5 Lessons Learned from the Garden

This year I learned a lot from my garden. Here are the top 5 lessons I learned and how I’m taking them into the new year. Happy Gardening!

IG: @hellogardendesign
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Gardening in Seattle, WA. Zone 8b.

Hey friends welcome back if you are new here my name is Kate I’m a landscape designer and Avid Gardner here in Seattle Washington this channel is all about me sharing my life as a landscaper and designer all of my knowledge my tips and tricks and if that sounds good to

You I’d love to have you along today we’re heading out into the garden I’m making myself a cup of coffee we’re going to get out there I’m going to do some late winter cleanup and dive into the top five things my garden has taught me in

2023 the very first thing that my garden taught me was get out in the front yard so this is the year that we installed um our patio space and raised beds in the front garden and it was profound How Deeply this impacted Our Lives we met so

Many new neighbors we shared produce we swapped gardening tips we had just wonderful conversation and connection and what I realized is that by placing a communal Gathering space literally in my front yard we had created a sense of invitation so no longer was the invitation at our front door it was at

The sidewalk and doing that it was literally as if we had moved in for the first time and I cannot emphasize enough how much that impacted Our Lives all right lesson number two make mistakes and enjoy the process I feel like this is a lesson that I remind myself of every year and

It reminds me a lot actually of when I taught edible gardening at an elementary school I would encounter a lot of kids who were so afraid of killing a plant making a mistake doing something wrong and what I would tell them is I would say here I am a professional and I

Literally kill more plants than anyone I know and the only thing that means is that I am out here trying so this year as I look at the lovely three dead boxwood in my front yard I am just taking it in I’m getting humble I’m acknowledging that

Even a professional can be terrible at handw watering and this is the reason I automate things so make the mistakes learn from it enjoy the process move on all right lesson number three don’t save yourself for last o okay this is actually a big one

And it’s also a goal for next year this past year I installed a staggering 843 containers and what I noticed every single season and by the way I install them seasonally so I have spring summer fall and then winter SL holiday containers and what I noticed every

Season is that I was installing my containers last and here’s the deal I I know why I do it it’s because I love my clients and I want to have a full tank when I go install for everyone but on the flip side I realize that putting myself first doesn’t actually empty my

Tank at all it fills it up I get a little bit of that creative juice for me which then ignites the spark that will take me through the rest of the season so in 2024 I’m going to go first lesson number four is to Garden unplugged here is what I mean I am

Really like a podcast self-development book junkie I love to throw in a good podcast love to throw in an audiobook and head out in the garden I just feel like it’s a nice way to learn as I’m doing maybe a more repetitive task however what I did did start to notice

Is that these were distraction techniques for me and I actually really need the garden to ground myself so what I started to play with and lean into is um the Buddhist talk about a sort of like active or walking meditation as an opportunity to be present to ground yourself to blend

Mind Body Spirit all of that and so this year I am vowing to do more active meditative gardening I’m actually going to take off my gloves bonus points here I’m going to get my fingers in the soil and really listen to the wind the hum of the insects and let my world slow

Down lesson number five learned from the garden this year is to plant more cut flowers I had a super packed schedule this year and then was also busy working on the front yard and I really did not have time to install The Cut Flower like I usually do in the backyard what ended

Up happening though is every week it would get more weedy and overrun and by the end of the growing season I I was just like haunted by it Not only was it an eyore but also I was missing all of the cut flowers that I could cut and

Fill every corner of my house with more specifically I actually really missed my zenas and my Cosmos I miss the joy of it so really that lesson is about doing something that I don’t know it may seem a little frivolous to grow and plant cut flowers

But at the end of the day it is so lifegiving so those little moments of beauty that seem to be way down on the priority list those are lifegiving and they’re actually more of a priority than we even think that they will be so that’s my wrap up happy 2023 I

Would love to hear what you have learned from your garden so leave that in the comments below I I just learned so much from witnessing what other people do and how other people think and and it just opens my mind to Endless Possibilities wishing you a beautiful new year we’ll

See you in the next one