It’s the Chinese New Year this weekend and recently was the old Pagan celebration of Imbolc, which is a time of year when the rumination and hibernation of the deep mid-winter become the intention and initial actions of the very early Spring. Imbolc was the time to name and recognise the resolutions of the New Year and to clear out the old to make room for the new.

I realised that I wanted to change my relationship with the garden, and also the nature of this blog, to reflect a new change in attitude and an exploration of the garden that takes in both external and internal dimensions of what it means to create and sustain this garden. I have been reading, reflecting and walking in my garden and questioning my attitudes and feelings about it and I want to use this space to explore further.

When I created this blog I was initially thinking about having a physical record of the changes that were occurring in the garden, seasonally as I got to know it, and also the changes that I was intentionally making. I was aware that the garden was a huge project and I wanted to create a progress record so that I could look back and see the changes that were often too incremental to notice at the time. However, at the risk of sounding trite the experience of gardening here has changed my attitude to the whole project; it has changed me as much as I have changed it.

So what have I learnt that has changed my approach?

The garden is too big to approach the task of gardening as I had in my previous garden.

There is simply no way that I can keep up with all that I would like to do in the time that I have. I cannot make flower beds the size that I would like them and then keep them free of weeds. If I did nothing but weeding every weekend I would still not beat the weeds, and anyway that is no fun. Ideas of neatness and the creation of a ‘show garden’ are not realistic.

That nature is a powerful force that cannot be controlled.

For a start there is simply so much wild-life. I love the animals that live in and around my garden and seeing badgers, foxes, rabbits and even deer gives us all considerable pleasure. Attempts by the previous owner to keep them out were only partially successful and the rabbits will eat anything and the badgers will dig holes everywhere. The deer nibble the tips of shrubs and the bark of trees. I could spend an enormous amount of time, effort and money to fence them out, but then I wouldn’t have the joy of seeing them and knowing that we live close to one another in a ( sort of) harmony.

Then there are the stinging nettles which grow everywhere in the margins of the garden and other invasive plants that constantly attempt to invade the space. I could spend every weekend pulling up nettles and digging out thistles and still never get rid of them. Which again would be no fun and would also (especially in the case of the nettles ) reduce the habitats of many insects.

That I get as much joy from walking in the woods at the end of the garden, where I do virtually nothing to cultivate and control, as I do from looking at the flower beds near to the house.

The woods are constantly changing and at present are full of snowdrops that are spreading of their own accord. I do nothing to interfere with nature in the woods and I am rewarded every year with a beautiful display. It is as though I am getting a beautiful garden ‘free’.

There is also a quality of beauty in the woods that is about being in nature in the raw that I go to again and again for peace and reassurance. As Lao Tse said ” Nature doesn’t hurry , but everything gets done”.

So what is my new intention for the garden?

To work with nature and not against it.

The idea is that anything that I do change in the garden  should not create extra work. Of course there will always be areas that are more labour intensive, such as the perennial beds and the cut flower/veg garden, but in the main I want to focus on the planting of trees and shrubs and ground cover and avoid the sorts of planting schemes that need constant maintenance.

 To create a garden that is a wild-life refuge.

I want to welcome animals and birds into the garden and if anything increase the number and diversity of the garden visitors. If the garden is to be a sanctuary for humans I also want it to be a sanctuary for animals.

To create a sanctuary for me and others.

Since starting to explore mediation and mindfulness I have increasingly experienced the garden as a potential sanctuary and space for peace and reflection. It is where I go when I am stressed and it is where I can sit and enjoy the beauty of nature. I want to increase this aspect of the garden and use it as a vehicle for my spiritual journey.

That gardening should be about nurture not about struggle.

So often gardening is approached as though it is an exercise in ‘taming’ nature and imposing control on a wayward piece of land. This can lead to gardening that is more akin to ‘housework’ than anything else. I really do not want gardening to feel like just another job on my to do list , an exercise in ‘being busy’. I want my experience of gardening to be more creative and liberating. Yes, there will be big projects and big changes, but I want them to feel gentle and as though I am restoring the garden to nature rather than fighting it.

That engaging with the garden can be part of a deeper connection with nature and the seasons and a tool for emotional integration and growth. 

Ok so that all sounds a bit new-agey but my experience is that since we have been here at the Old Railway Tavern I have felt more in touch with the seasons and the process of continual and cyclical change than ever before. The garden carries on and does its thing regardless of  what is happening in my life, but it also reflects my life too and the experience of the world that is connected to the seasons and weather. The garden is the space where I can re-connect with something more elemental in my experience and I want to use it increasingly as a place of refuge and for meditation.

So the nature of this blog is going to change to include more reflective material and ideas from my reading and other internal explorations. More like a nature journal than a garden record. If you are interested do keep reading and I’ll try to make comments more regularly, and I would of course welcome any comments from my readers. let’s talk about gardens and gardening as part of our experience of nature and personal growth, as well as appreciating the practical stuff of plants and plans.