A Look at a Gardening Journey and Life Parallels - My Gardening Journey

Gardening is like life, it should be a journey that is enjoyed, not a destination. This is a look at a gardening journey and the parallels between gardening and life. Gardeners are constantly trying new things, creating new gardens, replenishing plants and enjoying what they have created. Whatever you look after in your garden will thrive, whatever you look after in your life, it will serve you. Nature is also a great teacher of many things, if you are willing to pay attention and learn. I'll share with you my gardening journey and would love to hear something from your gardening journey, if you have one, or want to start one.

‘A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.’ – Gertrude Jekyll

I've been around gardeners almost my whole life. Not all were huge gardeners with big veggie patches and trimmed lawns. I mean average people who were growing a bit of food, some nice flowers and liked spending time in the garden. Growing up there were no on-line groups or local get-togethers even, you just knew people who had a garden of some sort, if you had a problem you asked a neighbor or friend. Kind of like life back then, if you had a problem you reached out and if you were lucky someone would help you.

I remember my parents had a passion fruit vine growing over the back verandah and some rhubarb over by the chook yard. My grandfather had a much bigger garden and grew a lot of veggies, roses and gladioli. He would have rows of cabbages and cauliflowers, there always seemed to be onions drying in the dilapidated timber tool shed and there was a massive fig tree which we loved to climb as kids. There were enormous almond trees on the back boundary which we would have to try and get before the cockatoos gobbled them all up. The obligatory citrus; lemons, oranges and grapefruit.

Pink Gladioli in my garden

My grandfather also had amazing roses which he tended to diligently and gladioli which he entered in the local show each year. This is the reason I have gladioli in my garden and have aspirations to one day have a rose garden also. Not to enter into shows, but as a reminder of a man I have fond memories of.

My husband and I enjoy spending time outside together doing projects and gardening. From small garden beds to building pergolas or greenhouses, tilling over the ground for vegetable growing or building chook yards. There's not much we haven't had a go at, or won't have a go at. We have learnt to communicate better and play to our strengths as well as step outside out comfort zone and try new things.

Water feature in our first house

Water always seems to be a part of our gardens. I believe it is an important part of any garden, big or small. It helps attract birds, insects and lizards. If you have the opportunity to have running water the sound can be very calming. It doesn't have to be a creek or river, a small urn bubbling into a small pond or reservoir can do the trick.

Having part of the garden that is edible is another important factor for us. If you're going to grow something you may as well be able to eat some of it, right? We have learnt that there needs to be a balance in the garden, like most things in life. Having flowers obviously helps attract beneficial insects as well as being beautiful to look at. Let's not forget there are plenty of flowers that are edible, too.

Water in the garden attracts beneficial animals and insects

Last but not least there are the medicinal qualities of plants. They are varied and many, subtle and powerful. The main medicinal plants we grow are herbs and include rosemary, mint, thyme, parsley, chives, dill, sage, lavender and lemon balm. There are simple things you can do at home with medicinal plants that can help you and your family with a bit of research. Of course there are also the health benefits of growing and eating your own food. A lot of these can be grown indoors in pots by a window as with a lot of plants. Not everyone has access to a garden or even a balcony for gardening outside. For those people I encourage them to seek out a community garden to get involved in if they are interested or visit public gardens to enjoy them that way. Whether you have a small balcony with plants in pots, help out in a community garden, visit a garden regularly (public or otherwise) or start your own garden, I think it is important to our overall health that we are in touch with nature on a regular basis.

I have found that gardening helps with my overall health in so many ways, mind, body and spirit. It has taught me patience as things grow (or not). I have learnt what excites and inspires me (learning new things). I have learnt that failure is a learning tool, observing what worked and what didn't. Gardening has given me the opportunity to be surprised by trying things I didn't think would work and they did. The sheer satisfaction I get from counting the food items on my plate that came from my own garden can not be put into words, other food growers will understand. My mind still lights up when I learn how a new plant in the garden spreads its seeds and seed saving is now one of my favourite parts of gardening, call me a seed hoarder!

When we moved to our rural property almost 4 years ago the first thing we did was start a veggie garden with 6 raised beds. We also brought our 6 Isa Brown chickens form our last place and built them a large yard and coop. We started growing things we already knew how to grow and ate regularly like beetroot, lettuce, capsicum, corn and tomatoes. I tried my hand at pickling the beetroot and still use the same recipe now. Other forms of food preservation we have done include vacuum packing, freezing and dehydrating. It takes a bit of trial and error to find out what works best for your individual needs.

We also planted fruit trees and nut trees and our perennial plants now include almonds (another tribute to my grandfather), apples, nectarines, olives, raspberries, grapes, strawberries and boysenberries. We plan on adding blueberries this year to complete our berry complement. Vegetables we grow regularly now include potatoes, tomatoes, silver beet (mainly for the chickens), lettuce, celery, peas, cucumbers, carrots, corn and zucchini. Good results from brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and the like) have eluded me so far and I look forward to better results this winter. A life lesson in not giving up. Persistence kills resistance.

We have extended our growing capacity over time with in-ground beds, wicking beds, a greenhouse and a hydroponic setup (in the greenhouse). When we have too many seedlings of a particular plant we might try and grow them in the hydroponic system, just to see if it will work. Another reflection of gardening against real life is that sometimes we take on too much and have to scale back. At the time of writing this article we have plans to remove some in-ground beds (pictured below) as our life is a bit busier now and we can't give it the attention it needs.

Preparing in-ground beds with cardboard, compost and mulch

Right now, this year, early 2025, we have big plans to add 2 new gardens to our property at some stage in the future (scaling back can be hard LOL). One I'm calling the "Walled Garden" and another one is called the "Cottage Garden". I have large vision boards for them filled with images from magazines and Pinterest. We look forward to sharing the spaces with family and friends, creating memories is special places we created. We have many other projects going this year already so it unrealistic to think that they will be started this year. Making a plan for the future doesn't have to mean it HAS to happen, stuff happens and plans change.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my gardening journey so far. I hope it has inspired you to start a little something in your garden or get back into the garden. Life has it's ups and downs. There are times when we need to slow down and reflect on what we are getting out of life (winter), times when we start new adventures (spring), times when life is busy and full of life (summer), then a wind down period leading up to reflection (autumn).

Listen to your body, listen to nature. They both have many things to teach us, always.

Gypsy Gardener,

Enjoying Life the Gentle Way