Gardening of the Mind

I had never really appreciated the great satisfaction of gardening until recently when something clicked and I realised that gardening is a bit like tidying, but with plants.  I am a huge fan of tidying and order (VIRGO!) and so, suddenly, gardening became a rather attractive activity.

One day, whilst having a good weed, it struck me that what I was doing to our garden out the back there, was a bit like what I am currently doing to my mind:

First of all I had become more aware of my ‘garden’.  So far I hadn’t actively planted anything in it, someone else had done this and I had been letting things grow as they wanted to, cutting things back a bit every so often.  I realised that my garden is not entirely as I would like and that some ‘plants’ are taking up more than their fair share of space, but that I also have a say in what makes up my garden so I can make changes.

Despite wanting everything to be different NOW (arrrrrghh!) I can only chip away at it and must accept that plants may not be entirely weeded out the first time around – I will have to keep checking back to see what’s sprouting up and tending to things as necessary.  The work will never be done but will get easier if I make a good initial effort and then make a promise to keep on top of things.

I’m not really sure what some of the plants are and if I want to keep them – I may have dug up and discarded some treasures by mistake… but I can always change the make up of my garden and try new stuff out.  Some things may not grow first time around but I can try again, perhaps following someone else’s advice on how to get the best results.  I can also try out different tools.

The garden will never look the same each day – plants will grow and change and outside forces will affect them, and the plants may affect each other, but I have a fair amount of control, and whilst I’m gardening I can appreciate what an amazing thing my garden actually is, including all the elements I never realised were there, growing and scuttling away, as well as being grateful for the things that the previous gardeners have planted that have grown so quietly and steadily.

I also now better appreciate that the weeds have their own beauty and purpose too: the various bugs are happy with them; they can have lovely flowers and they are really impressive growers, so it’s not the end of the world if they grow back – they’re not ‘bad’, I just have to keep them in check.

So here’s to your own gardening activities!  As I become a more experienced gardener I hope to share my tips – I’d like the fruits of my garden to be enjoyed by more people than just me alone.

I planted some crocuses the other week – fingers crossed they pop their heads out of the ground next Spring…

(Originally written for Moodscope.)

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Good grief – that’s a long gap in posting, even for me.

After the full on (lovely) last minute craziness of getting Fabled up to Edinburgh last year (THANK YOU TO ALL WHO MADE IT A GREAT EXPERIENCE!) I decided to take what has turned out to be the last year or so “off” for some much needed re-calibration of all things Lois, career and otherwise.  I muchly recommend such a course of action now and then – feeling nice and streamlined over here.  Mmm.

Suffice to say, my sights are well and truly focussed, all my percolations are ready to be harvested, or sommat, and there shall soon be new website action (again) and other online-y stuff and all of those guns ablazin’, muthaflippas.

Oh yeah.

Hopefully the next post will be on my blinging new site.

Until then!