I Stopped Waiting for Perfection
Hidden away in a suburban neighborhood is a little garden that was loved into life by a human - me! This little garden isn't impressive, by any means, but it provides hours of enjoyment, and some food for me, while also providing food and shelter to a multitude of local bugs and critters. Before I created my little garden, this area was just a wood chipped patch of earth in front of a parking spot. There was no life there other than weeds in the spring and summer, and nothing that would attract any life.
For a while I left it as it was, as this place isn't my permanent home. I didn't want to invest a bunch of money into plants that I couldn't keep alive. I unfortunately learned the hard way my first winter here when I improperly overwintered my magnolia tree and hellebores in pots. They all died and it made me so sad.
At that point my thought was "I'll start focusing more heavily on growing a garden, once I own my own property." But I unfortunately have a hard time not buying plants, so last winter I made more of an effort to properly overwinter a handful of perennials, and I dug up and stored my dahlia bulbs and I succeeded at keeping everything alive!
So much of my life has been waiting for things to be perfect before proceeding forward - Once I get the house, the job, the healing that I need, then I'll move forward with my life. But living life on pause isn't truly living. This spring, after last winter's successful perennial save, I decided to go all out (or as all out as I have the space for) and make a beautiful little garden for myself.
I decided to get some containers and experiment with growing potatoes and sweet potatoes, and I've already learned a lot. In fact, I have a running list of everything I'll be doing differently next year.
I bought more herbs and flowers and I've been focusing on mostly buying perennials, or flowers with bulbs that I can dig up and store inside. I love watching plants that I purchase once, come back year after year. It's such a beautiful investment in my future.
I think about all the hours I've spent outside taking care of this little garden, and observing all the bugs and critters enjoying it, and I'm so grateful to myself that I stopped waiting for everything to be perfect before creating it. I think all the bugs and critters are too.
Hi, I’m Kristen!
I envision a world where you and I rediscover what it is to be human, through connection with ourselves, each other and the natural world around us.