So April marks National Garden Month, the celebration of a hobby I know little about and have never really experienced. But what better time to at least make a try. Perhaps the only memory I have stems from my great-grandfather's abandoned greenhouse, where I would potter about as a child, replanting dead plants for no good reason at all. But most of all I recall that earthy smell of soil. For me it is a grounding and comforting smell that simply transports me back to my careless days as a child.
But as I grew older a garden become a place where things were left to grow of their own accord, and for old rusty bikes to become lost in the wilderness. And from that I knew nothing more than a small concrete yard where a brave weed would grow desperately between the cracks.
Since then I have moved out to a place of my own, and a garden was something that never even came into consideration when I was checking the market. Not a single fragment of the nerves in my brain even comprehended a thought. And that was simply because it was something I knew nothing off, and felt completely unaffected by.
Luckily I did have a dry and overgrown window box at the front of the house, and a small space in which a few potted plants could happily be homed. All I did was simply pull out the dead plants and neaten everything up, and thinking a good job done. I'm going to make National Garden Month change that. Well technically, while I sit cosied up on a brisk English evening writing this post, I have already started making my tiny green abode into an abundant address simply brimming with life.
But why bother? Of course there is the simple benefit of a lovely looking area. But I can't quite reason that to be enough in return for the hours of work and somewhat unending patience. So I did a little research, why do so people invest so much into such a hobby?
It turns out that there are much more benefits to it that I even realised. Research suggests that the presence of flowers actually comforts a part of our human makeup, in that the appreciation of beauty has much more of an emotional and cultural importance to us.This not only helps with our mental and emotional health, but as found to have profoundly positive effects on our physical health too. The simple and low impact regime of gardening, no matter how small, has been seen to lower blood pressure, reduce stress and help improves concentration. Some effects of which are some of the leading groundworks for modern day illnesses.
Gardening is also considered an 'altered state of conscious inducing activity' - alongside running and yoga, where the individual simply zones out and focuses on nothing but the activity. A state that is thought to be both magical and spiritual, and time when a participant can simply experience the best of who they are. Pretty cool huh.
Not only all of this lovely stuff, but gardening has an obvious benefit to the environment, with pollinating flowers encouraging the visits of small insects like bees! (I shall be going on a 'save the bees' rant very soon on my blog!)
Anyways, I'm sure you all get the point, gardening is actually really cool. So here's to April- the month I attempt to keep something alive!
Here's what I've been doing so far...
 |
Planted some Parsley and Rosemary in my neat little window box, and have since
added a sweet-pea plant and sowed some chive seeds! |
 |
| Potted some seeds too! All bee friendly species, let just hope they grow! |
I have promised to whisper positive quotes to my little garden everytime I go past, ya know, because a little positivity goes a long way! But of course I shall keep you updated on progress!
Until next time!
p.s my new walking boots came! (if you follow me on twitter you will already know this haha!) but anyways, I am hoping to have a small adventure soon so I can try them out and give you guys another review! So as always, keep your eyes peeled!
