“I don't have green fingers.” Is a statement I've heard countless times, from countless people and it's a statement that, I always have a little internal giggle because at one time, I probably had a similar mindset.
Growing up, gardening was all around me, I had family members who gardened, both ornamental and edible. I never really thought gardening was for me though. As a child my Mum would let me stay up later on a Friday night and watch Ground Force and Gardeners World with her. If I didn't watch those with her, it was bedtime. I witnessed my parents move into a new build with a garden of mud and transform that garden on a budget, over many years.
I believe this subconsciously gave me an understanding, that anyone can create a beautiful garden, whether that be within the traditional understanding of a garden, or tending to plants within another space. We all have green fingers.
It wasn't until many years later, that I started to appreciate gardening and the power of it for myself. Without boring you, I had a bad 2019 and I needed something to improve my physical capacity. I decided that something, was going to be gardening. And do you know what?
I loved it! Gardening allowed me to escape, it truly engrossed me so my busy mind was taken off of other worries. I had not had an interest, which had relaxed my mind this way since playing football. Gardening is truly powerful, and although we feel we are tending to our gardens it is in fact, our gardens that tend to us, both physically and mentally. That is exactly what happened.
That was exactly the message behind my beautiful border this year at gardeners world live, Strengthen your Body, Heal your Mind & Feed your Soul.
It contained a cloud tree, which represented the gardener stood strong and proud at the end of the garden, having been shaped and nurtured through the garden. It was a design that received a lot of love from everyone, and many asked how long it had taken to design the garden?
The truth is, it was a pretty spontaneous decision to apply for Gardener’s World. I had been on a TikTok live stream with another gardener and a garden designer suggested I took part. I laughed off the idea, but internally knew I would love to do it. The deadline for application was the following Monday and so, I gave myself the weekend to create a design, submitted it and thought, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.
It was meant to be! A few days later I received an acceptance email, but with a query about sourcing some of the plants, including the large cloud tree, due to the cost of them. Don’t worry, I’ll sort it, I replied!
Sure enough, with the help of some amazing companies, family and Instagram fam, I was able to recreate my design. I stood at the foot of the beautiful border and thought, ‘you did it’.
You see my beautiful border was my story and this felt like the end of a chapter. It felt like closure of a time of my life I’d gone through and despite the struggles of that time, I had navigated my way through. That cloud tree represented me, here I was standing strong and proud, looking over Gardener’s World, the show I had watched with my Mum all those years ago.
As one chapter closes, a new one opens, so I’m excited to see where this gardening journey takes me. I hope it isn’t as bumpy as the last one but even if it is, I’ll remember the words on the pull up bar arch.
’Under this pressure, under this weight, we are diamonds taking shape.’