New Year 2025, ‘New’ Garden?

As the new year unfolds it’s a good time to plan ahead a little and decide how to make small, but powerful changes to your greenhouse and your garden.

For many reasons, I didn’t get much gardening done last year and so the garden has run away with me a bit. But instead of letting that get me down, it has made me more determined to make small changes to improve not just my garden, but how I garden and how I use my garden and my greenhouse to its full potential, not just for my family but for the environment and for nature too.

To have a garden is a blessing. To have a large garden is a privilege and to have a greenhouse in that garden, is a total joy. Sometimes we really need to stop and count our blessings.

Recently I was shocked by a visit to a huge block of flats, possibly built in the 70s, in a city near me. It was summer and the balconies and side of the block resembled a huge cruise ship. But there the similarities ended. The sea view was missing, the holiday atmosphere totally absent and the shabby decline of the façade was more decay than gentle sea washed weathering. There were no sky gardens or green walls, no balconies bursting with pots and planters. It was stark, bare and festering. But this was home to hundreds of families, crammed into a small footprint of space with little access to trees, nature, parks and gardens. It was shocking. A real eye opener. Sadly, I can’t change that, but I can make a difference. We can all make a difference.

I do work with community projects, but sometimes we need to focus on what is on our doorstep too. And that means our gardens, our outdoor space. So, in case you need some ideas on how to enhance your growing space, and ways it can improve your life, health and so much, well, here are my plans for 2025.

Working more with wildlife and nature

Wildlife is uppermost in pretty much everything I do in my garden. But my focus is on the little things because everything is interconnected. By looking after the little things, we support the bigger things.

Snails are a great example of this. Hugely unpopular, these little creatures have a big role in our gardens and beyond into nature. They eat dead and decaying matter. And they also eat seedlings, young shoots and some of our plants. All of these are snail food. And once we understand that and learn how to keep the snail food away from the snails, we make a huge and powerful difference. Snails are not the enemy. Snail eggs and baby snails are food for beetles and other garden helpers. Bigger snails are food for thrushes. They bash the snail shells to get the juicy, protein rich flesh and leave the broken shells to break down into the soil. Broken snail shells provide essential calcium for wild birds to ensure that their eggs are strong and healthy. And there are even some rare bees that nest in empty snail shells. In nature nothing is wasted. So, before you reach for the snail killer or anything else that kills stop and think. Do you really want to dress your garden in poisons??  By learning about your garden ‘pests’ and understanding the role that they play in nature you may find that you are killing your free ‘pest control’ and destroying your garden allies. Allow your plants to toughen up so that they are less palatable to slugs and snails.

Create a Seating area

It doesn’t matter how big or small your patch is, you need a chair or a seat to enjoy it more. Even if it’s a balcony and you drag a dining chair out every morning for your coffee, you can create a viewing point for your garden or the view beyond. You might already have a garden bench? Somewhere in the garden where you like to sit? Front or back? But what about another one? Or a chair in the greenhouse? A stool by the front door, looking down the path? A perch near the bird feeder where you can watch your feathered friends enjoy their feast. Or maybe a café table and chairs for impromptu visitors to enjoy tea and cake?? It really does transform the garden and often opens up a fresh view or a new aspect of your plot?

You don’t need to conform. You could make a turf seat on the lawn, repurpose a tree stump or find something else to sit on. Or just a cushion on the garden wall would do. The important thing is that it gets you outside into the garden a little more often than you might normally. This year I am adding a table and chairs to my front garden. It’s set back from the road and elevated so I have a great view through the trees. But there is also a plan to add a comfy chair to the greenhouse, so I can hide away and focus on my seeds, seedlings, cuttings and plants.

Build a Garden Pond

You might be surprised to learn that I don’t actually have a proper pond or a wildlife pond in my garden. There are several reasons for that. The main one is that there are three huge pools of water behind my house that are a refuge and a watering hole for the local wildlife. These pools attract a huge range of creatures to my garden and while I do provide drinking and bathing water as well as boggy areas, I haven’t yet found the right place for a proper pond. It’s one of the new features that I want to explore this year. I know it could be the missing link between my garden and the nature reserve beyond and I am intrigued and inspired by what it might attract. So … watch this space.

Focus on Health

Having a garden or an outdoor space puts us ahead in terms of healthy living in so many ways. Sometimes its easy to stay indoors in the warm, but getting outside in the sunshine is so good for us in so many ways. They call it Vitamin G or Vitamin N referring to gardening or nature, but I think it’s more than that. Breathing in the sunlight, standing in the moonlight, hugging a tree or just being out in nature truly imbues our world with something magical. Nature bathing is a thing. Find a way to get out into the garden, a park or a woodland and look up. Not to mention the benefits of gentle exercise and the fresh air.

If you grow your own produce, even in tiny amounts, it supports healthier eating and real fresh vitamins and nutrients to enhance or diet. Just a pot of herbs is a start. If you are able to grow a few ingredients, be sure to grow without chemicals so that every morsel is organic and free from unwanted dressings and toxins.

Grow some cut flowers

It might seem a bit indulgent but using the garden to provide something for you is a really positive and empowering way to make more of your garden. I love to pick flowers from my garden for posies to take to friends, family or neighbours. It’s such a simple, but powerful and positive act. But, I don’t always pick them for myself. So ,this year I am growing more flowers for cutting. When I pick them and condition them before gifting them, I am going to put them on the hearth for at least one evening so that I get the pleasure of them before they go to their recipient. It’s a win-win and a great way to enjoy the flowers and then share the wonder. You don’t need a big flower patch, but if you have room for a cutting garden, then that would be great. You can grow a few plants for cut flowers in pots or add some to the flower border. Grow from seed to save funds and share the excess plants with others. Choose to grow flowers that are good for pollinators too and you get to feed the butterflies and bees and have cut flowers too. But whatever you do grow something that brings you joy and adds to the enjoyment of your garden.