Plant a little hope for the future

As the impending lockdown mark two ensues I can’t help but feel a palpable dread in the people I know. A knowing creeps across the population. Knowledge of exactly what lockdown means. To different people I guess it means different things. A seemingly black period of time whereby isolation becomes a practice rather than a noun. A passage to endure.

Nurturing a sense of future is so important during these challenging times. I think there needs to be a 2 stage approach to dealing with times of uncertainty. Or certainly, approaching the previous lockdown in this way has helped me though.

Firstly, taking one day at a time. Believe in the mantra that if I can just get through this one day, then I’m doing my best and that’s all that I can expect from today. Concentrating on the task at hand, really relishing in it and disallowing the mind to wander past the here and now. It takes discipline, but as simple a task as washing the dishes can soon result in a fantasised future of dread given half the chance when becoming absent minded.

Secondly, believing in and preparing for the future. I can truly advocate the practise of planting spring flowering blubs now to bring colour and joy to early 2021. Even just the shoots of green seem to deliver the most reliable glimmer that winter will not last forever and that there’s something worth waiting for on the horizon.

The beauty of bulbs is that they can be planted almost anywhere with free draining, fairly fertile (not too much so) growing medium and that makes gritty, peat-free compost in pots an ideal environment to be able to place a spring wake-up cacophony of colour anywhere you have the outdoor space.

There are some fantastic online bulb suppliers who stock a rainbow of happiness to be delivered to your door and of course local garden centres are open to support customers to have some creative outlet immersed in nature during these testing times.

This weekend I am hopeful that I’ll be in a position to plant my 2500+ collection of bulbs at the flower plot. I am really looking forward to a good bit of trench digging, followed by planting the bulbs like eggs in a carton, before tucking them in for the winter. I’ve quite the variety in a rainbow of shades, including some more ornate specimens to really add the wow factor to my 2021 bouquets.

That’s what’s seeing me through.

I hope that you can find that same spark of hope for next year too.