The Benefit of A Gardening Pause

In filling my rental apartment patio with plants this summer, I've realized one key thing: I miss flowers more than any other part of my mum's garden at the old house. 

This year my patio has been filled with succulents. So many succulents. I love the succulents. But I really miss being able to go out and cut a bouquet of flowers to bring in the house almost every single day all summer.

So, next year, I will focus on figuring out how to grow a cutting garden in pots. I've been compiling a list of good flowers for cutting in a note on my phone. Adding to it when I remember something we used to grow, or I see something in someone else's garden (maybe occasionally snipping off a seed head that's easy to reach), or someone mentions a specific type of flower. So far, my core list will be sunflowers, cosmos, poppies, sweet peas, and maybe zinnias. 

I've also been checking out a lot of books from the library about growing flowers. Some I read, some I flip through and send back. Two that I've really liked so far are Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler and Grow and Gather by Grace Alexander. 

Both of these authors are in the UK, so they're growing in a drastically different climate than me, but there is still plenty of solid advice that transcends growing zones. I've been enjoying Grow and Gather so much that I ordered a copy of my own; it's such a beautiful book. I may eventually get a copy of Garden Anywhere as well.

Moving from my parent's old house and yard into an apartment has been an excellent opportunity to pause and think. If I had moved right into a house with a yard, I would have just been stuck right into taking care of what was there and reverting to "this is what I should be planting in a garden" habits. Instead of having a chance to go, "Actually, this is what I really miss. This is what I don't miss." So when I do live in a place with a yard again, I can focus on curating what I genuinely want to grow instead of what I think I should be growing. 

My mum used to say she would rather have had a whole garden of flowers, but she grew a large vegetable garden out of guilt, but it was also a necessity. Feeding a family of five is expensive. If you have the skills to grow and preserve, you can save a fair bit of money (we'll not discuss the time investment there.) 

So, since I've taken a different path in life, I want to grow what I truly love, flowers, not what I feel obligated to. Because I wish my mum could have done that.