Gardening is an art, great exercise, productive, and a refuge… Time spent gardening can be therapeutic, meditative, restorative, and grants a singular sense of immediate achievement as you weed, hoe, plant, and harvest. If you're trying to cultivate a more intentional, peaceful, and enriching life, cultivating a plant (or two, or ten) may be just the key to unlock some quiet time to appreciate beauty… both in the garden and in yourself.
Did you ever plant an amaryllis and watch it grow? Every day after the sprout breaks free of the soil, you can actually measure that day's growth. As we continue to grow toward the goal of a better self every day, it can be amazingly inspiring to watch the growth of healthy, colorful, ever-changing plants. Whether you nurture a small pot of herbs in a window, raise a container garden on a balcony in the city, or tend a spacious plot of vegetables or flowers, you know the magic of watching verdant seedlings grow and mature into what they were meant to be. (You may even do some growing yourself!) Be sure to check in regularly for free tips and insights on gardening from experts across the county and make the most of your soon-to-be-greener thumb.
Essential Oils are simple, organic options to use in the garden. For plants infested with insects, use one of the following essential oils. Fill a mist spray bottle with 4 oz. of water, add the essential oils and mist the infested plant. (Use as little as possible.) Several applications, a few days apart, may be necessary:
- Peppermint: ants, aphids, bean beetle, cabbage root fly, caterpillars, black flee beetle, flies, lice, moths, and plant lice.
- Lemongrass: black flea beetle, fleas, mosquitoes, and ticks.
- Pine: slugs, snails, and wooly aphids.
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"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful." ~Abram L. Urban