Soul Garden
It’s time to get up close and personal with your plants, says a new book about gardening for mind, body and soul.
Do you ever wonder why it feels so good to run your hands through long grasses, brush against fragrant leaves or walk barefoot on the lawn?
Tactile sensations, where you feel your garden physically as much as spiritually, can provide a deeper connection with the earth, says gardening expert Annie Burdick, author of a new book, Gardening For Mind, Body And Soul.
“We don’t realise that a lot of gardening is tactile and we are gravitating towards touching things in the garden anyway. So if you dig your hands into the soil, or feel leaves, or if you walk by a tree and brush the bark, it all connects us to the garden more,” says Burdick, from her home in Oregon.
“It can add a lot of benefit to how much we enjoy being in the garden and also just the mental feedback from the experience of being out there.
It has a positive effect on people with sensory disorders or who are on the autism spectrum or children who are just learning to look at their environment.”
She offers the following tips on how to make your garden more tactile.
1>> PLANT TOUCHY FEELY PLANTS
“Focus on things which are native to your area, which are soft, spongy and textured, like lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantine), Jerusalem sage, Mexican bush sage, tall ornamental grasses with plume-like tops that you can run your hands along.” She also recommends pussy willow and Senecio cineraria and to avoid anything sharp in a tactile garden, such as thorny roses, or sharp foliage.
2>> MAKE THE MOST OF MOSS
Some people might find it a nuisance but moss is great to touch and feel – it’s soft, springy and feels lovely under your fingertips, she notes.
“Moss also grows quickly, spreads easily, provides great cushion and texture, adds a landscaping element and is amazing for the ecosystem of your garden,” she writes.
You can pick a clump of moss from your garden and mix it with a cup of natural yogurt in a blender, then spread the mixture on the surfaces of pots, benches or statues (to help moss grow on them) enjoying the soft texture as you pass by, she suggests.
3>> FEEL YOUR FLOWERS
Plant flowers which have really soft petals which feel good to the touch, such as petunias or pansies, she says.
4>> SITE YOUR SENSORY PLANTS IN EASY TOUCHING DISTANCE
“It depends on how much space you have, but I would recommend to have tactile plants near where you are sitting down, so you can reach out and touch them. They could also be put in a space where you are doing some work, or where you just want to hang out with a friend, or meditate or read. It’s about getting that green time.”
5>> DIP INTO WATER
“I love water as an option for a tactile garden. People think of it as a sound thing, but I think having a trickling element gives you a unique and calming sensation when you dip your hands in and feel the soft, rushing water.”
6>> DON’T FORGET FURNITURE AND ORNAMENTS
The more texture you have in your garden, the better, so it might be a wrought iron bench or a rattan chair, or a wooden seat piled high with soft cushions, so you sink into different feelings to enjoy your garden.
Sculptures also add a more touchable element to your space, as you run your hands over the different surfaces of a statue each time you pass it, she offers.
Smooth stones and pathways can also feel great underfoot if you throw off your shoes and socks.
“Moss also grows quickly, spreads easily, provides great cushion and texture, adds a landscaping element and is amazing for the ecosystem”
Bird Life
Create a wildlife haven in your garden that provides nesting sites, shelter and food to help support swifts, swallows and house martins. All these birds have suffered severe declines in recent years. They’ve suffered habitat loss and plummeting insect numbers, both of which are affected by pollution, the impacts of development, and climate change. With a bit of diversity and structure, a garden can become a haven for all kinds of wildlife, providing nesting sites, shelter and food. It’s all about being creative, ditching all chemicals, and letting things go a bit wild.
Gift your birds a box this year. Some birds are happy to select their own accommodation, a robin making a nest in an old pair of gardening boots or a pair of blackbirds hiding their nest in a tangle of stems in a dense shrub. Lots of other birds, though, will be happy to use manmade boxes. These can be a lifesaver if natural nesting spots are in short supply or human building work means eaves or soft boards are no longer available for house sparrows or returning migrant birds such as swifts. Place the boxes as close as you can to where the original site was.
Lend a hand with nest lining. Birds use a wonderful variety of nesting material.
Long-tailed tits, for instance, spend days constructing a tear-dropped globe from thousands of pieces of lichen, moss, grass, wool, hair and feathers. Tolerating some moss in your lawn and hanging up undyed sheep’s wool will ensure there’s a plentiful supply, even in new build gardens.
Meanwhile, swallows and house martins use mud, binding it together with pieces of dry grass. Mud isn’t always easy to come by, especially in a dry year, so muck in by building a mini bog garden or keeping a muddy edge to the side of your garden pond.
Serve up some insects. Plant an insect friendly border or meadow flowers such as wild carrot, poppies, yarrow, scabious and bistorts. What you’re looking for are flowers with open structures which even the tiniest of flies, wasps and beetles can land on and access the nectar or pollen.
Massive declines in insect numbers means there is less fodder for hungry birds.
Even seed-eating birds will usually need a plentiful supply of caterpillars, aphids and other insects to feed their young.