Gardening Season
With the influx of warmer days and the last frost date steadily approaching, the gardening season is upon us once more. I find little as comforting, grounding and thrilling as the beginning of the garden season. Watching the first sprouts appear, tilling up the earth, bare feet and dirt under fingernails, picking out seeds and dreaming of this year’s July burst of abundance and color in the garden. This is the time of year for planning and waiting. For work and patience that will pay off in a big way come mid summer.
Both in personal practice and in my professional experience, I find gardening extremely healing and nurturing. It is so good for our mental health, teaching patience, diligence, resilience, distress tolerance and confidence, all while immersing ourselves in nature and just taking some time to be with the earth.The garden can be a place of quiet reflection. It can be a way to take care of our inner child and allow play. There is nothing as rewarding as the first juicy tomato, or dropping that spade in the ground to the abundance of potato tubers that have been quietly growing beneath the surface all season. I get so excited for the sunflowers to bloom and to watch how tall they grow before forming buds, and audibly squeal when my bean pole plants start climbing up the trellis.
If you have never grown anything before, I highly encourage exploring this deeply mindful hobby. Every year the garden and the gardener evolve together. Each year I become more humble and more willing to roll with the punches as nature itself dictates the events, even as I try to wield it. Even if all you have access to is a pot and a window, try to grow something. It is deeply healing work.
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