Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. – May Sarton

Gardening is a bug which, once caught, never leaves us alone. A garden is a place where ‘I find myself when I need to lose myself’, where my little transitory existence comes into gentle contact with the great cycles of nature, the coming and going and give and take that regulates and measures our lives. It does this on a human scale, in a way that we can understand and in which we can participate and have some small influence. It is simultaneously a very simple and deeply profound activity, and yields to whatever approach we wish to make.

A garden can feed us and teach us. We know that active physical and mental health depends on good nutrition, and we know that some of the more challenging effects of ageing, such as cognitive decline, can be addressed through ‘lifelong learning’. This is the kind of learning which has no end point, no ‘final’ achievement. A garden can bring these things together; there’s always something to learn, and if we plant and tend carefully, often something to eat.

Be likes gardens and gardeners. Keep in touch with this thought – a garden is on the way!

 

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