I find gardening hobby as a stress buster even after going through emotional roller-coaster ride during my gardening journey.

I wanted to get an idea if members find gardening as a stress buster?

Yes! I always feel better when I can spend the day in the garden. Besides just the exercise alone it's a place where I can forget about everything else and just dream.

Yes. It is the place where I can get lost and forget about anything else. The only stress involved for me is when the seasons change and I am not ready for them to do so.

It is one of the biggest reasons I got into gardening. Once I started I noticed how it made me feel.

Hands down. Yes. No question.. but I also think of gardening as an outdoor season appropriate activity.

Keeping houseplants? Entirely different activity.

It's mood booster, not just stress reliever.
https://www.washingtonpost.com...

When my husband had cancer in 2004. Three different kinds at once--Agent Orange related. He told me he leaned on me and that if I cried he would collapse. The picture in my mind at the time was him (6'3") leaning on me (5'2"). To prevent the collapse, I would go out in my small garden in a place where he couldn't see me and cry. Didn't do it often, but now it's 2020. He's alive and thriving at 75 yr old. Healthy as a horse. And handsome! Even when his doctor at the Cancer Center told our family doctor that he wouldn't live, and our family doctor told him not to tell his wife (me). She thinks he will live.

Stress re-leaving? Yep. Yep. Yep. I go out there with this COVID thing. I don't even think about it because I don't have to use a mask in the garden. My garden has been a place where I talk to birds and nurture the plants and the plants smile at me and grow/produce. The birds just eat.
Can't beat having a garden!

Arlene, that's an amazing story, thanks for sharing.

Gardening is both a stress reliever and a mood booster no question it helps keep me grounded thru tough times. Arlene, I so relate to what you went thru as I did it with both my sister who passed and my DH who is doing very well. While being a caretaker to both of them it is also a place where you can go work on the garden while getting your emotions under control and be able to easily go in to check on your loved one it helps keep you grounded.

You have to carefully pick, and if you are doing your own garden rather than Enjoying someone else's, or a public garden (most need voulenteers And provide training), it's important you stay within your abilities and USDA zone.

When plants fail it can be very disheartening. I'm an OT and I've used gardening and plants in rehab plans; physical, emotional, cognitive and developmental.. but if that Overall wellness and pleasing engagement is part of the goal, Make sure you picK things, frame the activity so that it will be successful.

If you have a friend who's struggling and you want to suggest gardening as a new activity, bring them plants you're sure they can be successful with, and commit to following up with them. I.e. don't drop of a nursery 6 pack, encourage or help them plant a nursery 6 pack , because if they sit on the porch and die, it's very disheartening

ONLY after you have completed what ever task NEEDS to be done.
Big tasks undone, can be very -- annoying at the least.

When completed though, it feels good to just look at the finished, to that point in time,
garden.

The size of the garden can determine whether it is a stress relief or a hemorrhoid.
Big success , big good feeling; big failure, big pain in the buttocks.
I do some times think, that after a point, garden size, that failure does not cause as much grief, as some gents I have communicated with on gardening are semi or genuine market gardeners and they simply expect large failure as they simply cannot do all that needs to be done in one week much less one day, so they shrug off the nasty and concentrate on the good.
My gardens are not huge but I cannot weed by hand, most effective, the largest in one day.

A long time gardener can ignore the nasties far, far, far better than a newbie.
At that one who had for decades just cruised along with few difficulties, when suddenly it all turns into crap, starts to wonder why keep doing it;t his is from experience, not guessing.

A lot depends on the crops one grows also; a crop that needs constant attention to avoid disease/ weather misery, is going to weigh far more on one psyche that those that you put in and outside of watering and weeding need little attention.
This is from experience, not guessing.

I think we're in the same page, that gardening within your abilities and resources (the space, light, temp and physical ability) is fabulous, but it's easy to get in over your head by selecting the wrong plants, Unrealistic goals, or just having too many.

I'm still on the cusp on plant hoarding. Luckily last year I was very busy in the fall and a severe unseasonable frost snuck up on me. It was sad to say goodbye, but it made my house and work load much more pleasant over the winter And I had much less anxiety about the arrival of spring

I think it can be but in some cases when you have bugs you are trying to get rid of that appear on more than one plant knowing the fact that they can ruin your whole garden is stressful.

I admit to being a plants hoarder and a nursery groopie . I love my plants, garden, and talking to my gardening friends and seeing their gardens

Very therapeutic. Over the years I have tried many different methods. Always raised beds, then drip irrigation. Had 1/8th inch feeder lines, but now switching to 1/4 inch. Mentally stimulating. Have all the material for hydroponics, but I gotta dredge up the energy. Built a propagation unit for cuttings.

Most often the answer is a big YES but we had a big wind storm last night and I'm hesitant to go out to the garden.

Miamiu said:I think it can be but in some cases when you have bugs you are trying to get rid of that appear on more than one plant knowing the fact that they can ruin your whole garden is stressful.

Bugs? Two Words: Diatomaceous Earth. Also Mantis Egg Cases. I always have a platoon of Mantis patrol the garden. Just make sure you hang the egg cases in the garden as soon as you get them. I once had a hatch take place in the house. That will go down in history as the Great Mantis Round Up. Ya gotta look for the deal; mantis egg case suppliers are getting greedy. Always about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. I try to find last year's egg cases, since they can be anywhere on the property. It is a sight to watch them hatch.

I have 4 mantis eggs naturally. I think this year I counted 3 praying mantises already. There were tons of babies a month ago but I have no idea where they went.

It definitely is. I mainly do indoor gardening with cactuses and other succulents, and a small collection of other plants (mostly bromeliads and calatheas). I have some sempervivum gardens that I recently built as well.

(Edit: This actually ended up being a lot longer than I intended it to be. But it felt good to vent it out. I hope nobody minds.)

Without getting into too many details, the last few months have been some of the worst in my life. I made the decision to leave an abusive workplace a few months back because it ended up being the tipping point that sent me to the hospital. I've struggled to find work since, due to the pandemic, and any interviews or possible offers that I found are all currently on hold. This has also lead to financial stressors that I've been struggling to contend with. To add to it, I've had several vet visits become necessary within a short period of time. I've had to deal with a lot of family-related conflict. Although those conflicts have honestly been an issue for around 20 years, they got significantly worse relatively recently. I was also looking to move to another country to start a Master's degree in the next few months, a plan that ultimately came to a close with the pandemic situation causing delays and financial difficulties. This admittedly hit hard as it was the last big thing that was keeping me feeling motivated and optimistic. I've also been in physiotherapy for a fluke injury that damaged one of my shoulders, and for my knee that's been making it difficult to walk since 2014. I had to drop the treatment a while ago due to loss of income (mind you, the pandemic resulted in closures anyways). Lastly, I've had a slew of personal issues I've been struggling with for the last several months, and those along with all the above stressors started causing health problems. I partially made the decision to leave that workplace because three medical professionals advised me to resign. It was also hard to an extent to walk away because of things that were happening there. I was the second highest position in the place, and it was hard having the staff coming to me for help, when the final person above me was refusing to deal with things or make any effort to help, and in some cases, contributing, when I kept bringing concerns and reports to them. Ultimately, I had to get away from it. To top everything off, I was supposed to start regular therapy to help sort through all these things and cope with them, but the pandemic unfortunately put a hold on that as well.

Gardening has been helping keep me grounded. While I had a lot of plants before this point, I had a weird work schedule that prevented me from spending anywhere near the amount of time I'd liked to have spent with them. Now, I've been able to spend far more time with my plants, both indoors and outdoors. I even started experimenting with succulent propagation some more (I'd only attempted it once before, which was successful). In all honesty... the sempervivum gardens I built outside recently, made me feel more calm, stress-free, and proud of myself than I've felt in a long time. And they make me smile every time I go outside and see them (except when a squirrel trashes one and I have to fix it...). I finally had time to repot a lot of overdue plants, and it's been rewarding to see them already actively growing for the season and filling in some of their new space. I also decided to try something new, and collected some Tillandsias for a cork bark wall display I want to try to put together. Even joining this forum. I've been really enjoying discussing plant-related topics with other people who also enjoy gardening. I've learned a lot from people here.

Overall, my plants have been keeping me grounded, helping reduce stress and stop my mind from racing so much. They've been helping keep me occupied too. I was hitting a point where I wasn't finding enjoyment in things anymore, and was finding so little motivation. They're helping me combat that. And it really is rewarding when you see them responding positively to your care.

This ended up being longer than intended, but it actually felt good to vent some of that out. I've held a lot of it in lately. Thank you for taking the time to read this if you did. I appreciate it.

TK