The Garden Nurtures the sole

Well, it’s certainly been an strange week! Unfortunately I lost someone very dear to me.

It’s a funny thing grief, one minute you feel huge, like a force of nature wanting to scream and rage at the world at the injustice of it, the next you feel so small like gravity has doubled and it’s crushing you into the ground.

And so to the garden. I haven’t done any gardening, but I have trotted off down to the compost heap. Even the long walk to the end of the garden feels good for the sole.

When I’m out there I can feel myself relaxing, just being outside surrounded by nature feels nurturing. The bulbs are starting to push their way up and the pure white hellebores are already in full swing, the garden is waking up.

The birds are as busy as ever, singing away. They can’t afford to stop, trying to get enough food everyday. I decided a long time ago that although I’d love to fly, I certainly wouldn’t want to be a bird!

I’ve always said I’d like to come back as a cat with a nice owner, but really they don’t do enough. I like to be busy. One of our friends once said, “I always need a project”, and I agree with that, I’m the same. I think I’m at my happiest when I’m planning.

I have already drawn up my design, to slightly alter the raised vegetable bed area. And it’s already given me immense pleasure imagining how it’s going to look, and what plants are going to be in the different borders.

It’s time to sow my chilli seeds, I’m hoping to do it sometime today as it doesn’t take long. It’s the first gardening job of the year that starts off new life. The cycle starts again.

I once heard, and totally agree that, ‘to be a gardener is to be an optimist’, as when you plant or sow something, it’s in the belief that you’ll be there to get the rewards of it. This comes in harvesting the crop or just enjoying the flowers, but gardeners are constantly looking forward to the future.

Stay safe & happy gardening.