With fall in the air, it saddens me that gardening season is coming to an end. I never thought I would get into gardening. Well that all changed last year when my boyfriend and I purchased our first home. We lucked out and got a beautiful newly built house, but there was absolutely no landscaping done. There was no garden so I had some bulding to do, but no clue where to start. With the help of my mom and my best friend’s Mom, my second Mom, Patti, we built a beautiful garden at the front of the house.
We splurged at Home Depot for the foundation: soil, bushes, perennials (hostas and spirea) and some annuals (meri golds) to add colour. One way to keep gardening low cost is to ask your friends and family to split you some plants. We lucked out and got hostas, day lilies, tulip bulbs, and black eyed susans from our friends and families. I am so grateful for their generosity because our garden is looking bountiful!
Gardening is beneficial in so many ways. For one, it is great physical activity. There is a lot of squatting, walking, pushing and pulling. Being surrounded by nature also helps with mood and thus gardening can be a form of mindfulness. Gardening also brings me purpose. I water my garden daily, I rake it and care for it and most importantly I watch it grow. I love looking in my garden each day to see what is starting to blossom. It excites and humbles me. There is something so beautiful in watching plants blossom.
Someone recently told me that your life is a lot like a garden. You plant the seeds in your garden, but there are so many variables you cannot control (how much sun and water the seed gets, whether animals will eat your plants, etc). You can however, do everything in your power to help that seed blossom and do your best to take care of it. Just like our inner self. We cannot control those around us and how they act, but we do have the power to control our inner state with self-care.
I’d love to hear how gardening helps you! And please send pictures! Oh, and we wish a VERY happy birthday to our older sister, Krithia! xoxo
- Andi
Registered Physiotherapist and Kinesiologist
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