I’m planning a garden. Several actually.
The first step was getting rid of all the weeds that had taken over. That took several goes. Now the plans are emerging for the planting. Mostly vegetables to sustain us through Summer. You know the good old homegrown staples that you gleefully harvest in those warm afternoons, ready to share as a bountiful feast with family on the table that evening.
But there are also some areas where I am planning gardens which have never had anything planted in them. Wild ground. Hard ground. And I know I want a garden, but do I want to grow roses or wildflowers? Trees? No, I have enough trees. Maybe rambling ground covers? No! Maybe succulents? All I know is that I need to decide what to plant or the garden won’t know what to grow! And if I don’t decide, it will just stay wild hard ground. With weeds.
You probably know I’m not just talking about the garden.
This garden is most definitely internally me!
The work on the “weeds” (my self-limiting beliefs) will always continue. You know how weeds are! They have a tendency to come back! But turning my back on the weeds will not produce a clear patch of soil. So on with the boots and off I go to the garden!
This process is now familiar, and I know of the results, I have had some success and can make plans to replicate what I have done before.
But the new garden, the hard, wild ground, what do I do with that? How do I start? What should I grow?
These are my new internal garden beds! The prospect of looking out and seeing them in full bloom excites me, but until I can see the picture clearly, I won’t be able to see what I have planted. Right now I am metaphorically leafing through seed catalogues to find what I want to harvest. And the planting of that seed is critical. If I want roses but I plant pansies I cannot really be surprised by what grows.
And so I ponder. And Winter is good pondering time. What do I really want to harvest? What blooms do I really want to grow? Until I can see myself standing there surrounded by the garden I grew, be able to smell the sweet perfume of the flowers, hear the lazy bees feeding on their nectar until I can truly be there in my heart and soul, I will look at the hard wild ground.
If your garden looks anything like mine, a few recurrent weeds, new beds in the planning, I feel the excitement with you! But if it becomes overwhelming, don’t hesitate to bring in a master gardener, a mentor who knows which plant is which!
I am meeting with my mentor this afternoon to get some clarification on my seed choices.
Stay tuned to see what she helps me to grow!
