My quiet place in a noisy world

When it comes to gardening, our featured grower, Kelly (ohhomelygirl) finds inspiration from her own family who always had lovely gardens. In this blog post Kelly shares with us how she started gardening, what she loves to grow, her gardening successes and what she finds challenging. She also talks about her passion for natural health, growing her own medicinal garden, and reminds us to enjoy the process when it comes to gardening.  

Reflecting on how she first started gardening, Kelly says, “I first started gardening around 17 years ago when I bought my first house. I wanted to make the most of the garden and started learning all I could to improve it.” The first seed she ever sowed was Lobelia, which was influenced by all the baskets of trailing lobelia her parents grew when she was a child. “I caught the bug quite quickly after that,” Kelly says, adding that she now grows flowers, vegetables, medicinal plants and herbs. 

Kelly is passionate about natural health, “I am currently growing my own pharmacy. I am currently working on a medicinal garden that will provide me with healing plants to make salves, lotions, tinctures, infused oils and teas.” 

While the medicinal garden is indeed exciting, Kelly says her biggest gardening success this year was definitely the huge growhouse! Having found it on social media by pure luck, Kelly adds, “we picked it up and gave it a makeover. It now houses this year’s tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and cucumbers, and they are thriving!” However, on the other hand, Kelly admits she is not a fan of sieving soil, although she likes the outcome, she is not so fond of the process. She also finds weeding a challenge sometimes especially if it is not done regularly enough, adding, “we have horsetail, so its essential we keep on top of it”. 

Over the years, she has drawn inspiration from her own family when it comes to gardening. “My mum, dad, aunts and uncles have always kept lovely gardens and I have many sweet childhood memories of playing in each of them. It inspired me to create my own space one day.” Her allotment is her happy place. After all, as Kelly says, “it is the best therapy! My quiet place in a noisy world. It is so good for the soul, a bad day is quickly turned into a good one after a spot of gardening.”

A typical day in the garden begins with popping the kettle on! After that, Kelly’s first job would usually be weeding and assessing any slug damage, “I always have heirs and spares…if I lose a young plant to pests, I have one in the wings to replace it. If all is well and I have surplus plants, I gift them to neighbours”. After that, it is mainly pottering and enjoying the process.

Along with growing medicinal plants, Kelly also plans to grow lots of delicious vegetables and cut flowers this year. 

Kelly has also used coir-based products and says she has a particular love for the coir pots, with towers of them stacked in the growhouse. Sharing her experiences of using coir-based products, Kelly explains, “I start my seeds in coco peat and grow my carrots in a part coco peat mix. All my chilli peppers are grown in coir pots. I also prevent transplant shock by planting young temperamental plants out in the biodegradable coir pots.”

As for sharing tips with other gardeners and growers, she’s got a simple message, “Have fun with it! Have fun with it! Not every seed will germinate and not all seedlings will make it to maturity, be sure to count the wins and not the losses, just enjoy the process, it’s good for you”.