Mindfulness in the Garden

OK…this might be a little risky, and some of you may think I have gone off the deep end, but here goes.

Gardening is a physical task in the attempt to try and control nature and living items by creating something beautiful or productive. Unfortunately, this year has proven what little control we have over our natural environment. Often times we are just trying to keep things from getting out of control.

My disappointment started this Spring when my favorite plant didn’t flower in my, or any, garden. I have heard so many people talk about their challenges with dead plants, vegetables that won’t produce, disease, and an un-ending parade of insects in plague-like quantities.

It’s too cold, too wet, too hot, too cloudy, too whatever.

Whether this is the beginning of some fundamental change in our climate or not, we are realizing that every year in the garden is different and presents its own challenges.

This has always has been the case.

Drought, rain, insects, invasive weeds, rabbits, groundhogs, jumping worms and the many other issues we deal with in our gardens will always be there. I feel that I am often wrestling with issues in my garden over which I have only limited, if any, control. I get away from the simple experience of gardening and being present in the moment and addressing what is in front of me. If I am focused on what is wrong or why something is happening, then the work that I am doing becomes a chore rather than an experience.

Spending time in the garden should be a joy and a privilege that many people will never have the pleasure of experiencing. I often feel that I need to achieve something special or try to attain a level of perfection, when the most valuable aspect of gardening is the experience itself. Even if that experience is mowing the lawn. If I am focused on a result or worried that I am not doing enough, then I am missing the experience of just being in the garden and experiencing the smells, sounds, colors and other sensory inputs. Have you realized how different soil can smell from one bed to another.  Look at some of the images in this newsletter.  Have you ever taken a really close look at your flowers or foliage. Sometimes, by taking photos, I realize details that I would never see from five feet away. Maybe try spending an hour taking photos and then looking at them for details you may otherwise miss. Contemplating a photo can often reveal details that we couldn’t see in the moment.

The simple task of weeding a bed should be rewarding in its experience and the opportunity to be in touch with the garden. Dirt under the fingernails, sweat rolling down the face, stiff back or butt, sore wrists, sharp pain in the knee are all the things that we feel but they distract us from the experience of being in our gardens and in nature.  When weeding, I try and use the experience to get close to flowers and plants that I often don’t get to see in such detail, and I get to work around bees and all sorts of other insects, none of which will hurt me if I am careful. When I am wearing earphones, I don’t get to experience some of these things as I am shutting out an important input. I might be listening to a good playlist or a new podcast, but is this quality time or unnecessary multi-tasking?

The ability to grow food or create beauty is what we are trying to accomplish, but it often gets hidden by the distractions of our mind, body and external factors over which we have no control. I will worry that I haven’t done necessary work in the garden, when, in fact, it will be there when I am ready. The garden may not look great, but is that all that matters?

I guess in the end, I want to spend more time gardening where I am truly present to see the details that nature has brought to my garden.

Have you looked closely at different Dahlia flower geometry, frilly Witchhazel, unopened Balloon Flower,  Mountain Laurel buds, tiny faces on Catmint flowers, veins on Redvein Enkianthus flowers, pollinator tubes on Bee Balm, seed heads on a Geranium (Cranesbill). There are so many amazing details when you get close to flowers, and often times the details have nothing to do with flowers.

Have you experienced the good, and not so good, smells of Muscari, Summersweet, Bearded Iris, Viburnum, female Gingko Tree, Phlox, Daphne, Butterfly Bush, Frittilaria. This is a tiny list of plants that offer something to us, and to pollinators!

I need to spend more time in the garden appreciating what is right in front of me rather than thinking about other issues. I need to take out the ear phones so I can hear every detail, bee, bird (lawnmower, blower, contractor). I need to stop thinking and just experience what I am doing more, rather than being distracted or upset by what I don’t like or can’t control.

Easier said than done, but I should always leave the garden feeling better than when I entered. I need to be more focused on the task right in front of me, rather than working to complete something or being frustrated that something has happened beyond my control. 

This is the true value of gardening, the opportunity to reset and to get back in touch with reality, the moment, and myself.