Creativity in the Garden

Gardens provide many creative ways to express oneself.

I feel like one of the most creative things you can do is to plan the layout of a garden. There are many factors that come into play such as, the direction that the sun rises and sets. Other things to consider are what type of plants you will have, what type of trellises to use, what plants do well next to each other, and how much room they need to grow. I find this type of problem solving to be mentally stimulating and the ability to create/problem solve gives me a sense of pride in myself. The self-confidence part of creativity gives me a great sense of satisfaction.

I have a rather large garden and that allows the flexibility to have larger structures if I choose, as well as quite a variety of plants. We have over 30 kinds of vegetables in our garden. Most are for consumption, but some are for decorative purposes like the ornamental pumpkins for fall and gourds used to build bird houses. I chose to build tripods of large wooden posts we had left over from an old project and old fence wire to support the gourds. As you can see below they have taken over one tripod and we have added another for them to move to.

Witnessing the creativity of nature feels like a privilege and makes me feel more grounded. When I am more grounded it leads to me feel increased peace and happiness. We have chose to have 7 varieties of tomatoes. One of the most beautiful things we have in the garden are the small teardrop tomatoes that will eventually turn yellow when ripe. I love the natural beauty of their shape and I'm sure they will be even more beautiful when they ripen and turn yellow.

Another creative aspect of gardening is what you choose to do with the produce you harvest. We choose to use ours in fresh garden to table meals such as omelettes with fresh peppers and onions or just picked beans or zucchini with home grown garlic as a side for dinner. In order to save money and contribute to our own health we prepare and freeze what we cannot eat. Everything gets picked, then directly washed, prepared, and frozen. Some more beautiful things in the garden are beets once they're sliced and the green beans along with purple beans mixed together. The purple beans turn a darker shade of green than the regular green beans when cooked so they still add color contrast on the plate.

I enjoy the creativity and control that the garden allows me in my life. It boosts my self-confidence and lets me choose the types of food and nutrients I want to include in my diet. In addition, I am able to provide food to friends and family. Being helpful and a valuable part of a community is healthy behavior for all of us to engage in. As I get older I want to live my best, healthiest life and creativity plays a large part in that.

Thank you for reading my post. I hope you are having a beautiful day. I leave you with a cute watermelon.