Let's Go Underground...

Here in Hobart, we’re in that funny transitional time between winter and spring. This year, spring seems determined to make her debut early, but winter isn’t quite ready to give up the spotlight, so each day brings a surprise. Will the sun shine or will the wind howl? Will the rain come in fits and bursts, or will it settle in for the entirety of the day?

The truth is, even when spring does finally take hold, it will still be a few months before we can plant much into the ground, which makes now the perfect time to turn our attention to what lies beneath it all: the soil.

If you’re anything like me, you find pictures of abundant gardens mesmerising and inspirational. All those ethereal blooms nodding gently in the summer breeze. Or visions of overflowing vegetable gardens, filled with climbing peas and beans, rambling pumpkins and big, juicy red tomatoes. I live for these scenes!

But before we get to gaze upon, and eat from, these beautiful gardens, we need to pay attention to the soil, because abundant gardens begin long before the first seed is planted. They begin in the dark, hidden world beneath our feet.

Soil VS Our Humanity 

I like to think of soil as a reflection of our own humanity.

Those of us who grew up in unsettled or unhealthy environments often have to work much harder to thrive than those whose roots were nourished from the beginning. When our foundations have been depleted, neglected or disturbed, so much of our energy can be spent simply trying to replenish what was missing. We learn to feed ourselves what we were not given. To create safety where there was uncertainty. To slowly rebuild the conditions in which we can flourish.

The garden is not so different.

We can place the healthiest seed into depleted soil and ask it to grow, but without nourishment, structure, moisture and a thriving community around its roots, that little plant will spend much of its energy simply trying to survive. Give that same seed rich, living soil and everything changes. Its roots can reach deeply. It can withstand difficult seasons. It has the resources not merely to survive, but to become what it was always capable of becoming.

And perhaps this is one of the quiet teachings of the garden: we cannot always choose the soil we begin in, but we can tend the soil from here.

We can feed what has been depleted. Restore what has been damaged. Add life where life has disappeared. We can create the conditions for something new to grow.

Let's Go Underground

Which is why, before we talk about planting medicinal herbs, harvesting flowers or filling our apothecary shelves with remedies made from the garden, I want to begin at the beginning.

👉🏽 With soil. Because soil is the foundation. And it's remarkably easy to build good soil without using a lot of store bought fertilisers. It may sound a little boring, but once you start diving into how soil works, you open yourself up to the mysteries of life in the most unexpected way. Soil is spiritual my friends, as cray-cray as that may sound to you now, stay with me on this journey and you'll see.

👉🏽 With compost. Because compost is one of nature’s great acts of transformation. What looks spent, discarded or finished is not wasted at all. Given time, air, moisture and the right conditions, yesterday’s scraps become tomorrow’s nourishment. The old becomes food for the new. Death feeds life, life eventually returns to the earth, and around and around we go. The great spiral of life ♾️ happening right there in the compost heap.

👉🏽 With worms. Those humble little creatures working away beneath our feet, mostly unnoticed and certainly underappreciated. Worms take what is decaying and help turn it into something fertile. They create pathways through the earth, allowing air and water to move, while their castings feed the soil and the microbial life within it. They remind us that some of the most important work happens quietly, slowly and in the dark.

We tend to celebrate the flower, the fruit and the harvest,  but none of them could exist without the invisible work happening beneath the surface.

So that’s where we’re going to begin. Not with the pretty part. We’re going underground, and setting some deep foundations, not only for our garden but for our own appreciation of how amazing our Earth Mother is.

If you're ready to come along on the journey with me, at the bottom of this post you'll find a place where you can pop in your email so I can send the journey to your inbox, that way you don't miss anything. But for now, I'll leave you with this short video of where my garden is now.

With Much Love,

Cindy xxx