Gardening with a twist

Having a garden is not exactly expensive all the time. A garden doesn't necessarily have to be picture perfect. In fact some people prefer gardens where everything isn't perfectly pruned or in shape. Considering nature is not pruned or shaped!

A beautiful garden can be achieved by planting some vines which will curl themselves around your arch or windows, or simply some wild flowers, which will bloom in all their glory - in various hues and shades. If a grass bed is not possible, one could always use pebbles along with potted plants. All in all, a garden should be reflecting your personality.

Gardening for beginners

Every garden evokes a sense of passion, excitement and joy. Gardening as a hobby is something to cherish for a lifetime. Every gardener goes through the trial and error phase, but in the end the smile to see those beautiful flowers with the scented fragrance is something that could last for a lifetime.

Gardening is definitely a challenge but when meticulously tended, every corner is a harmony of texture and balance. Enthusiasm for gardening is great but can rapidly dry up when the work mounts. You may start with a small flower bed, which is room for around 20 to 30 plants and then increase you plantings as your experience grows. A study of the tools and the seeds can be helpful for a successful gardening venture.

‘Lovers Cried and Poets Dreamed’

They say if you don’t love music, children and flowers, you are capable of cold blooded murder. I wonder how one can not love flowers! Don Maclean in his iconic song Vincent had sung “The lovers cried and the poets dreamed”---flowers are for poets and lovers and dreamers. The garden is where Nature is at its best. The Romantic poets talked of Nature and how the wild landscape was being tamed for order, another representation of propriety and decorum. Nature cannot be tamed. It’s where the epicentre of life is throbbing; amidst those pretty flowers and leaves. Wordsworth believed that it was Nature that taught him values and morals about life. Today in this day and age of the hustling and bustling city life and crowded spaces, most gardens are all but lost. But one must make some space for Nature into their lives, especially children. Because being with nature and being close to it is as imperative for the growth f a child as fairy tales are. They open up the imagination creating the ability to discover and learn and feel it to be a core part of Creation.

Gardening - pastime or profession?

Gardening is a hobby for most people. They take it up as a pastime, using it to pass their leisure time, to deck up a garden or to plant a new sapling. But in today's world, it is a full time business to spruce up someone else's garden, to design the terrace plant design of a new apartment. Its all part of a new occupation called landscaping.

Landscaping involves any activity that modifies the visual appearance of an area by introducing new elements of flora and fauna, among other activities. More and more people are taking it up as a profession, as it gives people an opportunity to earn money of an activity that was previously just a pastime.