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Brindles Cottage

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5 Things I have learnt from 1 year of Gardening

August 26, 2019      brindles      1 Comment

  1. It takes time

Every element of gardening should take time – but not in a bad way. Take your time deciding what you want to plant, big design decisions and well general pottering & general gardening jobs. There isn’t a rush and there isn’t any rushing Mother Nature – she’ll bloom and grow whenever she feels like blooming and growing. Weeds included.

I remember moving here and everyone telling me to give it all the seasons before making any drastic changes or planting anything. Seeing how the garden behaves as it moves around each season, seeing how you live in the space, much like you do inside your home. Heads up – they were right!

You plant bulbs in the Autumn for Spring colour, you can plant the smallest little shrub and will wait a year or two for it to flourish. Give it time and some love and in my case, some luck and it’ll all work out in the end!

  1. Some things you do will fail

I am as determined today as I was when we came and viewed the cottage to have a cut flower bed or 10. Sadly, my cut flower bed this season is just a handful of gladioli. Yes, they’re incredibly beautiful but I can’t cut them to bring them in doors without making the garden look sparse – so I’ve left them for another year to the bees and the birds (not a bad thing). We spent a lot on bulbs and seeds but sadly, this time around I just couldn’t make it work. But the best thing about gardening? I get to try over and over again!

It’s okay if projects aren’t absolutely perfect – the point is – you did it, All you.

  1. You’ll learn A LOT

About yourself, about horticulture, about garden centres. There is quite literally so much to learn there is no way you can learn it all but that’s fine!

I tried to remember everything people would tell me – Mr M’s grandparents, family friends, my dad but there really is too much to remember and started writing everything down in a journal. My advice real quick? Try and categorise your notes or make them into some kind of order. Mine are a jumbled mess and the regret is real.

  1. The garden never sleeps

There is no hiding from the connections between mental health and gardening and just because it’s the deepest darkest part of winter doesn’t mean you can’t go out and potter about. Fill the bird feeders, give a quick garden tidy, sew some seeds in pots ready for Spring. Your garden no matter the size is incredible. Even with snow on the ground you it’s still working and there is still little jobs to be done. Get your face out of a screen (like reading this HA) and go outside. Potter until your hearts content.

  1. It’s really forgiving

This one is the biggest of all the lessons for me. If you plant a bulb upside down, your fence isn’t dead straight, there is gaps in your borders it really doesn’t matter. The bulb will forgive you and probably grow anyway, the flowers will distract from the wonky fence and as for the gaps in the borders they’re pretty boring to look at and the birds and visitors would rather be looking somewhere else.

All in all, I’ve learnt a lot over the past year and I’m thankful my garden’s looked after me as much as I’ve attempted to look after it. It doesn’t matter the size of your space just put a little love into it.

What have you learnt from gardening? Do you have an outside space you look after?

Thanking you for reading

Hannah x

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Comments

  1. Jennifer Snuffleupagus says

    January 24, 2020 at 01:33

    I love this post.
    It’s so thorough and thoughtful, and it makes me hopeful that with persistence I can one day honor my grandfather with a garden even with little know-how.
    Thank you for sharing this. I hope you write again one day.

    Reply

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Good morning👋 Office transformation (nearly) co Good morning👋
Office transformation (nearly) complete.
It looks pretty done but there's a few more things that need doing, some art for the walls, a lamp or two, a new lampshade etc but ill wait for the right stuff to pop up... but it should feel way nicer working in here 💕
#office #homeoffice #homeofficetransformation #diy #diyhomedecor #homedecor
Striving for better, not perfection 💕 Sounds li Striving for better, not perfection 💕
Sounds like an excuse doesn't it? But really I hold my hands up and say for the first lent in very long time I 'failed'.
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I ate eggs and a pile of smoked salmon and I enjoyed every mouthful. I don't feel guilty at all. I planned my first full week of lent to perfection - researched snacks (snack queen), planned 3 meals a day and alternatives but I just couldn't shake the feeling of being hungry. I don't mean "you should have a drink" hunger (anyone who says have a glass of water when you say you're hungry can please walk away now), i mean, light headed, feeling sick, face plant anything hunger. Mixing that with how I felt about lockdown and well I just wanted my favourite breakfast.
But I don't want to focus on the negative... I haven't eaten chocolate since the beginning of lent and all my other dairy swaps are still in place - that my friends should be appaulded bc by the end of Jan I should have had shares in dairy milk. And my consumption of eggs and fish is waaayyy down.
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But back to the beginning - I am striving for better, not perfection. Maybe better will get me to perfection eventually but I'm not in a hurry. I need to learn more, more about eating plant based and making sure I feel satiated... but for now I am patting myself on the back and saying good job so far... just keep going.
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This lent was all about learning about how I can make better decisions regarding myself and the environment. Tiny changes can make a big impact eventually right? I maintain that. I do feel better - but that could be the huge reduction in sugar or it could be my gut saying thank you for shovelling the most colourful food I can down my neck for the past 2 weeks.
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But I just want to say - please be kind. Your smirk and foresight that I 'failed' isn't helpful or nice: for yourself or for me and if you're making the little changes like me let me know how you're getting on!
#lent2021 #sw #swuk #slimmingworld #slimmingworlduk #slimmingworldfamily #slimminyworldmotivation #slimmingworldfriends #slimmingworldmeals #slimmingworldfood #swfood #slimmingworldpescatarian #slimmingworldvegetarian #veggiefood #swplantbased
Wow. Its been a long bit hasn't it? I haven't been Wow. Its been a long bit hasn't it?
I haven't been here for 2 months. But I feel like I needed to throw this musing out into my corner of the Internet. Not being on here was out of choice. I saw a post that made me feel really pants and so I just deleted the app from my phone. Simple. I did miss certain things and I have periodically used it over the last month but lent starts this week and I always find posting here keeps me accountable.
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I do lent every year. I love a short manageable challenge. I try and make it something that is going to challenge me and yeah I have failed in the past for just take it in my stride. Nobody is perfect.
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So this year after following @chloejobletsoe on her sustainability journey I feel all inspired. For lent I am going to be following a whole food plant based diet. So far I've told a handful of people- my findings so far - everybody and their left shoe has an opinion about diet when it involves 'vegan' or 'plant based'. Whether they follow that way of eating or not they have and often share their opinion. Often negatively. I wish those people shared their opinion with me when I was eating multipacks of crisps, skipping meals, scoffing family sized packs of malteasers in my bed and eating enormous blocks of cheese and barely any 'whole foods', all while pushing to be skinny on slim fast. I wish people found it as easy to share their concern for my health when I was overweight and out of breath as they do about where I'm going to get my protein from.
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To those people: don't worry. I got this. Eat the rainbow. If something doesn't feel right ill change it. I haven't shackled myself to this different way of eating. I've made this decision as a grown woman who can make decisions on my diet and my lifestyle. I'm excited to see how it makes me feel.
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Happiness is the goal. A happy mind, a happy gut, a happy planet.
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I choose happiness.
This photo makes me laugh... within the minute of This photo makes me laugh... within the minute of this I had broken my ankle.... I didn't cry, for the most part there wasn't any panic and apparently when shit goes down I can calm myself down to a worrying level.
However - 
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3. My friends and family are epic. Every one thats taken a moment to text or call just to say hey or send me a meme. I really appreciate that - I think aaron would've had a mad woman on his hands without them.
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5. Take the f*cking painkillers. There aren't any prizes for lying awake at night wondering if you can kid yourself that the pain isn't real. If it hurts, take them, be careful with them but really take them.
6. I married one of the best ones. We aren't soppy and I don't often ever give pda's but from the second I slipped he has been nothing short of amazing. He's carried me to the car, rubbed my back while I sob because I just want to be able to to go to the toilet without it being an absolute mission, plied me with snacks and in fact made every meal, hes looked after the dogs, cleaned the house and been all round epic egg. Our closest family live 4.5 hours away and friends live an hour away. We are our own support network. We can't share the load, it is just us 2. Don't get me wrong, part of us choose to live down here and I wouldn't change it for the world but I guess these last few weeks have shown us just how strong as a couple we are, that life throws things at us and we just, smash it. 💕
I sometimes can't believe I live here... I feel so I sometimes can't believe I live here... I feel so very very lucky to call Cornwall my home. But shortly after this photograph I broke a limb. The first time I have ever broken any bone. FYI I don't recommend it. The last 3 weeks have been the longest ever - even longer than the this whole year has felt.
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But that aside I really like this photo 💕
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Very little effort
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I hope you're all okay and holding up all good 😍
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