The Tired Gardener

Healing Through Growing

Healing Through Growing Blog

A Wild Childhood

Children are naturally curious and respond with great enthusiasm and energy to the marvels of the natural world – if given the opportunity.  Too often this joyous connection with nature is squashed and discouraged, or lost as we get older and overtaken by 'adult' responsibilities. Who has time for childish activities like watching ants foraging or standing in the summer rain and feeling it dribble over your face and soak your clothes? Connecting with nature is not just a hobby, but a birthright and a phenomenal tool for achieving and sustaining a happy, balanced life.

  • Ancient oak roots or troll feet?
  • The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest. An old lady with walking sticks reaches for the sky.
  • Stark winter beauty supporting bird life.

Learning to Love my Wounds

It’s easy to be self-critical and see the marks of the passage of time on our body as faults,  but there is a lesson in self-love to be learned from the beauty of mature trees.

  • Tea-tree and rosemary before the snow.
  • Tea-tree fronds. Resurrected!
  • Rosebay on a rainy day.

Get Outside!

'You can be miserable anywhere, so GET OUTSIDE!' I took some good advice from a friend on a miserable day and my garden took care of the rest.  

Mindfulness and the Call of the Wild

When my head is full of cobwebs my garden calls, and as I immerse myself in the wonder of nature, my head miraculously clears and the world is wonderful again.

  • Blackbird eating ivy berries.
  • Female blackbird, nesting.
  • Sparrow.

Playing With Time

I have been given a time machine for my birthday. It only looks like a camera.

A Miniature Expedition

When the outside world is too big to face and you don't have the energy to re-connect with nature outside, a cheap microscope opens whole new avenues of connection and beauty to lift the soul.

  • Crocuses, hellebores and snowdrops: bee survival supplies in the late winter.

Spring in My Steps

Recovery is a frustrating business with lots of twists and turns. Today a bumblebee helped me to navigate a corner.

  • Mango
  • Mango stone
  • Avocado

Baby Steps Towards Recovery

Should I be resting or moving?  Learning how to take baby steps and manage frustration is a huge challenge in the early stages of recovery or after a relapse.  Sowing a few seeds is a manageable activity that gives a sense of achievement and anticipation.

  • Winter blue: photo courtesy of Conor McGrath
  • Winter blue too
  • My Secret Garden in January

The Lockdown Blues

For some, lockdown means isolation and loneliness, for others the relentlessness of living in close quarters with other people.  Thank God for my garden and the freedom it gives me to choose between isolation and companionship.

  • Just one crazy shelf in my real library
  • Courtesy of University of Illinois Library, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
  • Trinity College Library, Dublin. Courtesy of Diliff, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Healing my Inner Library

OK, so this has nothing to do with the natural world and growing, it is all about the inner world and healing the damage that fibromyalgia et al do to your mind and mental capacities. Sometimes when you sit down to write surprising things happen.

A Single Rose can be my Garden

When dark wet days and miserable headlines engulf you in worries about the future, nature has a knack of catching your attention and providing some perspective.

  • An October tow path walk
  • Hedgerow bounty: sloes, haws, rosehips, blackberries
  • Sloes

A Sloe Walk Down Memory Lane

A canal-side walk on a sunny October day brings me close to my Nan and childhood fantasies around her illicit brewing habits.


My illness has meant that I have had to give up my work and so I am now looking to find a new career through my writing. If you have enjoyed this page and would like to encourage me to produce more, click the coffee cup below to make a small donation; no strings, no fuss, just a little, 'Thanks, keep it up.'


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I have categorised my blogs by the 8 segments of the wheel of life, as identified by The Chrysalis Effect. These need to be addressed and balanced for effective healing and sustained good health. Click on the Categories tab to search through these, or the Tags tab for more detailed searches.
All of the photos that accompany my blogs are my own. I find that taking a camera out with me helps me to notice so much more of the beauty and detail of the world around me. When I've taken a photo I try to stop and watch whatever I've been snapping, so I appreciate it in real life and not just through the lens.

© 2020 Alison McGrath Contact Me