Gardening keeps me fit and my mind sharp

Our featured grower this week is Sarah (@sanderson_garden), who is part of the gardening and podcasting team @loosegardeners. Having always been interested in gardening, in particular, taking inspiration from her father, Sarah soon came to see the benefit of gardening for her own overall health and wellbeing. In this blog post, Sarah talks to us about what she loves to grow, and also shares with us some of the most valuable lessons she has learnt through gardening. She tells us how she finds gardening therapeutic, and how time spent in nature keeps her happy. Read on to find out all about Sarah’s gardening journey. 

Reflecting on how she started gardening, Sarah says she has always had green fingers! With her father having been in horticulture for 40 years, gardening has always been in the background. “I properly fell in love with gardening back in 2017, I had some personal things going on and my mental health became a priority and there is no better way than spending time in the garden to help with that. Spending time with plants just makes me happy!” Sarah adds. 

There is plenty that Sarah loves to grow, as she says, “from seed, cosmos! This year I grew double click Rose BonBon and apricotta and they’re both amazing! I also successfully grew verbena Bonariensis from seed this time. However, my favourite plant in the garden is astilbe – I just love them!” 

Speaking of some of her gardening successes, Sarah says she is thrilled about being able to successfully grow vegetables. She goes on to add, “this year was my first time trying and I’m lucky enough to have a small growing space to do so. I especially loving growing tomatoes, but also Aubergine black beauty has me mesmerised and I’m patiently waiting for that first crop, alongside sweet sugar baby watermelon.” 

At the same time, the biggest lesson she has learnt through gardening is patience. “No garden grew in a day, I think that’s a big one to realise! Patience is 100% key. There is no point in potting something on that isn’t ready, no point planting something into the ground too early, and no point harvesting something that isn’t ripe! My most recent realisation is that I need to make more time to sit still and enjoy the garden (although I think I’ve yet to meet a gardener who can successfully do this!),” Sarah says. 

On the other hand, the changing weather is something she finds challenging. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to gauge the weather and how and when it is best to plant certain things. Take July right now, there are thunderstorms left right and centre, completely battering all of the beautiful flowers we’ve worked so hard to raise! It’s something we really need to learn to adjust to I suppose so we can successfully grow a beautiful garden year round,” she says. 

Sarah also reflected on how gardening has benefitted her overall health, noting that it is therapeutic. “Gardening I think has saved my mental health dipping on many occasions. There is something about taking a pair of snips and disappearing into the garden to deadhead for an hour – it’s so therapeutic. It keeps me fit and my mind sharp as I’m constantly changing things up!” she explains. 

As she took on gardening on her own, Sarah also found inspiration from her parents. “The passion and dedication it takes to run a nursery 7 days a week and still go home and keep an immaculate garden and be passionate about it, is all the inspiration I need,” she says, adding, she also finds inspiration through instagram, “I have a wonderful gardengram family and there are so many inspiring accounts on there too.” 

Sarah has a lot in store for her garden in the future. She adds, jokingly, “I think if I told my husband Paul right now that I had more changes to implement anytime soon he might divorce me! I would however, love to incorporate a little workshop in there for him somewhere. I’d also love to address the front garden – it’s not quite where I’d like it to be, but I’ve not fully made up my mind as to what we’ll do there yet.”