New year, new goals, new garden?

27 Dec

Firstly, I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas.

This can often be a bit of a strange time of year, the period between Christmas and New Year.

But something I love to do around this busy time is reflect. So in this blog I thought I’d share some useful things to get you in a reflective mood, ahead of the annual setting of resolutions.

Reflecting on your garden

I am all for simplifying things and to reflect I like to use a Weather model approach.

Whilst this can be used widely to reflect on anything, as a Garden Designer I thought I would tweak this slightly to encourage you to reflect on your garden.

Sunshine: What went well in your garden this year? What did you grow that you loved? What were your favourite moments in the garden?
Rain: What didn’t go to plan? Were there times you felt your garden didn’t work for you? What was it that held you back?
Lightening: Were there any surprises this year? Did you discover something new? Did you have an ‘ah ha’ moment in the garden? Did something inspire you that you want to try next year?

Setting garden goals and creating a vision

Once you have been through these questions you can then start to turn these reflections into goals. Goals can be big or small, with short and long timescales and most importantly they should be unique to you.

When it comes to setting goals for your garden it can be incredibly helpful to create a visual plan. This might be a Pinterest board, physical moodboard or a vision board.

Having a visual plan can help to keep you on track and motivate you, especially if your goals are longer term and will take more time to fully implement.

Be inspired, but not pressured

Whilst I am a real advocate in seeking inspiration from lots of places, it can be easy to get sucked into unrealistic expectations and feel pressured, especially when looking through gorgeous magazines and scrolling Instagram and Pinterest.

It’s important to be realistic about your lifestyle and budget when it comes to planning your garden goals.

A little bit like the breathtaking show gardens we see at the Flower shows, what we see is not always real. So be careful to take these with a pinch of salt, and use the inspiration to put your twist on what works for you.

After all, a garden should be a unique reflection of you.

I would love to know if you have any garden related goals for 2023?

If you are feeling stuck when it comes to your garden, get in touch today.

I can support you to define your garden goals and work in partnership with you to create a clear plan that will transform how you use your home and garden.