This week's Great Wake Up! experiment involved 'Guerilla Planting'. Now I'd never heard of this phrase before, but when I mentioned it to others, it became clear that it was more well known than I'd thought. I'd obviously missed out on something, somewhere along the way. Perhaps it's because I'm not a gardener. I've never really planted anything since I left school when most of us were required to grow something as part of our science lesson, usually a sunflower.
Anyway, this week we had to plant or sow something green in an empty space in the hope that it would brighten up a dull area at some point in the future. Chris described this experiment as slightly naughty, which as a fearful, rule-abiding (some would say, boring!) person, immediately put the barriers up inside me. I know, I know, it's ridiculous!
So instead I found an empty patch in my dad's garden and used this instead. That way I thought that the family could enjoy the results (if there were any!) of my efforts. Okay, let's be honest, I'm really just making excuses and decided I wanted to take the easy option!
But this was a fun exercise for me. I mentioned that I wasn't a gardener but I'd always harboured secret dreams of having a small piece of land where I could grow my own plants, flowers and even vegetables. I also like the idea of keeping herbs and using them in my food, which ties in with a previous experiment where we had to cook from scratch. Growing and eating my own food sounds like a lovely way to live.
But it's never something I've taken forward - as always other things have got in the way and it is a dream that I neglected over the years. But this experiment has reminded me that I need to reconnect with that vision and so I shall be looking at ways in which I can do this.
I know a lot of people find gardening a relaxing exercise as it helps them connect with nature and this is something I'd really like to experience in my own life.
3 Comments
I planted sun flowers seeds yesterday in the hope that they grow and give me pleasure in a few months
Interesting read Pretti, gardening definitely connects us to nature, make your dream a reality x
Good luck with your planting, Preeti! Just be warned that gardening can be infectious :-)
Sounds good Preeti. The doing has started to action a dream...hope your world does get greener. C x