“We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.”
Jenny Uglow
Sometimes the day is just beginning, the ground sprinkled with dew. Sometimes the sun is setting for the evening, bathing the world in golden light. Or sometimes, it’s somewhere in between when you head into your garden. Regardless if you’re tending to a collection of containers or a large plot, as you settle in to work, your mind will quiet–a therapeutic release of stress and anxiety. The positive impact cultivation has on us is undeniable, but we introduce a new concept: purpose driven gardens. Where just a little bit of reflecting on your gardening goals can foster an even stronger connection and energize the practise two-fold.
Purpose Driven Gardens
It goes without saying that most gardens are initially created with some kind of purpose, often cosmetic or food related. But here we’ll touch upon several purposes that may not immediately come to mind and explore those that often do. You see when you attribute a purpose to a task, it creates an emotional fuel. Not all aspects of gardening are glamourous or immediately rewarding. But when you connect those mundane tasks, like weeding or watering, to something greater it slowly helps adjust your mindset. Mundane actions become meaningful steps. You inadvertently boost your own resilience, you have a direction to follow. Your purpose driven garden provides a fulfilling focus that can help filter out distractions and contribute to your well being.
Food and Fuel
When advising new gardeners, we often recommend beginning with herbs. They’re useful in the kitchen and a gentle foray into the practise. From there, we say it’s best to review what you actually normally buy and eat and plan accordingly. It’s common when it comes to edibles to grow what is considered easy–but we think the question should be do you like it? Will you eat it? Would it be possible to dry or pickle any extras? When you garden your favourites, it truly enhances the joy of harvest.
Therapy and Relaxation
If you treat your garden as a refuge, a place where you go to unwind, to reset and not to dwell on all your worries and troubles it truly becomes a purpose driven garden. Consider introducing and shifting towards a sensory garden to additionally amplify a place of serenity. Did you know that gardening is actually a recognized form of therapy? Formally referred to as Therapeutic Horticulture, it is a structured approach however the DIY practise is just as beneficial. When your garden functions for this objective, you begin to enjoy all aspects involved because they all add to that relaxation.
Contributing to the Environment
A beautiful garden is often one that blends seamlessly into its environment. We love the idea of affiliating a garden’s purpose with the contribution to nature and its environment. It makes it less so about the gardener and therefore about something more than yourself. Consider incorporating native plants, pollinator favourites, water features for both insects and birds and swapping guzzling grass for plants that use less water.
Building Community
One of our favourites when it comes to purpose driven gardens. You can look at the building of community in two ways. The first is the physical act of growing and tending together. With one, with many. Invite a neighbor–one that may be aging or get your littles involved, host your book club or invite a friend for a weekly gab and garden, open the garden to others to grow their own little plots. And the second is the building of community around gardening. Donate extra produce to a local food bank, join a local horticulture club, host a seed or transplant swap. Make your garden the center of something, even something small in your community.
With just a little bit of reflection, something meaningful in a purpose driven garden is well within reach. We wish you all a wonderful growing season. For more things home and garden, keep reading the Wild Blog. P.s., if you don’t already, be sure to follow us on Pinterest and Instagram.