SuburbanGaze

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How gardening has helped me remain sane(ish)

- March 15, 2023

Having received a formal diagnosis of Autism after a lengthy waiting time I thought I’d share my experience and how gardening has helped me develop coping strategies. This diagnosis has been a shock and a relief in equal measure. As I’ve opened up about it to a few people on this journey I’ve literally had every reaction: acceptance, obliviousness, denial. I must have become an expert at masking and avoidance. From a young age growing up in the ‘80s/‘90s I struggled with social anxiety, depression, and self-harm. I remember secondary school in all its painful detail. I avoided playtime by wandering the corridors or finding an empty classroom to sit in. I dreaded PE lessons if you can call that car-crash a learning experience. I was not really listening in class, not being educated, not having my well-being checked, not interested. I can still name all of my bullies 30 years on. I always felt like I was on the peripheral of life looking in. Not quite connecting w

Pond overhaul

- October 22, 2022

I love the wildlife pond area of the garden, its now hidden from view most of the year by a huge native hedge that was grown from whips. There is almost a secret garden feeling now at the end of the garden, its an area to come to for contemplation. I haven't got round to putting a bench down there maybe next year. It looks lovely at the height of the summer, but I made a mistake in the choice of oxygenator and its unwieldiness (if that's even a word) has gone unchecked...That is until now. Its autumn and the leaves of the Amelanchier are bright red, this has spurned me on to get the wildlife pond sorted for next years fresh load of frogspawn, apparently this is the perfect time - less wildlife to annoy! :) It's been something to focus on away from the reality that is life. Here is what the pond looked like in August/September, all super-green and abundant. But, spot the water, it is suffering. As we look towards winter I am aware there is no space for the birds to co

Dark side

- April 27, 2022

Its always good to have a bit of a change, I guess life is a journey and we all move through different periods. For now for me, everything shall be black with a splash of orange. Have began by using some garden paint to coat the bird-boxes for a sheltered spot behind the potting shed, also painted black. The bird-table has also been coated having been natural, cream, blue... The potting shed has also been transformed in the same colour, I love how this colour makes the boundaries and building disappear into the background. All the plants appear front and centre the colour popping. With new robust fences installed the garden has never been better for us. And that splash or orange has been delivered in a spray-paint coat of the former white garden furniture and a new garden sofa in the al-fresco dining area.

Well overdue post - transforming a patio

- March 01, 2021

Having had a break from writing on these pages, I felt it was as good a time as any to return with transformative news, both in reinstating the original name of this blog 'SuburbanGaze' but also of the outside space. Over the summer months of lockdown I began researched ideas around renewing the patio. We had spent so much time concentrating on plants and nature that we had forgotten our own basic needs. So many options to choose from, so many trawls through Google images to find inspiration. I knew we needed a large flat area with a built in pergola for shade but all off-the-shelf models lacked the bold clean and dark masculine straight lines that I was looking for. I realised quickly that our needs were not catered for and I would need to design something from scratch. So the process began, like so much in the outside space a lot of thought and planning has gone into it. The problem: A hideous eighties patio, hiding a revolting fifties concrete patio beneath with an en

Lockdown NT overdose

- July 06, 2020

This is a lazy post so that the photographs can speak for themselves. Over the last few weeks we have been visiting National Trust gardens as the lockdown phase begins to ease. It's been an absolute joy. Often being the first few people to be let in to enjoy the vast, diverse and beautiful spaces. Baddesley Clinton Croft Castle Hidcote

Lockdown transition from Spring to Summer

- May 26, 2020

This whole pandemic has been an odd one for me. I continue to work from home on a full-time basis whilst I observe many who appear to be either bored or, enjoying learning loads of new skills - if that is gardening then the more the merrier. I think I've probably gardened less this year. This is due a number of factors including my change in working arrangements. To add to this, like many, m y current office is the same place that I normally relax in the evenings. I have therefore partly swapped gardening for running, sometimes up-to 5 times a week. It is a way to free my mind of work commitments, to meditate, to find oneness, and to re-energise. When I originally wrote this post, I was reflecting on life post-marriage, and it was timed for a Spring publication date that I never got round to sending. That seems to be a pattern at the moment. Although, to give me credit, I have begun reading The Jungle Garden which I highly recommend. Normally, Spring cannot come aro

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