Tag: gardening

So what am I working on creatively when I’m not writing? No, sadly I haven’t been playing music or making art lately.

However, A and I have been working on the above — our own little six-by-six plot at the local community garden! It’s mostly A’s planning, perseverance and plant selection, but I’ve been, as they say, getting stuck in when we stop there every couple of days. One or both of us will stop by every other day, maybe harvest some of that ridiculously fruitful red and green lettuce, and give it all a good watering. [The above picture is courtesy of A, btw.]

Funny thing is, I never thought I’d be all that excited about gardening, even though we’ve been watching Gardener’s World on BritBox for a good few years now. But when we started working on this, I really found myself having a lot of fun with it. And not just that, it’s forcing me to get out of my reactive don’t wanna mode that often gets the best of me. The other weekend when we participated in a monthly garden community gathering to clean and weed, I really got stuck in and weeded the hell out of a significant area that had been bothering me since we got the plot. It feels really weird to feel that sense of pride in something I never thought I’d get actively excited about. It’s kind of made me rethink a lot about how I approach a lot of things in life, and that’s a super healthy thing to do.

Plus, we’ve been having a TON of free salad these days, and that can’t be a bad thing.

One thing A and I like doing on Fridays is watching Gardeners’ World on BritBox. It’s a nice calming hour of watching Monty Don fiddle with the various sections of his land alongside the various cohosts showing their own gardens and visiting others across the British Isles. It’s a great way to unplug from work and the stresses of the world for a bit.

Recently A also finally acquired a plot at the nearby community garden. She has a background in horticulture, so this is a dream come true. And yes, I’m looking forward to assisting as well when I’m not at the Day Job. I’ve learned quite a bit both from her and from watching those gardening shows, but it’s been ages since I’ve actually done any kind of outside work like this. [I’m quite certain I’m going to get all sorts of blisters and back and knee pains, but in the end it’ll be worth it.]

What does this have to do with writing? Well, nothing much really. It’s just a nice little distraction from life and stress and whatever else is going on. And you know me — I’ll eventually find gardening time is a perfect time to do a bit of plotting in my head. Heh.