I have to start this week’s column by saying a huge thank you to the members of Abergavenny’s Lip Reading Group for such a warm welcome last week. They were very complimentary about the talk I gave but I have to admit I left feeling incredibly uplifted and inspired by them! I used to go along to their classes but was overtaken by work and other commitments; but I have decided, like Arnie Schwarzenegger – I will be back!
The amazing thing about learning sign language and lip reading is that you have to concentrate on the person who is speaking or signing. It is a fabulous discipline, which we forget – you have to ‘engage’! You can’t look at your phone, watch TV or do anything else whilst having a conversation. Sounds simple and obvious but in a world where we believe multi-tasking is a good thing, it has become a rarity.
It struck me that many aspects of gardening are the same. A lot of people struggle to keep up with the amount attention a garden requires at this time of year (including passionate gardeners) and just become overwhelmed with it all.
I am starting a garden design advice hour on Radio Wales at the end of the month and the researchers have asked me for the topics I will be covering. They were surprised to hear that I am just as passionate about the psychology of it all as much as the plants and the planning.
‘Deciding’ to enjoy your garden is a key aspect to any gardening improvement and will benefit you far more than any amount of digging or deadheading. You will never ‘tame’ it or ‘beat’ it – the weather, the weeds and the wild life (read moles, rabbits, mice, pigeons, etc.) will always have the upper hand but you can join the fray and have your input.
Try to multi-task and the chances are you will end up with nothing being completed; focus on the task in hand and give it your full attention and you will be surprised how many things you can actually get done.
I will also be judging Blaenau Gwent in Bloom this week and I never cease to be amazed at the beautiful gardens that are created and in the most challenging environments nor by the attitudes of the gardener’s who created or manage them. Last year a ninety four year old woman – who had roses in her garden that were older than I am – told me that her secret is to focus on the bits of gardening that she has done, not the bits that she hasn’t got to yet. And she added, “During 80 years of gardening, I have learnt far more about patience, disappointments, hope and perseverance than I have about growing things!”
I may only have had half of those years and that experience, but I know exactly what she means.
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