melissa..i think it has a lot to do with the horrible spring and summer we had this year. i pretty much have lost my entire garden, hostas and all to weeds. i also still have plants in pots to deal with. i am just going to dig them all into a spot in the veg garden and move them in the spring. looks like a week of good weather to get some gardening things done. your mojo will return. andi

Missing your mojo - clink link below for help

Paul

Here is a link that might be useful: mojo

i think it is a function of post tour letdown ...

i was on the national 2 years ago.. and i still hate the garden.. and dont care

ken

Melissa, it must be that time of the year. I just want the rest of the mulch and topsoil gone from the driveway. I keep finding hostas in pots hidden throughout the garden that I have to plant. Every time I find one, I tell my DH that we're not going to do this again next year. Plant the ones before we buy more (hmmm.... wonder how that will go?).

And, we have all the wood from the deck we removed is sitting on the patio.....

And, we still have to clean out the shed, label the rest of the hostas, lay the rest of the patio stones...

After spending the entire season fighting rabbits, slugs, shrews, and groundhogs, then worrying about HVX and nematodes, I'm just tired. I'm so glad the hostas are winding down... it's nice not to have to worry about them looking perfect.

That's the wonder of spring, renewed energy to start the process all over again. The joy of seeing those eyes pop up and the amazement of an empty spot in the garden being filled with a huge clump in a matter of weeks. That's when you'll get your mojo back. In the meantime, it will probably just be a chore.

Gesila

One of the convention goers, this year, told me that nothing he had seen in the past two years (Minn and NE) came close to the quality of the gardens he had seen in Michigan. I'm sure yours is one of those, Ken.

Steve

I think it is time to take a little "Texas pause"...don't recall where I heard the expression, but it sounds good to me. Instead of really engaging in hard labor, maybe do a little bit of mental practicing. The Blue Angels do mental exercises of their close formation flying, and it is a respite from doing airs above the ground. Plus it saves a lot of fuel!!

I think that is one of the nice things about sitting in a comfy chair reading the winter catalogs, because you cannot get out there and work the garden. But you can consider it a productive effort, if it does rebuild your enthusiasm and resolve to accomplish things down the road.

So be kind to yourself, I think your Mojo will come back when it gets over the summer wilts. Meanwhile, I've been reading/reading/reading/ all the Hosta FAQs, looking at pictures on the Lavender side of the forum, and admiring all that you serious folks have accomplished.

thx steve ...

but the tour is a heroin and crack buzz ... and the let down is extreme ... you always want another fix .. though with a national.. that need for a fix comes about 5 years later.. lol ..

but not to hijack mel ... you were at the pinnacle of local hostadom ... what do you expect.. to just hover there ...

so add that to weather.. bugs.. long season.. etc ... most doctors would call it a depression ... perhaps a lighter version of post-baby blues ...

i cant wait for the first hard freeze.. or snow.. and then about a month later.. i will start thinking about spring.. and next season... [and complaining about winter.. lol]

ken

LOL Ken is right again!

Our Christmas Lights display is my DH's crack buzz. We have lines of cars every night for about 4 weeks and then nothing. The lights go out. My DH gets depressed every January. I'm sure that if I didn't have to jump right into income tax season, I would suffer from the let down too.

Come to think of it, I suffer the blues on April 15 and have a really hard time getting motiviated to do anything until I can get back into the garden. Geesh, income tax prep is my crack buzz.... how depressing.

Gesila

I will agree with Ken also,
I started an online truck club, worked on multiple trucks all the time...we threw a big National truck get together ...
It was never the same after that ..sort of a burn out..

On my Hosta this year , I like everyone had a sort of a down year..but I didn't get crushed with the weather, the spring hail bummed me out more than the heat.. Mediocrity was just in the cards this year .

It just hit me also and I don't do tours. I have fought lack of water all summer and while my hosta have survived they are starting to look ugly even though some rain has come. I just gave up on this year and started dreaming about next spring and now moles have invaded my yard, I mean big time. I have the most gorgeous black dirt, tinted by coal dust (Wilmington, where I live is surrounded by strip mines and when I till my veggie garden I turn up small chunks of coal). But the black dirt doesn't look good in little piles every 3 feet along a mole track with brown grass in between. It has me in the funks. I only have 5 hosta to plant but a new bed along my northern foundation and need a boot in the behind to get started.

Les

Here ya go, Les.

Get that bed prepared!

Steve

Maybe the scope of the WHOLE project is overwhelming you. Take one small project at a time.

Take a deep breath. And another. Find a garden to stroll. Someone else's garden, the product of their dreams, their labour, their inspiration, their sweat. Parks or nature trails are good.
Gardening is supposed to be fun. When it stops being fun, the gardener should just take a little time off, and not worry about it.

hey steve.. i see nothing hosta related in that kitchen.. whats that all about.. lol

ken

That's normal to lose your "mojo" at least once every season. Just look at it as a time to regroup. I lost it a couple weeks ago when a very hungry bunny made a mess of my (then) perfect looking hostas. I thought to myself, it's late, just let him have it...after I sprayed everything with Liq. Fence, that is. The mojo is coming back now, with the onset of fall weather looming around the corner. My favorite time of year.

Thanks Steve. I have my shovel, root axe, sifter and other essential tools ready for the morning. Now all I have to do is get some soil ammendments ready to build what I call a nursery bed in my new bed area. That was a pretty swift kick but it worked.

Les

I always seem to lose my mojo this time of year. My mind starts to go from gardening mode to writing mode, then in the spring back to gardening mode. I still have a lot of plants and some hostas that need to go in the ground, I'm even trying to give away some of my perennials but no one will take them, and I would hate to see them die. The hostas will be okay in pots over the winter, but I don't think my perennials in 2 1/2" pots would survive too well, some may, most probably not. I should be outside right now working on figuring out what to do with all these extras, but I just don't feel like it.

Karen

I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one who feels like that sometimes! We all work so hard on our gardens and have dreams of what it could be and then when nature throws hail and bad weather at us - it is just a little hard to accept....

If it were not for my newest front bed around the pin oak tree next to my driveway (which still looks great), I don't know what I would do! I did lose a bunch of heuchera, but most of the hosta in this bed look great - as opposed to the horrible way the hosta in the back yard look. The ones that look the best are Francee, Blue Mammoth, June, Guacamole, Christmas Tree, Pizazz, Paul's Glory, Abiqua Drinking Gourd, Dream Queen, & Krossa Regal. All of my potted babies from the White Oak sale look great and with the cool weather we had on Sunday, they all got planted (YAY!)

Everything Ken says about gardening around maples has proved true for me... I just moved a few sad-looking backyard hosta and their rootballs were full of fine, maple roots and their leaves are crispy and ugly. Maybe I will switch to SEDUM there instead!!!

BettyLu

MIne left me several weeks ago when I hurt so bad in my lower back & doctor told me I now have real bad arthritis there. The weeds took over my flower beds yesterday my grandsons came over so they cleane out my front beds I am starting to get my mojo back

You need to relax! An adult beverage certainly helps me to build that mojo back up. I just bought 4 more hostas, have to figure out where to plant them, need another beer fast in the evening, then a good big coffee in the morning after my grand son goes off to school the first time this fall. All this time then and 4 hostas to plant, can't get better.
Bernd

Melissa NO!

You are one of the people here that others look to in order to keep it going on! If Melisa has lost her mojo, then we all might as well give it up.

Listen darlin' I am still waiting for temps less than 90 with humidity less than 85%

Paul in Mn.. be-HAVE!

chris

I have to agree with the others that losing your mojo isn't all that uncommon... I lost mine early last summer and didn't really get it back until this spring. I say just do the minimum (find a temporary home for anything in a pot and water everything that needs it) then find something else that interests you. Your mojo will come calling before you know it =)

my husband mentioned it to me this year, that I have lost interest! Who can do anything when it is so Hot! I have loved the last few days here in the Chicago area, high 60's low 70's. (I almost forgot that I was not on facebook, I wanted to like a comment that Ken had Made about waiting for the first hard freeze...)

I lost my MOJO for this forum all summer. This is the first time I have visited in months. I used to visit several times a day. One MOJO refresher you might try, just go out there and sit. Or even snooze. Just relax and don't think about what you have ahead of you. You still have time before winter to get some things done, but for now, just breathe in the fresh air, look at the birds playing in the trees you planted, look at the flowers that are left, watch the bees, stare at the sky, just veg. You created a masterpiece, it is the seventh day, rest.