Sometimes less is more, more or less
Most people enjoy interacting with nature
Being out and about in the fresh air is a great energizer and, more so if you get into gardening as it can soon consume you within its embrace, and it might even become one of your life’s greatest pleasures.
Everyone is different but, it would be difficult to find many who do not enjoy interacting with nature in some form or other. Gardening is easy but, sometimes the various media channels make it far too complicated in their efforts to make it look easy. The main thing is not to take their advice too seriously or as the definitive truth but, take some of this advice on board and then let the rest come from your instincts and common sense.
The purpose of garden shows is to stimulate your mind for ideas that you can adapt, if relevant to your garden. These shows are usually stuffed with plants for instant impact and rightly so, otherwise they would look sad and undeveloped. The continentals have a habit of doing the same with their gardens and then cut out plants as others outgrow their allotted space, whereas in these islands we tend to plant at a wider spacing and enjoy our gardens develop over a few years.
Knowledge is king or something similar, and like everything the more you know the less you know but, common threads of sound knowledge seem to stick in the brain and then come out when needed. Much is about repetition and familiarity, so yes, those gardening programmes are timely reminders on what, when and how to do things. They do make it look so easy and again there is no point in these programmes in doing half jobs, and I do dip in and out of these gardening slots, especially the good ones run by the BBC, and find them a good way to stay in touch.
If we are looking for guidelines on what to do with the garden, it is no harm in observing the natural world, which probably means areas of the countryside where man has not had too much of an input, so that excludes built up areas and towns. The landscape in nature always looks seamless, pleasing, peaceful and easy on the eye, and one reason is that it is uncluttered and not a bit fussy looking. Therefore, maybe take this on board and with your input and mindset, try and keep all your garden designing and activities simple and you cannot go far wrong.
There is a concept that people should keep ‘Keep it Simple’ or Kiss for short in whatever they do. You can find out what the remaining ‘S’ stands for if you wish as I am not interested in writing it down. The main thing is not to over complicate whatever you do in your garden and definitely do not try to do too much or it will become too cluttered and give no peace from all your efforts. I always feel that a few appropriate trees, followed by a selection of shrubs will structure and frame your garden, after which you can delve into other plants including perennials and grasses, according to taste which will all soften and create the flow in your garden.
