Freestyle Gardening! A New Approach For 2018
It’s time to talk about Gardening!
No, it’s beyond time.
I am rather surprised that I haven’t made a Gardening post yet. I was @goldendawne’s first Fostered Gardener couple of weeks ago and I still didn’t post about Gardening!
Detour with me for a moment…
I am by nature a planner.
I am by nature a detail geek freak.
I have dedicated too much time creating structures that once in place I never actually use.
I often spend so much of myself at the beginning of a project that I seldom make it to the end.
Dang! It feels good saying that.
Back to the now...
I am proud to say that I have reached a point in my life where I have learned to reign in this wild pre-project energy.
I have become more doer. I now tend to think ahead while beginning the work. I jot down notes to be worked with later (or not). These have replaced the structured written plans of days gone by.
My gardening plans for 2018 are reflecting this change in my ways.
Yesterday, I found myself commenting on a post by @earthmother. I called my garden plan for this year “Freestyle Gardening”. I have spent the last day feeling inspired and more importantly freed by that phrase.
I feel that this approach will free me from the stress I unknowingly impose upon myself. Stress that divides me from what is around me. Stress that robs me of the gifts of the garden. Working in the garden is where I feel most whole. I am part of it… the whole IT.
“I’m heading out to play in the garden!”
This phrase, being spoken over my shoulder as I head out the door, hair up, and tools in hand, is the passageway to another world for me.
A world where I am one of the gang. One voice in an orchestra, all of them trying to thrive and survive. A world where what I see around me is no different than what is going on within me. I am at home.
Freestyle gardening allows me to go with the flow. Inspiration driven by materials at hand become garden beds.
Sticks and Stones… some things never change…I have filled my pockets with them my whole life. Now they are in such abundance that I will never be without building materials. I get to play my days away.
Wisdom is what works.
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
This quote speaks to me of wisdom being an individual experience, wisdom is hands-on, wisdom is an ever-changing adventure.
Freestyle Gardening leaves me free to discover the wisdom of the world around me. Free to try it on, free to interpret it for my own purposes, Free to simply put it back down and leave it be.
~Follow to see where this Freestyle Gardening adventure takes me this year.
All text and images are my own unless otherwide noted.
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ahhh, this is the freestyle you were talking about in chat!
I LOVE this idea! What a great way to connect even more with nature.
Honestly, I think this has always been my gardening style. I've grown to not fight my nature but embrace it since moving to the woods.
That's so cool, "Freestyle Gardening".
There's only 1 time in life that I attempted a garden. I did some reading but didn't go so far as to have the soil tested (1st mistake).
It wasn't the best spot for receiving enough sun. At least for the sees I chose. I did enjoy working in the dirt, caring for it, and watching its progress. Even though it didn't work out. :)
If you enjoyed the process then it worked out fine!
I'm sure you now have new questions to dig in and read about if you get the desire to try again.
Thanks for chatting on your way through. Freestyle gardening is a title I will use again... Several posts in the works.
Great approach, I am working a bit more freestyle by trying to work with a lot of plants we already have on the land, maximizing output of their optimally useful materials.
I'm also secretly hoping we get a bunch of plants that magically overwintered themselves and will just magically bloom in spring.
Wishes and dreams.... but maybe I can become a doer too!
I use whats here as well...
My goal is zero dollars to develop my garden beds and grounds... Seeds don't count, but I'm a frugal girl!
Barter...share...gift... Grow!
I'm with you - I love gardening and growing my veges - my question is why do the weeds grow better and quicker than the plants???? :( lol
Great topic..."weeds"!
My understanding of "weeds" goes like this.
First of all, they are doing what they are supposed to... Covering the bare earth like our body growing a scab over a wound.
Secondly, they are adapted to the location of the garden. Our veggies come from all over the planet and have been tinkered with to be tasty and beautiful and prolific...not to be suited to my specific location.
My third bit is they are wanting you to notice them, learn what they have to offer the situation. I welcome their help in the garden and their nutrition for my body.
"Weeds" are often 10 times more nutritious than the veggies we are asking them to share space with.
They are doing good but often unseen things for your garden...we add a lot of new material to a space when we claim it as a garden...they help to process it, assimilate it... Get it working with the rest of ecosystem of the garden. They call in insects and critters to do their part.
Ok... Well, those are some beginning thoughts on "weeds".. We tend a garden with the expectation of it feeding us...yet complain about it answering our expectations with healthy abundant wild food...
If we were to make a parallel argument with people rather than plants as the subject...I think we would find a lot more tolerance and cooperation in our approach and thinking.
Just some thoughts...hugs all!
The most prevalent weeds in my garden are Lambs Quarter, Dandelion, and Purslane, all edible. You would think that eating them would make them retreat.
I think they grow better and quicker because they are smarter than your average gardener. They know exactly when to sprout, where to grow, and how to survive.
They also must know when I'm not looking coz then they take over!
LOL @andysantics48! I would like to know that too :-)
I know right - they just keep expanding right before my eyes!!! The more I pluck the more there are!
Awesome! Can't wait to see it in full swing! I too love to garden.
It will be wonderful to share! I hope to see lots of posts from folks about gardening...always something to learn!
Ooooooooooooo what a great blog!! And wonderful pictures!! I am so itching to see and smell the earth again!!!
I also plant and grow with the surroundings!!
Looking forward to watching you grow freestyle!!
Xoxo
Spring has come here... Puddle hopping this week! The spring peeper frogs have begun their chorus! The energy is building...I can feel the green about to take over.
I'm excited to learn more about what you are doing. Hugs
Thigh high snow. Lol
That is all....lol lol
Getting ready to start seeds next week. :)
"Thigh high snow"... Stirs memories of lost boots!!!!
Here's a morsel to get you through cabin fever season!
Spring in a Snapshot!
Love! Love! Love!