I am new to Daves Garden and do not know my way around the website. So I am just bumbling aroud and hope I hit the right spot. I would like to hear from other Parky's who are gardeners. I am 58 and have had Parkinsons for 17 years but still am fairly active.
Gardeners with Parkinsons
Dont have parkinsons but welcome to this forum. I have bad knees from osteoarthritis. The folkd here have some god ideas about gardening when one cant just do normal things and Ive been glad to read them and put them to use. Again welcome. Shirley
Welcome, I don't have Parkinsons but am disabled I'm 58(for a few months). I have lung probelms (too many years a heavy smoker)but love gardening. I'm sure you will love it here at Dave's.
Welcome Rob. I don't have Parkinson's either. I was diagnosed with glaucoma recently, have had my eyes photographed now and go back in May to see if the medication is working. Bit of a scary time for me. I'm 50.
This is a good website. Welcome again.
I want to thank all of you for making me feel so welcome. I never expected such a quick response. I think I will like this website. Am waiting for weather to clear so I can get into my garden. Weather here in Ohio is pretty unpredictable this year. Hot one day, cold the next. And rain, rain, rain. Happy gardening.
Welcome robbob:D we are about the same age...I don't have parkins, but I have suffered with rheu..arthritis almost 50 yrs.I will never give up hoping for a cure even though there is too much damage to overcome. so in the meantime. I live life to the fullest and do everything I can do as best as I can, and forget about the things I can't do.when I hurt I rest. Then I'm at it again.computer has been a God send,along with this website.A real blessing as you will soon see!
Hi Robob How are things going today Did you get those storms yesterday??
Hey,marclay...Things are going pretty good today so far. All my parts are working. I potted up 48 plants yesterday for my Garden Club plant sale. WE didn't get the storms but we had a lot of wind. Brought in a cold front and it is almost too cool to work outside, not to mention wet. I might get out into those flower beds yet.
Hey Northerner-I hope your eyes respond to the medication. I know how precious my eyesight is to me. How's weather there?
Hey Tink, Know what you mean re. a cure. I am sure they will find a cure for Parkinsons also. Gotta fight the good fight and hang in there.
Hey yardbird...Didn't mean not to acknowledge your message.
I would like to chat with all of you. That smoking will get you every time. I used to, but quit quite a while back. Decided I didn't enjoy it any more and it made me smell bad. But, I wish you well and hope to chaat with you.
Egads Rob, potting up all those plants would take it wear me out! Hope you do well in your sale for the garden club.
I Dont have parkinsons either, just wanted to pop in and welcome you aboard!
I am keeping a keen eye on the developments of parkinson's research, I am hopeful that they will come up with new developments.
Hey Pebble...Thanks for the welcome. I took part in a blind clincal study of a new drug and now take the actual drug. I feel that it is helping, just need to get my other meds adjusted.
RE. the plant sale. I have potted a total of 96 plants and filled 4 hypertufus. The other 38 plants were from my beds. We pull whatever plants we can from our individual gardens and donate them for the sale. THe 48 were in a flat that was given to me to repot.
AS you may have noticed, I like to talk.
Gotta go, my hubby just got home and we are going to look at a car. Thinking about replacing our '95 Grand Prix.
Happy Gardening.
Good luck with the car. That sure was a lot of plants to pot up. Musta worn you out!
Hi, Robbob. My hubby and I are Ohio gardeners, too. We've been out your way before; my hubby's niece and her hubby live in Buckland, not too far from you. :)
I don't have parkinson's, but my dad does. I don't know him very well, and he's out in Illinois. He did have the Activa implants in his brain, and they have cut down a lot on his tremors, allowing him to do more again. His speech has been impaired by the surgery, however, but he was glad to make the trade-off.
Howie broke his back in a fall at work October 1994 and had fusion surgery on his spine in 1996 after one of his disks herniated. I have some back problems and joint pain, but we love our yard and once we get out there it gets easier. Sometimes it's just making ourselves get out there that's hard!
Stop by the Health forum here at DG sometime - you might find more folks there who have parky in common with you there.
Good Morning All.....Gardenwife, glad you dropped by. Yes Buckland is real close, probably abougt 10 miles. Thanks for the info on the Health forum, I'll stop by there.
I know what you mean when you say, 'just making ones self get out there'. But I have been told that I have a really good attitude and sense of humor and I believe that is what keeps me going. Have my days of course but overall feel pretty lucky that my Parkinsons has been slow in advancing.
Now if the weather would just cooperate. Cloudy, wet and cool again today. The sun peaked thru for just a moment. Predicting thunderstorms for later today. Oh well, that is just Ohio's weather, I guess.
Years ago, I heard someone say that Ohio was the only place they knew that you could go for a month without seeing the sunshine.
Happy Gardening....Bobbi
If we go to visit Howie's neice, would you mind a visit? We'd love to meet you and see your garden sometime. :)
How goes it today Robbob? Shirley
Morning all.....Another wet cool day. Don't think I am ever going to get into my garden.
Gardenwife that would be great. Just let me know when you would be coming.
It goes not too bad Shirley....how about you?
I go to my neurologist tomorrow. He specializes in Parkinsons and I have been involved in testing a new drug. Now if we could get dosage of my meds so that I don't have so much dyskinesia (involuntary movement), would be great. I never know from one day to the next what kind of day I will have.
But, life goes on.........Just give me some sunshine and dry weather so I can get into that garden!!!!!
We are having very high winds today=my pickup didmt want to stay on the road awhile ago. My joints feel the change. I hope you can get your meds adjusted=that sometimes is a touchy thing. Im a paramedic (supposed to be retired) But I just went out to a wreck. shirley
Hello Robrob! Yes, we've got spring here. The gardens are starting to look good. I prefer the freshness of spring flowers to the overwhelmingness of summer ones. Weather's not bad! Take care!
Super, Bobbi - that's be great. :)
I spent Thursday afternoon outside planting a few perennial seedlings and pruning/shaping our grafted willow. It was cool out, but I can take the cooler weather way better than I can the heat and humidity of summer. That's when I really poop out! I purposely did less than I "could" have done, because I didn't want to feel wiped out tomorrow. I want to try and do just a little each day, even if it's just to pull a few weeds each time I have to take the dogs outside.
Good Morning All.....The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I feel pretty good this morning. I'll be positive and think it is going to be a good day.
Now if it will just stay dry for a while.
Gardenwife, I can't take the heat either. When that old heat and humidity hit in the summer , I go out either early or late. It wipes me out also.
Everybody have a really good day now!!!!
Bobbi
I know what mean GW about doing a little each day. If I over do one day then the next day I can hardly get around but it is hard to stop some days when you see so much that needs to be done.
Ain't that the truth! Today I did nothing. Well, I took a few photos, but that was it! I'll have to water everything really well tomorrow - and fertilize while I'm at it - because we'll be laying mulch down, finally! Once the new mulch is down, it will be harder to give everything a good soaking. We've had quite a bit of rain, though....
Here I go. Is it POSSIBLE for my mind to stay on one thought? Is it?! LOL
You get an idea of what my husband hears every day from me now.
Hi Robbob, I don't have P.D. either, but am disabled. I do have trouble with what they call essential tremors. I understand that that means "we don't know what it comes from"
We are wet and cool here in the ozarks too. What a strange spring we are having. At least the beans like it. :-)
It's kept my perennial seedlings in their cellpacks happy, moist and cool, too. I'm really thankful for this weather for that reason, even if it is the stuff our aches are made of. :) The longer it stays like this, the less pressured I am to get them all in the ground before they wither up on me in those flats.
Hi back to you ozarksue. I am familiar with essential tremor. Mimics PD a little and is often misdiagnosed as PD.
At any rate glad to hear from you.
Gardenwife, how was your day? Mine, pretty good. This morning I got my DH out there. We are putting a scalloped border, of concrete pcs. along our drive and between one of the flower beds and the lawn. HE just had the drive to complete and low and behold, he got it all done. Needless to say it is a short driveway. We live in town and our lot is only 50 x 150. We don't have much lawn left behind the house. Mostly flowers.
I tore out a bed of phlox that was full of grass. I have quite a bit of phlox and so won't miss this one. My flowerbeds are all slightly raised. I have them edged with rock mostly. I have a farmer friend who had this huge rock pile and let me have all I wanted.
Well, I am getting windy.........Hope everyone had a good day. I did and the sun was shining, you couldn't ask for anything more.
It is supposed to be nice tomorrow, so I will probably be back out there, cleaning up my beds. Hoping it is dry enough for DH to till the beds for me....because it is supposed to rain again Tues. and Wed.
Night and Happy Gardening All........
Bobbi
Goodmorning Hope it is a beautiful day for you all. I am visiting family Tomorrow is my second oldest daughters 44 birthday. I feel older every time one of them has a birthday. I6t sounds like everyone is getting their gardens in good shape. Anyone trying any new plants theyve never grown before/
I am trying a new kind of cucumber this year. Chinese yellow. Also put in chamomile. I tried it before with poor results, but this looks like it will do well. I put in two kinds of gourds, egg and luffa. Haven't done a gourd since I was a little child. :-) Just doing a little of each.
I bought a plant called Scaevola, because it has unusual fan shaped blooms! It's still in the pot, and I will probably leave it potted because it looks like something the insects will devour if the rabbits don't beat them to it. I would hate to plant it and then have to dig it up and repot it. Anyone else have this? Calla is familiar with it, I know.
We got a lot done on Saturday, and it felt so good. I raked the old cypress mulch off our front beds, fertilized and watered, and then we spread fourteen 3cu' bags of shredded hardwood mulch down. We've been wanting to switch to hardwood for two years, and this year we were blessed to have my BIL working at a mulch manufacturer; we got the bags for $1.50 each!
There's 26 more out back for the rest of the beds, so we have our work cut out for us! We're going to do lasagna beds, so no digging and lifting of sod at least. *smiles*
Well "Hello fellow gardeners". I have had a couple of lousy weeks. The side effects of my meds was either tossing me all over the place (involuntary movement) or I was going no where. After some e-mails back and forth with my nuerologist's nurse, (thank heaven for e-mail), and some adjustments to my meds I am doing better. Actually had a pretty good day today. That constant movement wears one out.
My flower beds are coming along pretty good. The rain has held off pretty much but it sure is cold. Had a fairly heavy frost two nights ago. I covered everything and so didn't lose anything. Last night I didn't know there was another frost alert until 11pm so there I was at 11:30pm in my many colored caftan and my winter coat, covering plants. I must have looked a sight. Good thing the neighbors were probably all in bed. Didn't get much of a frost so probaly wouldn't have had to cover them but after all that work, not to mention $$ I didn't want to lose any.
You all, keep your chins up, there is actually sunshine behind all those clouds. I always remimd myself that if I didn't hve this lousy Parkinson's I wouldn't have met a lot of the really great people I have. At least that is a plus.
My attitude is generlly pretty good but I have to admit that last week had me in tears. But I always remind myself that I have been as bad or maybe worse and alwAys bounce back.
Whew-------Windy aren't I. I just feel so good today.
Hoping all of you have a better tomorrow.
HAPPY GARDENING!!!!!!:}
Bobbi
Hi sorry you had a bad week. Hope this one will be better We had frost last night aso and I had covered my plants outside. Had the furnace on most of the day also. Mabe spring will come along about summertime. Take care and I hope tomorrow is a good one for you Shirley
Thanks for the good thought Shirley. Must have worked. Today was an exceptionally good day for me. All my body parts co-operated and the sun is shining and the birds are singing and it may actually get warmer some day. I got some more flowers planted and may actually finish one of these days. Preferably before fall. LOL... All is well with my world! :} :} Bobbi
Yes and I saw three bluebirds yesterday-always good for me when I see bluebirds. Snow/rain mix at noon today on the mountain and frost tonight Unbelievable
Snow Marclay--where are you located?
We have a pair of wrens in the backyard. They scold me every time I come out there but I cannot figure out where their nest is. I have fairly large bittersweet vines (a male and female) and they are thick. Maybe they are in there.
Got all the plants in the ground that I had on hand. Need to get some more. But, they are calling for frost tonight. I guess I will just take my chances and hope for the best.
My back flower beds are pretty well finished. Oops, except for one more bed. It has volunteer morning glories and they climb and spread on an ugly old wire fence back there but make a pretty fence of their own. It really looks nice when all covered with the morning glories.
Next I need to do our enclosed garden adjacent to the deck. Needs cleaned up and planted yet. Have quite a few prennials there and one bed is almost all different types of ground cover. Think I will just clean that one up and let it go at that. There is also a waterfall in there and I love to listen to the water. (Small waterfall made with one of those molded thingies and I surrounded it with flat rocks. This garden is what I call "My little peace of heaven".
Gotta go........It has been a good day!
Bobbi
Glad it was a good day . I am in the moutans south of Pittsburgh We are up at abut 2900 feet and get snow when noone else does over this way. Heavy white frost this Am and ice on my water barrell but supposed to get real nice for the rest of the week. Sounds like your place is a little bit of heaven. I am working slowly on mine but getting help when i need it is slow because the boys in the firehouse who help me work at odd jobs elsewhere and I have to catch them when I can
I lucked out, no damaging frost. Hang in there. Maybe we will remember this wicked weather when the hot muggy dog days of summer are upon us and so won't complain so much. Fat chance, we will probably still complain.
I hope you get the help you need. Gosh, if I lived closer I would come help. I love gardening. THere is nothing like digging in the dirt. That's where I do my best thinking. And to dig in the dirt with a friend is even better.
EVERY BODY OUT THERE HAVE A REALLY GOOD DAY!!!
See, I am :}
Hey, Robbob! :) I haven't been in the forum for a while and am catching up. I know what you mean about ups and downs, and keeping on going. I started going to a chiropractor for the first time last Friday, and my muscles are sure rebelling.
Today I ache deeply in every joint in my body, it seems, and I'm not sure if it's a flu bug or just more of my body's compensating for the adjustments I've had. Ugh! I have an appointment at 4:15pm today, but I'm not looking forward to it, LOL.
I plan on coming home and potting up the rest of my perennials that are in little cellpacks at present; I am being realistic and know I won't get them all planted in beds soon enough to justify leaving them in those confining quarters. This way, at least they'll have some room to stretch their legs, err, roots until I get them in their permanent places!
Hey gardenwife I was just thinking of you today and wondering where you hve been. Good to hear from you.
I tell you what makes you feel good. A massage!! I have been getting massages every other week for over four years and I really feel it has kept my muscles, especially in my back, from becoming rigid. Sometimes when he does theraputic massage it donna feel so good but in the long run helps.
I got some more plants in the ground. I had planted all I had but went to a Home Depot with a friend and those little buggers just lept right into my arms and said "Take us home with you". At elast that's what I told my Hubby. HE, of course, says "UnHuh, right". I planted some more ageratums, red salvia, marigolds and another wave petunia. Got part of our enclosed garden cleaned up and am beginning to see a faint light at the end of the tunnel.
We be leaving for Georgia tomorrow to see our daughter and family. She has the only grandchild we have, which is a girl and her name is Sarah and she will celebrate her 4th birthday June 1. We will also celebrate my husband's birthday which is tomorrow and he turns the big SIX O this year. We will be back home late Monday.
Suppose my garden will miraculously finish itself while I am gone. lol Not much hope of that happening,,,Huh!
The weather has been great the last two days. Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine. MAybe I will bottle it for later. Is supposed to rain this weekend.
WEll gota go now. Talk to all of you when I get back.
Have a GREAT HOLIDAY.....and Happy Gardening!!
Bobbi
Hey Bobbi Have a beautiful time with that Grndchild and safely go to and from there. Kimberly hope the muscle aches het better. HAve a nice weekend Shirley