Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
22nd June 2024
Gardening is Good for You
It’s been ‘one of those weeks’ – one with lots to ponder and prioritise.
This time of year in the garden – and especially as a gardener – can be a pretty challenging one to navigate. Whilst I read everywhere that ‘gardening is relaxing and good for your mental health’, if you do it for a living, that is not quite the case.
Recently there were three people queuing at the till at Abergavenny Garden Centre. The middle-aged woman at the front wore large sunglasses, a big floppy straw hat, a floaty dress, had an armful of lavender plants and commented on how pretty everything looked at this time of year. The slightly sunburned chap behind her in work clothes was on the verge of a nervous breakdown as he couldn’t find the plants his client wanted and ‘it was too wet to go and mow’, and then there was me – armed with five different lists of things I needed from five different clients, wishing I had got the bedding plants a week earlier and wondering if I could persuade one client to have pink Cosmos as the white ones had sold out – and all while trying reciting ‘cool wet moss’ in my head – a mantra to calm the nerves as learned at an Anthony Robbins fire walk. Suffice to say, there was a distinct difference between the one who gardened for pleasure and the two who gardened for a living.
I am having to remember that it is all about attitude and perspective. Things will be hectic at this time of year as everything rushes to seed. That’s nature.
I am always frustrated by the fact that one day the cow parsley and ground elder flowers are looking frothy, stunning and ‘planned’ and the next day they have been flattened by thundery rain, making paths totally impassable. That’s a shame.
And it will always rain when you want to mow. That’s Sod’s Law.
One of the great gifts of gardening is that it allows room for thought. You just have to make sure they are constructive ones. In a world where most people spend every spare second whipping out their mobile phone and scrolling, I like to spend that time ‘coaxing things back into perspective’.
So during a(nother) challenging chunk of my life, I have gained much from deciding to let nature ‘have her head’ for a few weeks, while I quietly tidy up behind her and use the ‘head-space’ wisely. As Blaise Pascal put it in 1654: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly alone.”
Food as Medicine
In the last few weeks I have had a number of unexpected challenges, one of them being told Yogi has kidney disease. Being as grateful as ever to Bernice at Riverside Vets for her professionalism and patience, I have also found a dog food that is created specifically for renal issues. Yogi’s raw food is too high in protein and phosphorous now, so a bit of research turned up www.purepetfood.com
There are amazing people out there and it is always a joy to find them. You just tell fabulous founders Mat and Dan about your dog and they will create tailor-made recipes. It was delivered in box with a sticker saying ‘Yogi’s – paws off’ (I love that detail), is in the easiest bag to open and close (another pawfect detail) and you simply add water, stir and serve. Yogi absolutely loves it and, of course, “Healthy dogs live longer lives.”
So during a challenging chunk of my life, I have gained much from deciding to let nature ‘have her head’ for a few weeks, while I quietly tidy up behind her and use the ‘head-space’ wisely. As Blaise Pascal put it in 1654: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly alone.”
Nature as Teacher
Walking Yogi on her little sniffari last week, as she stopped to send a ‘pee-mail’, I looked at the plants that were within a foot square of the adjacent hedge. Each one of the plants there held a memory – how magical is that.
From the Honesty seed heads, or ‘pennies’, that we used to pretend were ‘real money’ as kids, to the sweet cicely that Nan taught us to make tea with, the ‘sticky willy’ – or Cleavers – that we used to throw at each other as kids, the Herb Robert that now reminds me of my dad, Bob, (Nan always called him Robert), the fox gloves that we used to put on our fingers – folklore has it that the plant is so named because the foxes would put the flowers over their feet to make them quiet and able to creep up on chickens. The young leaves of Jack in the Hedge were added to salads, young hawthorn leaves were put in a sandwich, the seed heads of Stitchwort could be popped with great satisfaction and I remember the walk to primary school with Nan one morning taking a very long time as I insisted on trying to find the loudest ‘pop’. Even the wide blades of grass used to be chosen and picked specifically for their ability to be put between both thumbs and blown threw to make a Kazoo sort of whistle. Then there was the hazel tree at the back of the hedge (out of shot) where I picked a fabulous walking stick from a few years ago (I always remember Granddad saying – “When is the best time to cut a walking stick? When you see it” – and where I look for the little red female hazel flowers every February. The brambles poking through the hazel have provided the blackberries for a number of recipes from blackberry gin to blackberry and apple pie and are an annual reminder of blackberry forays with my Nan when I was a child. And even the milk thistle and dandelion leaves remind me of going out picking those ‘greens’ for my pet rabbit aged just 5 or 6 years old.
I felt quite moved and very privileged to recognise all those plants (and in such a small space) and to realise they have all made a difference to my life in some way. I am so grateful to nature for so many things – the lessons, the sanctuary, the playground, the joy, the beauty, the peace, and now, even my income.
Albert Einstein said, “Look deep into nature and you will understand everything so much better.” It has certainly taught me well.
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