The Tired Gardener

Healing Through Growing

Healing Through Growing Blog



  • 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.

Time to Walk

A weekly walk in the woods brings a welcome respite, perspective and calm in a crazy world.

  • St Pankraz, courtesy of Holger Uwe Schmitt through Wikimedia Commons
  • Bubble wrap protection in mid-May

Cold May Gardeners

Gardening folklore is an endless source of fascination. Do you know who the Cold Gardeners are and why they matter in May?

  • Herrenhäuser Allee
  • Image courtesy of Wikicommons at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hannover,_Germany_-_Herrenhausen_G%C3%A4rten_-_panoramio_-_MARELBU.jpg

A Healing Garden

My personal experience of the powerful pain-relieving powers of a beautiful space made sense once I understood the mechanics of chronic pain.

  • Apple blossom

Resilience

In uncertain times a garden can be a source of food security as well as emotional well-being.

  • Sunflower seedlings emerging.
  • Snowdrops, crocuses and hellebores at the foot of my plum tree.
  • Tête-à-tête narcissi

Straining at the Leash

The hardest gardening task in March is to hold back. The hardest part of recovery is to acknowledge that you are not quite there yet, but take heart, both spring and a return to full health are on the horizon.

  • Buckler-leaved sorrel.
  • Transplanted supermarket 'living salad'.
  • Sorrel Schavel (from Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library), parsley and red-veined sorrel.  All planted in my daughter's old converted sand pit.

Salad Leaves

A tasty green salad every day is possible, without filling your fridge with bags of wilted supermarket leaves.

  • Watercress salad with home-grown globe-artichoke and carrots.
  • Red, purple and yellow tomatoes of all shapes and sizes with home-grown basil.
  • Different coloured lettuces transplanted into containers from a single, supermarket 'living salad' pot.

Growing and Eating a Rainbow

Eating well should never be a chore.  Growing your own food can transform a dull 5 a day meal into a delicious as well as a nutritious and satisfying experience.

  • Tenniel's illustration for Alice Through the Looking Glass.
  • My Secret Garden.  Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll' and peony 'Shirley Temple'.
  • Rose 'Jude the Obscure'.

My Secret Garden

Sowing a seed or planting a flower is an act of hope and anticipation,  an act that is satisfying in the moment and can then then bring joy for years to come.


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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