#SixOnSaturday: Seeding mindfulness

There will be some who will roll their eyes at this week’s #SixOnSaturday, well aware that I’ve gone too soon with my seed-sowing, tempted to gently but firmly – because this is the online gardening community where, in my experience, all advice is offered politely and with the very best of intentions – explain why I’ve done myself no favours and set myself up for disappointment.

To this, I would simply reply: sowing seeds is good for my mental health.

I know – and regularly see and read on gardening social media – all the reasons why one should resist the urge to sow seeds this early in the year (and if you don’t know what they are, just have a quick hunt through Gardening Twitter and Gardening Instagram!).

Despite that, I have proactively chosen to select some of the seeds I’m most excited about growing this year, soaked coir in water, dug out seed trays and modules and cracked on.

I know not everything will germinate. I know things will get leggy. I know I’ll end up starting again from scratch. I know I’ll run out of room on my windowsills.

I’ve done a risk assessment – in my head, not in a spreadsheet; that really would be concerning!! – and decided the positive impact on my mental health of sowing seeds now far outweighs the mild inconvenience and passing disappointment of things not growing.

The reality is that some of the plants that grow from this sowing are going to be epically successful. And in the case of the ones that aren’t, I simply get to sow more seeds!!! If that’s not a win win situation I’m not sure what is.

All the seeds featured in my six are either new varieties of things I’ve already grown before (the sweet peas, cosmos and sunflowers), or plants that are new to me this year.

Clockwise from main image: sunflower Earth Walker, cosmos Seashells, carnations, antirrhinum, cauliflower All The Year Round, sweet peas of various varieties from Grace Alexander Flowers.

Custodianship of #SixOnSaturday has transferred to Jim, who blogs at Garden Ruminations. I imagine you will find lots of other lovely blog posts in the comments there!

Happy gardening!

Louise

Twitter and Instagram: MySecretGard

PS Incidentally, I should probably point out that all the seeds I’ve sown are described as suitable for planting at this time of year; January / February (depending on the specific seed) are given on the relevant packets as the earliest time to sow. And sweet peas are widely regarded as best sown at this time of year.

Just so you know I haven’t completely lost the plot!