Part of the joy of gardening is simply relaxing and enjoying your surroundings. There’s so much more to gardening than relentless chores when you don’t even notice what you’ve already achieved.

There are, of course, times when there’s masses to do: spring sowing and planting; preparing to go on holiday and picking up the pieces on return; a summer party in the garden with friends; or, Heaven preserve you, a garden opening weekend. But for everyday life, be sure to arrange the garden so you can stop and soak up the joy of the place.

Your garden will change with your age and commitments. When young, you’ll have boundless energy but you’ll be too busy and with children; it’ll become a play park anyway. As you age, you’ll have more time but less energy. So decide what actually matters and focus on that.
Only you know what makes you relax. Is it simply sitting in the garden, with a cup of tea or glass of wine, enjoying the fragrant aroma of a nearby rose or honeysuckle. And listening to the birds, bees and little voles nipping around about their affairs

If so, you’ll need a comfy chair on the grass, real grass, as unlike plastic rubbish, you’ll see green in its multitude of shades. It’s been shown to be the most relaxing, calming colour of all. A flower bed or a little wildlife corner with a sheltering tree could also do the trick.

But you have to accept that a wildlife garden, whatever its size, needs some care. Nature doesn’t zoom in at the wave of a magic wand. Relatively rich garden soil encourages nettle, docks, ground elder and their mates. You can bet they’ll thrive and smother the choice little plug plants you’ve hopefully added in.

You’ll also relax while totally absorbed in some garden task; like when weeding you may come across different and perhaps unusual little self-sown seedlings. While pruning or deadheading, take time to appreciate the beauty and elegance of your flowers.

If you don’t have time to slow down and luxuriate in what you’re doing, make it. Give up or reduce some jobs. You don’t actually have to spend a morning turning the contents of a large compost bin. Leave it for an extra year and it’ll rot down anyway.

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Beware: This is the Year of the Slug

You don’t need to dig the veg plot. You can even justify yourself by “doing good to the environment”. After all, no-dig is the most environmentally friendly way of managing the ground. Admittedly, you’ll get more pests like slugs, and, by the way, I’m convinced this is The Year of the Slug. But relentless persecution with trapping and constant application of organic slug pellets do help.

And don’t believe the nonsense pedaled by the RHS and others that slugs play such an invaluable role in the ecosystem that they should be respected and carefully taken to a place where they won’t do any damage. This applies to many species worldwide but should not be confused with the half dozen opportunistic species that will destroy your plants.

Add mulching to the list of environmentally friendly techniques that give you more time to switch off. And if the veg garden is becoming too burdensome, reduce its size. Replace annual flowers with perennials, cutting out sowing and planting time. If you’ve too much grass, let some grow on and cut back annually in the autumn.

 

Plant of the week

(Image: Plant of the week)

Crocosmia’Severn Sunris’ is a later flowering variety with deep apricot-coloured flowers produced in tight clusters on sturdy stems that grow to the same height as the pleated leaves. Likes an open position in full sun or part shade and well drained, but not dry, soil.