Any gardeners with tickphobia?

I've been an avid gardener for almost my entire life (it started with tiny plants on my dresser when I was a kid). My husband and I have had the pleasure of creating gardens together for over 10 years now. It's been a lot of hard work but we love it.

We invested in perimeter fencing so we could plant whatever we wanted without risk of deer wiping things out - especially our beloved hostas and tulips. People have told us that our property looks like an arboretum.

I'm in another world when I'm gardening and am totally at peace when doing it. I experience great joy watching the gardens evolve with the seasons.

That all changed after the nymph deer tick bite I got this past summer. I realized I made a stupid choice and that was to create what was to be a fairy garden for my new granddaughter. The stupidity of the choice was its location...in a woody area of our yard. I'm pretty sure that's where I got the bite. 20/20 hindsight strikes again.

I just couldn't get myself back in the garden since then.....and then the 100+ bulbs I ordered this past spring arrived in the mail.

My husband and I decided to hire a service that sprayed tick killing stuff throughout the property. We haven't reconciled with this choice just yet - we fear for the numerous frogs and turtles that live in our yard as well as all the birds we've enjoyed feeding over the years. Still, we felt we needed to do *some*thing.

My husband cleared all the leaves out of the gardens in which I wanted to plant the bulbs. I put permethrin on my gardening shoes, gloves and jeans.....and lemon eucalyptus spray on my ankles and forearms that made me feel ill.....and I cried.

I am so anxious in the garden now when it used to be my respite. And, sure, I worry for my husband who clears the leaves and splits wood for our wood stove.....and my darling granddaughter. I'm sure I'm not alone with my feelings.

Are there any other gardeners on the forum with tickphobia? How are you working through this?

Thanks to all who post!

I am totally with you. Gardening was my main love for years- about the last 15 years. And ironically in all those years gardening I managed to avoid ticks. I got bit over a year ago in some brushy area. Since then, we moved to a new place. First of all we built a new house and I had a huge clearing done to mak a short grass with no trees because of tick fear.
Then, we just started planting a few small apple trees and flowering trees. But as for my flower and veggie gardens- I did not plant a garden this year. we moved, and a lot was going on. But I am wanting to plant some gardens next year, but like- with gravel borders, raised beds surrounded by wood boards- and far from the hosue. I want to keep my yard as sunny and open as possible/
So I am still getting these urges ( for next year) to plant all my beloved flowers and herbs and veggies but yes I am terrified of ticks now and so will have to vastly modify my gardening. I also used to walk in the woods all the time and now I won't go in them. I just wont/. I walk along a wooded road and everything but wont go in.
Yes gardening was my everything- and it is very sad to live in a world where even growing flowers and veggies is so dangerous now because of this horrible epidemic. But after going through it- and still not sure what my future holds with it- I would rather be safe than sorry. Slowly I will put in some flower beds but literally will surround them with gravel paths. We had a concrete patio put in and I like to be there, where as in my old house before lyme I had flowers growing up to the house!
I feel like whenever I get any outside dirt on me I worry about if there are ticks there. I feel like even growing flowers could mean there are ticks in there- it is really a sad thing. But the risk is not worth it for me~ I would rather modify gardening than go back into a danger zone with it. I am the most extreme person I know about this- about avoiding what I call "messy" areas. Where as before lyme I was in the woods and gardens all the time.

I have tick phobia and have had a garden since I can remember!! My mom and I used to do it together. I grow the majority of our veggies every year and can them. I have 600 kinds of flowers on our property. No joke.

I got this all natural locally made bug spray. I use that and take the usual tick precautions. I figure if they are going to get on you, they are going to get on you. I don't feel like anything I do can really control them. We are never safe!!

It's not worth giving up our passion though. If you ever get bit just get straight to the doctor. If it's caught early it's no big deal. If you don't notice and you get sick later, get straight to the doctor. I can't say don't live in fear. It's good to have a healthy fear of ticks.

Don't let it stop you from doing things you enjoy. Don't let it take your power away. Continue to fight the good fight. I will garden for the rest of my life, ticks or not. It's just too important to me to let go.

Even though I'm really sick and couldn't be in my garden for 2 months I still turned on the sprinklers and just watered that way. It was devastating not to be able to walk around it everyday. But I know I will feel good enough to do it again. Until then I'm just working on keeping a positive attitude and going with the flow.

Hey Katebirch

I'm so very sorry things have come to this for you! I completely understand because I'm having a hard time getting past my feelings. I am a fighter but I was having a really hard time thinking I'd have to give up gardening (as a well-meaning friend suggested) but, I am obviously VERY apprehensive.

Just like you, I've managed to avoid ticks all these years. Yes, I've found a couple here and there on my body (never attached). And, I was very lucky to the extent that I found the nymph deer tick on my abdomen. (so kicking myself for not investigating that red bump when I first noticed it the day before). I shudder to think what might have happened if that bump was behind my ear, for example - especially since my husband thought I was over-reacting and was insistent I hadn't pulled out a tick!

All of that said, it seems like ticks are almost our invisible enemies....just like many other horrid things that can cause us harm. Life throws a lot of crap at us and we need to readjust so we can once again establish our comfort zone.

You are fortunate that you can design your new gardens in a way you will feel more comfortable. I read somewhere about ticks not liking gravel. I hope you're able to enjoy your new gardens immensely! Raised beds have always intrigued me.

I understand your apprehensions about walking in the woods. That's yet another scary one for me. We live very close to the Appalachian trail and have extensive choices for hiking in beautiful areas, including 4 waterfalls and 2 gorges within a 20 minute drive. I don't like the idea of giving that up.

IHL typed quite the inspirational response and she's given me the pep talk that I should have been giving myself. I'm still scared but my happiness is so tied into outdoor activities that I am committed to finding something that will work for me.

More likely than not, I will choose to expose myself to the risks and try to be prepared. However, there are just so many things I can control.

I plan on beating Lyme.....I hope I won't have to try to do it again. Lyme wins if I stop gardening.....ummm, anybody got some knee braces to hold me up when they're shaking the next time I'm out there? lol

Post Edited (cd3764) : 11/9/2014 4:35:33 PM (GMT-7)

I love gardening and I am still doing it, not letting Lyme keeping from what I love. I do take precautions, like I spray permithrins on my shoes, socks, pants, plus I invested in Exofficio pants and wore those a lot.

We keep the grass mowed pretty short around the yard and garden and I just pray I don't get bit again or if I had over the summer I was on so many antibiotics it should have killed it.

There are so many deer out in the yard and other little creatures that we aren't protected from getting it, I just hope they use them as there host instead of me.

I have a friend in PA that went out to track a deer with his son, they came back and had tons of ticks on there clothes and maybe body. Hopefully they didn't get bit. So beware, even though it's been in the 30 at night, ticks are still out.

We have sun again today, so I might go out for a while. I'm still stiff from some things I did out there on Saturday, but I have a hard time staying inside when it's nice out. I picked a zucchini the other day, which is very unusual this time of year.

My father told my dh to make sure I always had a place to garden when we moved since he knew how much I enjoyed it and how much it helped me during hard times.

I don't have the garden I dreamed of here since moles and deer interfere. I have a product that keeps the deer from eating plants, but they manage to come in before I spray it. They seem to know when the roses are leafing out in the spring. The moles are the biggest problem, even if I manage to trap them. Another will take over the area shortly after one is gone. Such a nuisance!

My brother and SIL lived in the country and they would walk their dogs every day. When they got home, they'd all have ticks on them and they would pick them all off and not worry about it since they had never gotten ill. I'd be more concerned if I lived in an area like that, but I don't think I'd give up gardening. It's too much a part of me.

Jackpot!!


http://www.canidae.com/blog/2011/05/garden-plants-that-repel-ticks.html

I grow a ton of these plants maybe that's why I don't have issues. Also some years are just worse than others.

Very cool!!

We have a little homestead with a large veggie garden. I couldn't give up gardening! We use organic methods and all natural bug spray. We also have guineas that patrol our land. They eat up to 10,000 ticks a piece in a day! Love my guineas!!

Birds can bring in ticks also and mosquitoes can infect us, so the cities aren't 100% safe either.

And that's not all the insects that can transmit these infections, so it's best to stay protected as best as we can, but to go on living our lives to the fullest that we can.

I won't give up my garden or my yard and the work involved in taking care of each of them. It's the only thing I have left. Lyme has taken too many things from me, it's not getting that too!

I have garden, grass, raking leaves, outside phobia, everything phobia anymore, and we have a dog and deer in our yard! But... you have to live, can't stay sealed up forever, you would miss the good things too...