A Time To Wind Down?
Since the beginning of the year it has been pretty full on in the life of gardening. The planning process of what I want to grow, where to plant, can I make room for more? (obviously** said in the style of Professor Snape haha!) Then I started growing from seeds. A mixture of flowers like marigolds, dahlias and cosmos to vegetable varieties such as peas, carrots and turnips. Some have been successful and others not so great. The joys of gardening keeping me on my toes and second guessing.
I invested in a lovely little greenhouse to help me along in my learning as well as aide the processes of growing and hiding from life in general when its not going so great!
Summer months arrived in typical British fashion(pretty much non existent!) and let you enjoy the fruits of early labor, but no time to sit back too much. There's been plenty of weeding, dead heading, watering and some impromptu landscape modification thrown in for good measure too.
Now autumn is setting in, the darker nights are drawing in earlier and the days becoming shorter, but whilst there is still things to keep my gardening fingers occupied I can easily become withdrawn and feel like I want to hibernate. I pretty much did this last year and lost my gardening mojo. I don't want to fall into that trap again so I posed the question on Twitter:-
I was very overwhelmed by the fantastic, positive and diverse answers I received.
A lot of people use this time of year to plan next years growing be that via sketching (like Darren) or browsing seed&plant catalogs/online (ideally with a hot beverage&biscuits like Pat).
Others like Hugh like to visit gardens to get their flower/colour fix as well as get inspiration to take back to their own.
House plants was another great suggestion from Time&Space Designs. I loved this one as plants aren't just for outside and there is some brilliant choices to suit every taste and can definitely extend that fab feeling from gardening in general
Creating winter flower displays/ colour or trying out some winter crops was another popular suggestion from these lovely ladies.
This one made me giggle from Eccle(sweary)Barnett! As well as going for walks, putting on weight can motivate you into a bit of digging in the new year. I can see the method in the madness with that haha!!
There were a couple of responses that really stood out for me though.
Firstly was to look at things in a more positive way. For example, seed heads give a different dimension to borders and tree's can become more identifiable in their naked state. Spend 10 minutes outside to have a good look around and appreciate the clever way textures and colours change in almost a magical way
Secondly, take time to rest and be kind to yourself. EXACTLY right. It can be easy to forget about oneself but there is nothing wrong with kicking back, reading a book, cooking with homegrown produce or even enjoy a tipple or 2!
Lastly, learn to love the season and accept it for what it is. Thank you Tim Howell. He explained how its easy to be swallowed up in the dark and cold but you don't have to be. Forward plan to visit places/shows which can give you something to look forward to. Fantastic wise words.
This is why I love gardening and its amazing community. It truly brings so many together and offers a HUGE wealth of support, not just for gardening but life in general. You don't feel like you are alone and its warming to know that there is many people who genuinely care.
So am I going to wind down? Well maybe a little bit but with all these fantastic suggestions one thing I am sure of is, I will NOT be defeated by the colder months anymore!
Until Next Time
N x
