Can you imagine feeling a sense of joy and abundance by planting and tending 4 window boxes?
I can.
I always thought that nothing could replace my love of designing large, sweeping beds. The expansive, long distance views gave me chills at the end of a long day of work in my garden. Or when opening the pages of a beautifully executed gardening magazine.
But guess what? The yearning for that type of larger than life beauty has been replaced by something else. Gardening ‘in the ‘micro’.
Each morning I can’t wait to check my garden before the pounding rays of the sun take over. I survey my small area of paradise as I walk out the door, take a deep breath, and register the colors that catch my eyes.
Then like a child scrambling to get her hand into the cookie jar, I scurry over to the window boxes to see what has been happening over the past 24 hours. There are always surprises.
I nuzzle up to the plants and then something happens. It’s as if I’ve entered a jungle fairyland. The painters…Gaugain, Glackens, and Van Gogh…have influenced the way I perceive colors. But this spring, it is these windowboxes that are opening up my senses to a new way of using colors.
In this micro-jungle, anything goes. Rather than designing with a sense of symmetry, balance, and repetition, I let it rip. My intent is simply to have fun.
And am I ever! I’m in awe how overnight so much happens. How the tendrils of a vine has wrapped itself around the leaves of another plant. Or how the deep purple flowers of the fluted silver leaved pelargonium and gazanzia contrast perfectly with the yellow leaved beans.
After taking off a few dead leaves, and checking the vines draping over the outer ledge of the wall, I do a slow walk about with my camera. And then I begin shooting. Slowly and quietly.
I sigh and think to myself how lucky I am to be here in this urban paradise…in this moment.
5 lessons I’ve learned from Gardening In The Micro
1. Slow down. Even if you have a slew of gardening tasks that need to get done, set aside at least 5-10 minutes to gaze, touch, talk to (yes I do), and photograph plants.
2. Develop a beginner’s eye. All of us get stuck in seeing or perceiving things one way. You can train yourself by looking at one plant from different angles.
3. Be grateful. Communing with nature is an opportunity to give thanks for the magnificence of all other living things on this earth.
4. Stay In The moment. I’ve written about this in my book, Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening. But I’ve discovered that when I’m ‘gardening in the micro’ it’s easier for me to practice this discipline.
5. Play. Let go of expectations and perfectionism. Allow the process of what you’re experiencing sink into your soul.
P.S. For those of you who think you don’t have enough space or are convinced you have a ‘brown thumb’, forget about it. You can garden on a windowsill. And if you kill a few plants, who cares? Buy some new ones.
Now it’s your turn. Tell us about an experience in your garden that has touched you.
I love your micro gardening. I’ve done so much of it over the years when we lived in apartments and my garden was limited to the balcony. Our balconies were small paradise corners wherever we lived. One time I had over 200 plants on the balcony. From outside, when you would look up at our apartment, it looked like it was woodland up there!!
Here, I’ve often felt overwhelmed by the vastness of the property and the terrible soil. This is hilly grape country, with white, calcium based soil that has nothing organic in it at all, or at least it seems that way. This year I invested heavily in two things: humus and wild flower seed 🙂 My new attitude has paid off. I have a field of clover, my veggie patch is doing surprisingly well, and I’m not stressed, enjoying instead the things that are kind of popping up all over.
xoxoxoxo
Diana….200 plants? I would love to see a picture of your tropical paradise. I hear you about the soil your dealing with…smart move to create a wildflower meadow. Boy, would I ever love to come to your piece of heaven and do some gardening! Am sure it’s magnificent there….regardless of the difficult soil. You sound like a seasoned and talented gardener! Isn’t it the best? xxoo
Hi Fran,
Love this! OMG can you write…thanks for inspiring me. I just bought a bunch of sunflowers at the market this morning. Lavender festival near Show Low begins this weekend and lasts for four weeks. It’s a three hour trip and we’re going to Mexico as well. Isn’t life grand. I do think you need a flower or plant header;)
xoxo
Hi Tess…Ooohhh….sunflowers are one of my all time favorites….they are so in your face…dare I say bold? You’ve talked to me about your lavender saga….I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost plants and tried again the following year. There was one plant I desperately wanted in my garden that I had it sent from California 4 years straight before giving up. Have a great time in Mexico. Thanks for your input about changing the header…am planning to….have a wonderful trip to Mexico…xxoo
Hi Fran,
Love this – sounds so lush. I went from gardening beds along the sides of the lawn to now mostly gardening in large pots. I do love it, as I try and challenge myself each year to create something different. Your micro garden sounds fun! Take care.
Cathy….good for you. Containers can be such fun because you can make seasonal changes easily. Do you know about water crystals….like a sponge, they retain water so that you need to water a lot less. Fran
I am a gardening nut! But this year my big gardens took a beating in a huge hail storm and early heat in Colorado. So maybe somewhere not too far in the future, a micro garden will be perfect for me! I love your tips. We went to our Denver Botanic Gardens a week ago with our cameras. We walked so slowly and saw so much through photography. I’d love to see more pictures, by the way!
xoxo
Betsy
Betsy….I know the feeling of a storm ravaging your garden. It happened to me plenty of times. Even if you aren’t able to put the time in this year to revamp and tidy up, you can still find beauty in it. I’ve heard magnificent things about the Denver Botanical Garden. It is considered to be the best in your neck of the woods. If you want to see more photos of my old garden in Bryn Mawr, Pa., get on my group gardening blog, http://www.gardeninggonewild.com. There are 4 contributors…and it is quite a rowdy group…all with different expertise. xxoo
Hi Fran,
Reading about your morning ritual with the plants was beautiful. I’ve never been much a vegetable gardener but, I do love perennials. It is amazing to see the changes that occur over night!
Angela….Funny you should mention about the thrill of the daily changes in the garden. This morning when i walked out, I discovered some perennials that had been hidden by ones that had literally become mammoth this past week while i was out of town. Poor things needed to be tended to….I immediately dug them up, brought them indoors, placed in a bowl of color water, and will transplant tonight when the sun goes down. The garden is so forgiving BUT you do have to be on your toes if you want to make sure that all of the plants survive. xxoo
I yearn for a garden. Maybe I’ll make a little shelf of pots and string a net over them to protect them from the pigeons. I love this post, Fran. It is so sweet.
Vidya….I know from your photos that you have some magnificent views from your home. Although it’s not hands on gardening, you can garden with your soul through your connection to nature. And yes, you can even garden without light or a windowsill. When I was in college, I had 60 plants in my basement apt. When I think about it now, I laugh. I must have been living in a jungle. xxoo-Fran
I keep trying. One day I’ll discover a way to make things grow here. Our mountain soil is all crushed granite. Taking baby steps, a couple years ago I invested in some big self-watering containers. I was drawn in by all the pictures of massive vegetable plants grown in the pots by people in harsh desert climates and other unlikely places.
Unfortunately, in an effort to ensure that my plants got enough sun, I cooked them on the hottest side of the house. I put them on the deck to keep the deer away. However that didn’t keep the ground squirrels and chipmunks away. They ate the leaves faster than the plants could grow. I put netting over them but the critters got tangled and died in a couple cases. Then the bugs moved in.
In our climate and with our wildlife, enclosed hoop gardens and greenhouses are the only answer. I guess it’s time to make the investment.
Until then, we have fun planting a packet of wildflower seeds in a big pot on the deck. The kids love planting the seeds, watering and watching everything grow.
The last time we went to the local hardware store, the kids insisted on buying watermelon and tomato seeds. They have visions of thousands of watermelons all over the place. Hopefully we’ll get one. Whether or not we do, it’s still so fun watching the kids and the plants grow together.
Reading how you write about gardening fills my heart with your passion and excitement about all the green and colorful life around us. Simply beautiful!! <3
Paige….I smiled as I read your comment. I know the feeling of trying and failing. One way to tip the barometer towards more successful results is by reading about others who garden in your USDA Zone. A great source for anything that you might want to try in the future is http://www.gardeners.com. It offers organic solutions and sells products that are useful for folks like you and me that are gardening under difficult circumstances. Fabric covers (which they sell) are a wonderful way of protecting veggies/fruits from heat, insects, and rodents. Do you have a fence that you can grow vines on (small pumpkins love them)?
There is nothing more rewarding than involving children in gardening. My own children grew up pulling fresh tomatoes, cukes, squash,etc. off the vines after having sown the seeds months…it was beautiful watching their glee when they came running into the kitchen with their bounty.
If I can be helpful to you in any way, let me know. xxoo-Fran
Instead of a micro garden, I actually have a very large organic garden. Too big for me so I’ve invited neighbours to plant in there so turned it into a community garden of sorts. It’s fun to see what everyone is planting and compare veggies. It also makes it more enjoyable to weed when doing it alongside a neighbour or two. We also share sometimes since someone may have grown lots of something and another didn’t plant that veggie.
I love watching the plants grow, getting my hands on the earth, and eating fresh, organic goods grown myself. Nothing tastes better than a home grown tomato, and melt-in-your-mouth lettuce, and fresh raspberries and on and on… Yum!
Merna….Lucky you! How brilliant of you to turn your large plot of land into an informal community garden. It is fascinating and exciting to see what other people grow and how they plant and design their plot of land.
In Philadelphia, we actually have a city wide urban community garden contest each summer. It’s such a treat to go to different neighborhoods and see what is being grown…
You are contributing to the land and the spirit of humans by sharing your garden. My hat is off to you. Fran