Earlier in the summer, my husband and I decided it was time to tidy up our garden. We love having outdoor space and realise how lucky we are to have a garden where we can get fresh air and vitamin D. But we are not keen gardeners, by any stretch of the imagination.
We don’t really know what we are doing. I’ve listened to a few gardening podcasts and done some searches online, so I have some ideas of the minimum maintenance that is required. But that’s about as far as it goes.
Advice and action
Luckily I do have friends and relatives who are much more interested in their gardens and would list gardening as one of their hobbies. They have all been kind in sharing their knowledge and tips with us. Some of them have even spent time away from their own gardens in order to help out with ours.
Kindness has included:
• My mother-in-law bought some bulbs as a gift and then spent time planting them for us during a visit. The resulting tulips were absolutely gorgeous!
• Good friends lent us their jet washer so that we could spruce up our patio after a wet winter that had left patches of greenery on the stones. They even helped my husband work out how to use it.
• A friend gave me advice on what to plant in the pots on my patio, telling me about options that would not require a lot of knowledge or input from me.
• My Dad makes planters out of old wood and regularly gives me new ones to have in my garden. He is so prolific that we also give planters away to friends and other family members, to clear out space in his garage for the next batch!
Good for bees
There are ways that we have been able to show kindness ourselves. We are enthusiastic supporters of No Mow May, an initiative where we are encouraged not to mow our lawns during the month. The resulting wildflowers and grasses benefit wildlife, tackle pollution and can even lock away carbon below ground.
As we are not huge fans of getting the lawnmower out anyway, this is a win-win situation! I read that leaving the grasses during June is also a good thing to do so we did that too.
Helping others
As well as my own personal experience of kindness related to gardening, I’ve also spotted examples from other people:
• A contributor to Time for Kindness told us about the helpful advice she got from strangers when she posted online that she was learning to grow vegetables.
• Neighbours in the road where I live often have spare plants that they have grown but don’t have room for so they give them away to others in the street.
• Groups of volunteers help to keep public green spaces looking their best, such as the friends of Woodford Park in Woodley.
Whatever your connection to gardening, I’d love to hear about the kindness that you experience.Sarah Browning is a Kindness Cheerleader, Communicator and Strategist. For more inspiring stories of kindness, visit www.timeforkindness.co.uk
By Sarah Browning
