Creating Space

Fighting for space

It's the time of year in our garden for clearing out the summer crops and tidying up the plants that have been given free rein to sprawl during the much-too-hot-to-garden summer months here in inland Andalucía. As I slowly embrace this work, I have begun to feel a tangible sense of relief as I see a bit of crumbly brown earth appear once more amongst the vegetation.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still to committed to the idea of a traditional country garden or 'potager' where flowers and vegetables rub shoulders in a riotous display of blooms and produce; I still believe that in the hot summer months, ground cover is the best way to protect the garden from evaporation; and I'm still equally committed to turning over as much of our plot to perennial plants - both flowers and veg - in order to minimize the amount of clearing and planting that needs to be done each season. Despite this, however, I know I'll always reserve some parts of the garden for annual crops because – I have to admit – that I do enjoy the process of clearing a space and planting those little jewel-like seeds full of promise into the ground. 

This clearing of space has its parallel in other parts of life. Inspired by my cyber friend Dan Goodwin's 'Shedding Project' and spurred on by my partner's insistence that I do a little less, I've been getting down to a bit of clearing out both physical and psychological over the last month.

What's amazing is how much stuff there is, both in our habits and our household, that we simply do not see because we have grown so accustomed to its presence! In the same way that it feels like the rocket patch has always occupied two thirds of one side of the garden's growing space and there's really need to change it – until we realise that there just isn't any space to plant beans this year – so ingrained habits and assorted possessions come to take over our personal and mental space leaving no room for new ideas or fresh experiences.

Room to grow and expand

So in this period of digging up huge swathes of straggly wild rocket (secure in the knowledge that it will be back again very soon despite my best efforts) I am also, in tandem, amassing no-longer-needed items to take to the recycling plant and finishing or deferring some of my always too-numerous projects in order to create space in my calendar to concentrate on just a few very important ones. 

It's been refreshing to see the humid earth appear from out under the greenery and to sprinkle in a bit of manure, gently fork it over, and add a layer of recently harvested compost from our bin and so ready it for planting this season's crops. Equally its been revitalising to designate Saturdays as to-do-free days to spend with my partner and to wake up on the other days to a do-able To Do list that fills me with enthusiasm as well as opening the way for new projects to blossom.

Read More......

Too Many Plan(t)s

"I'd rather have just a few plants and them all be well," a friend of mine said to me recently, as she looked round our patio overflowing with plants, some of which are in better health than others.

This friend is known for unselfconsciously saying exactly what she thinks and I find this candour rather refreshing. I know she intends no malice so I didn't take offence – although I might have had it been anyone else. However, it did get me thinking because I'm definitely a girl with too many plants – or should I say plans?

In the Art Career Blast Off class that I did recently with coach Alyson Stanfield of artbizcoach.com(read more about it on my Dialog Visual blog) the class was frequently admonished, "Remember, Alyson says you can't do it all!" But of course I wanted to. I always do. My 'To Do' lists are always overflowing with ideas and projects – some of which, like the plants in the patio, are in better shape than others.

Although I start all my projects with equal enthusiasm, also like the plants, there are simply too many of them and it feels like time for a purge. I need to:

• Give some away (delegate)


• Put some on the compost heap (admit defeat)


• Do some severe pruning on some (readjust time-scales and expectations)

and finally, with those that are left:

• Give them dedicated attention and nurse them back to health (prioritise)

Interestingly – given I live in Spain – the Spanish word for 'suggest' or propose is 'plantear' and 'dejar plantado a alguien' is to stand someone up! As with all 'false friends' (as these linguistic mis-directions are known), its time I was able to differentiate between when to initiate a project and when to simply note it in my ideas folder and carry on with the task in hand. Its time to get my patio plants in order...and my plans.

Read More......