously difficult to get in to see a doctor in my area. Not just any doctors. There are doctors who would see me. But I want one who is good at diagnostics and who listens. I have considered going to Urgent Care a couple of times, but this isn't exactly Urgent -- or is it? Beats me. I was most upset when the radiologist report came in and I learned that the neurologist would be out of town for the next 2 weeks and couldn't get me in for two weeks after that. Grr. I will be looking for a different one -- one in a 2 doctor practice so someone can cover for him or her when he or she goes on vacation.
Husker, I am not going to have that surgery unless the carpal tunnel starts keeping me awake at night again. I much prefer acupuncture to surgery.

I don't know what Urgent Care would do for an ongoing condition, anyway, Betty. Except give you enough painkillers for a few days. However, any experience I have had with ER rooms and Urgent Care, (luckily never for me), has been very positive, and it seems at the ERs they have the youngest Drs, and they seem to have a fresh look on things, so it might be a good idea.

Yes, I have been dealing with ERs a lot lately due to my MIL. They do seem like a lovely bunch. I also had a nice experience with the young doctor who sewed up my foot when I dropped my brand new global knife straight into my foot when I opened its package for the first time. We had a great discussion about the quality of good knives.

I found that out when my daughter did her internship. The ER Drs are new and up to date, and for the most part very caring.

So if the pain gets too bad, before I get to see my regular docs, maybe I will visit the ER.

Gosh, I feel bad for all your aches and pains. Ouch! I guess that is our way of life. Garden and then the body pays for it. So far at my age I dont have any bad joints. I just get sore muscles. Today my biceps hurt from raking.

Take care everyone!

I don't think it would hurt Betty. get a new perspective.