Thankfully spring is arriving in many of our locales; bringing with it bushes, trees, and bulbs in bloom. The backyard plum blossomed this week. Gardens are calling us to ready them for planting. One friend already planted garlic and is watching it grow daily – literally it grows taller by the day. Sunflowers are an annual favorite in our garden – enjoyed by our family and the neighbors too.
Another friend has had soil delivered and is refreshing her gardens for this, her self-proclaimed “Year of the Garden” and new enjoyments. An heirloom seed-gathering friend has seedlings aplenty under grow-lights again this year. Both friends are dedicated to their gardens, flowers, and resulting produce.
Gardens serve us well in the form of color, joy, productive worktime, and food to eat or share. Birds, bees, butterflies, and other animals find habitat in our gardens. Sometimes gardens include décor in the form of arbors, plant-stakes, trellis-structures for climbers or simply for beauty, and hand-crafted items on stakes that can be “planted” anyplace in the yard or garden.
Container gardens for small spaces work wonders for our souls too. Planting season is fast approaching for these bright spots. Indoor containers with succulents have been popular for the last year – with succulent bars being found in many local nurseries. Terrariums have even seen a come-back from their popularity in the 1970s.
What can you plant this year? Victory Gardens (World Wars I and II) may take on all new meaning this year. Growing food-bearing plants in yards and parks was the focus of victory gardening so that all produce could go to support the war efforts.
Whether you plant for beauty, for food, or for both purposes, plant something. Use it as a home-school science lesson with your kids or grandkids. Use it as a reminder that life is continuing, that we will get through these challenging times – just as our ancestors got through trying times.
What gardening feeds your soul? Your stomach? Or both?
Nesting is about the objects and experiences that create a sense of home. Without home, it is difficult to maintain health, find joy, or to be productive. Enjoy the Nesting series of blogs on your search for and creation of a deep sense of home. –Jana
Jana Kemp
