Learning from the Garden

Written by Steven Howard from N/D Garden Design

Steven is an eco-friendly garden designer and consultant based in Ashbourne, Derbyshire

As September arrives and the kids go back to school, some of us will suddenly find we have much more time to spend in the garden. With the paddling pool and toys finally tidied away, we can have an objective look at the garden, take stock and work out what has worked and what hasn't. Autumn is the best time to start any major garden projects; it's now that you want to start planning your garden for 2025 but also a great time to reflect on what you've learned over the spring and summer.

Gardening is nothing if not one big learning experience, even as someone who has gardened for a living and as a hobby for years, I am still learning. There are very few people who can say they know it all. Every year, I watch the garden for changes and differences and adjust my habits the following year accordingly. Gardening ‘successfully’ ( I use inverted commas because this is a very subjective concept) is difficult. It takes time, dedication and patience to master but it also takes a great deal of trail and error. This is part of the fun but can also tip the scales of enjoyment if there starts to become more error than trial. One of the reasons I started the garden coaching service was because I would very often be met with people who simply gave up because they had convinced themselves they couldn't garden.

Here are some tips to help you learn how to get the best out of your garden.

1.     Take notes. I am a dedicated note taker and try my best to notice the little changes each year brings. Some years are better for growing than others so note these changes and use that information to good effect in future years.

2.     Sit and watch. I often tell garden coaching clients that ‘There's no better fertiliser than the shadow of the gardener.” It’s an old Japanese proverb which basically means if you're out in the garden often, observing the changes and variations, you'll have a better garden overall.

3.     Grow the same varieties twice. Every year is different. You might have no success with tomatoes one year which might be more down to the season than anything you might have done wrong. Don't give up - grow the same varieties the next year and observe the changes. Remember your secondary school experiments: keep all the factors the same except one and record the outcomes.

Being green-fingered is less of a skill and more of an intuition. An intuition which only comes from confidence gained through experience. Consuming garden media is great but they often offer very general advice and there's no real substitute for personal experience and ‘failures’ only help with gaining that experience. So don't let the negatives get in the way of you enjoying your garden. Enjoy the ebb and flow and start planning for next year!

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