Laura

lifestyle, Mindfulness, self care, wellbeing

Monday Matters: 15 Relaxing things to do this Summer

Posted on Jul 10, 2023Jul 9, 2023 by Laura

The summer is finally here bringing with it longer and warmer days, sunshine and gentle breezes. Today, I’m sharing fifteen relaxing activities for you to try over the next few months. Why not create a bucket list (maybe with little doodles for each item) in your notebook or planner as a visual reminder?

Enjoy a picnic in your local park

One of my favourite things to do in the summer is to fill our cool bag with lots of tasty lunch items to enjoy al fresco in a park or at a local picnic spot. Must haves for me are juicy strawberries and a nice cold bottle of fresh orange but you can tailor make a menu of your favourite cold foods.

Take a hike

There are so many different options for a long summer walk – ambling through shady woodland, following a riverside path, taking a coastal route, heading for the hills or following a trail at a nature reserve are just some ideas that come to mind. If it’s a hot one, pace yourself and take plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated. After I got bitten repeatedly whilst on holiday in Norfolk, I would also recommend a good application of insect repellant too! Often, there’s little or no phone signal out there so you get a tech break too.

Make lemonade

Nothing beats a refreshing lemonade on a hot summer’s day and it’s even better if it’s homemade. Check out this easy recipe to make your own from scratch and then enjoy as part of a picnic or in your back garden.

Watch the sunset

I’ve seen and photographed some spectacular sunsets over the years and each time it’s an amazingly calming and restful way to end my day either alone or with someone special. All you need is a view to the west, a good spot to sit or stand such as a park, a hill or somewhere else high up such as a rooftop bar, the beach or even a window in your house, and maybe a blanket if it’s become a little chilly outside.

Sit outside after dark and stargaze

This one takes a bit of planning as you need to choose a clear night but free apps like Nightshift tell you what the forecast is like and StarTracker or similar identifies the constellations you can see if you point your phone up to the night sky. It also helps if you choose a location which is high up or somewhere that gives you a wide view of the sky with limited light pollution. Hills and beaches are particularly suitable.

Go somewhere quiet and read a summer themed novel

Nothing beats sitting in the sunshine or under the shade of a tree in a quiet spot to read a lighthearted summer novel. Popular authors who have written some great seasonal fiction include Phillipa Ashley, Sue Morecroft, Veronica Henry, Emily Henry, Katie Fforde and Jo Thomas.

Enjoy an iced coffee (or other iced drink if you prefer)

There are so many summer drinks options available in our local cafes at the moment – frappuccinos, refreshers, iced teas and coffees and new bubble teas. My favourite is a Starbucks Iced Brown Sugar which is made with oat milk, espresso and brown sugar syrup. And it’s less calorific than the hot caramel macchiato I choose during the colder months. Whichever drink you go for, make sure you consume it mindfully and savour every sip.

Treat yourself to a delicious ice cream

There’s nothing better than ice cream on a hot summer’s day and nowadays there’s so many flavours and styles to choose from. And if you’re dairy free or vegan, there’s often plant based options including the new vegan raspberry swirl Magnum or a nice, refreshing and tangy sorbet. We like to take our foldable chairs in the boot of our car when we go out in the summer time so we can sit and enjoy our tasty treat in comfort and relax for a while in the sunshine afterwards..

Immerse yourself in nature

Spending time outdoors in nature can improve both your physical and mental health. Some of my favourite relaxing summer activities include visiting a botanical garden, wandering through a meadow spotting bees and butterflies, visiting wetland habitats with my binoculars to observe water birds and taking my DSLR camera to photograph flora and fauna.

Make fruit salad

A cocktail of fresh fruits is a great summer dessert and is super healthy too. Seasonal choices which work well include strawberries, mango, watermelon, raspberries, papaya, pineapple, melon, blueberries and cherries (don’t forget to remove the stones). Preparing the fruit salad yourself is a wonderfully calm and mindful activity and it means you can choose your absolute favourites to include. Popping the bowl in the fridge to chill for a while before eating makes it even more refreshing.

Try earthing

Earthing is the practise of being in direct contact with the earth’s surface. This could involve walking outside barefoot, sitting or lying on the grass, paddling in the sea or outdoor swimming. Research shows that this popular summer time activity has a whole host of benefits including releasing tension, improving sleep, boosting our immune system and generally leaving us feeling calm and relaxed.

Get active

There are so many fun ways to get active outdoors such as going for a bike ride, canoeing, sea swimming, beach volleyball, tennis, cricket, rounders or even enjoying a game of frisbee. Whatever sporting activity you choose, requires a great deal of concentration which can help to take your mind off the stresses of modern life. Just remember to dress appropriately and wear sunscreen.

Attend an outdoor event

Most towns and cities offer a range of outdoor events over the summer to suit different ages and tastes. Your local newspaper and council webpages should provide all of the information you need about what’s on. This year in Sunderland there are outdoor music concerts at our football stadium, a food and drink festival, plus a dance party in the city centre featuring local DJ sets and a range of other musical artists. There’s also a pride event which includes a parade and lots of other colourful and fun activities. Slightly further afield, there are a number of open air theatre events which include Jane Austen’s Emma, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a family friendly adaptation of The Secret Garden. The National Trust Website is a good place to find our about a range of outdoor theatrical events.

Play a lawn game

There are so many fun outdoor games you can play either in your back garden, if you have one, or on the grass at your local park. There’s giant versions of popular indoor favourites such as garden dominoes, giant Jenga and lawn darts, plus other options you might have tried out as a kid like swingball, quoits, bean bag challenges and croquet. You could even have a get together with family or friends and hold a tournament!

Make a summer scrapbook or Traveller’s Notebook journal

Creating a scrapbook or Traveler’s Notebook journal is a wonderful way to document all of the fun things you did over the summer. Each time you do something on your bucket list, take a photo or two to capture it and make a note of how you felt and anything funny or particularly memorable that happened. It’s up to you whether you dedicate a few hours to working on your memory keeping each week or spend a whole day getting creative. You can also add other souvenirs such as tickets, postcards, packaging, maps or leaflets from places you went, pressed flowers, mini printed out book covers of novels you read etc.

Final words…

So there we have it, fifteen relaxing and enjoyable activities to try this summer. Let me know in the comments which ones appeal the most and if you have any further ideas, I would love to hear them.

Enjoy your summer of happy memory making,

art, bullet journal, Bullet journaling, creativity, Planning and journaling

Setting up my BuJo for July 2023: Summer holidays theme

Posted on Jul 3, 2023Jul 25, 2023 by Laura

This month in my bullet journal, I’ve cheated with the décor again and bought a couple of sets of stickers to make things quick, easy and colourful. I was so impressed with the quality of the gardening themed set, that I chose to purchase from the same shop LunarLucie on Etsy. I ordered in plenty of time so that they arrived before we headed off to Norfolk on holiday. I managed to create the cover spread which I shared on Instagram but the calendar and financial pages had to wait until we returned which is why I’m only getting around to sharing them today.

Front cover page

The style of this month’s cover is very similar to the one from June but I used all of the stickers from the tropical summer holiday sheet and a few from a tropical flowers set which complemented the others beautifully. The designs are so lovely and I’m really pleased with how the page turned out. I wasn’t happy with my lettering so I used some dotted grid paper to practise, then cut it out to stick in the centre.

Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative

Calendar page

I had plenty of tropical flower stickers left so use these to decorate and then filled in the spaces with sparkles.

Finances

I want this month to be a low spend one so I made my expenses section shorter. This left me with room to add a few financial affirmations in the space at the bottom.

Final words…

I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my spreads for this month. I haven’t drawn up any weekly spreads yet but they’ll be pretty minimal in terms of decoration. I might just create a running task list as the only events on my calendar for this week are my usual exercise classes.

Wishing you all a lovely and fun-filled July,

lifestyle, memory keeping

Currently… life update June 2023

Posted on Jun 23, 2023Jun 23, 2023 by Laura

The Summer is here bringing sunshine and blue skies plus my three monthly life check in and a short update. I encourage all of my readers to give this a go, either as a blog post or handwritten in a journal. They’re great to look back on over the months and years to see how life changes.

Currently reading…

… 5 books at the same time! This is unusual for me as I usually read a fiction book on my Kindle in bed on a night and a non-fiction self development style book in the morning with my coffee but my Five Minute Journal weekly challenge last week was to revisit a previously loved book and I’ve been dipping in and out of two of Amy Tan and Abbey Sy books over the last couple of months. I’m enjoying all of my current reads:

The Midnight House by Amanda Geard
Walk: The Path to a More Mindful Life by Sholto Radford (re-read)
The Art of the Travel Journal by Abbey Sy
Twelve Moons: A Year Under a Shared Sky by Caro Giles (a beautifully poetic memoir)
Craft a Life You Love by Amy Tangerine

Currently creating…

… helpful BuJo spreads for our trip to Norfolk. So far, I have a map showing our route and estimated journey time (a screenshot from Google), information about our accommodation, a list of places to visit such as National Trust properties, wetland centres and the broads, plus veggie and vegan cafes and restaurants nearby. Next to create is my packing list which I hope to get done this afternoon.

Currently journalling…

… in my handmade TN insert of a recent trip to Raby Castle for a walk around the grounds and deer park, photos of our new hanging basket and cute yellow hanging tin container, plus a bit about the sun and star necklace that I treated myself to with some of my wages from my uni work (I might have purchased it three weeks before I actually got paid!).

Currently enjoying…

… watching the wildlife in our back garden. Yesterday, there was a huge party of about 15 juvenile starlings on our lawn dipping their beaks in the grass searching for tasty morsels. Out new sunflower hearts seed feeder is very popular with the sparrows and the fat balls are a firm favourite with all of the birds. After dark, I love sitting on our bench, watching a pair of bats hoovering up months and occasionally I catch a glimpse of a visiting hedgehog crunching on his nightly saucer of biscuits. If the hog comes late, we can always check our wildlife cam footage the next day too.

Currently learning…

… more about gardening. So far, I’ve read up on plants for shady areas, how to deal with green and black fly without chemicals, how to grow my own rainbow chard and more about our recent plant purchases. There’s always lots more to learn and websites like the Gardeners’ World and RHS ones are full of helpful information. Also, my mum has been a keen gardener for many years now so has a wealth of experience to draw on to help us.

Currently eating…

… lots of salads and vegan poke bowls as it’s too warm to have the oven on. We had our first poke (pronounced poh-kay) bowl in Vienna and they’re amazing. Plus you can add a rainbow of veggies which makes them super healthy as well.

Currently drinking…

… Pimms and lemonade with fresh strawberries and pineapple mint from our garden. Well, when I say currently, I don’t mean I have a glass on the go right now at 2pm but later in the evening sat outside in the garden is perfect. I also love flavoured cider at this time of year and my favourites are Brother’s Toffee Apple and Strawberry & Lime from Aldi.

Final words…

That’s it for my life update. I hope you enjoyed reading what I’m currently up to. Let me know in the comments if you give this kind of journalling a go and where you choose to write your lists.

life hacks, productivity

Monday Matters: Nine super easy ways to improve your concentration and focus when working

Posted on Jun 19, 2023Jun 23, 2023 by Laura

Last week, I caught up with a lot of pages in my creative traveller’s notebook journal. I’d had photos and bits and pieces printed for a while and wanted to get them stuck in with typed and handwritten sections of memory keeping and decorative stickers. I’m impressed with how much I got done and for today’s Monday Matters, I’ve decided to share some simple ways in which I ensure I stay focused on the task in hand, concentrate well and improve my productivity levels. So, here’s some tips for better concentration which you can apply today:

Keep hydrated

Throughout the day, I make sure I always have a large bottle of water or squash on my desk to sip from. Keeping myself hydrated helps to prevent headaches, lethargy and decreased alertness – all of which can negatively affect mental performance and workflow. Having a large drink container means I only need to refill during longer breaks and I don’t get thirsty in the middle of tasks.

Eat a healthy diet

We all know that too many junk foods (those which lack nutrients, vitamins and minerals and are high in salt, sugar and fat), are bad for your general health but did you know that they can play havoc with your energy and concentration levels too?

According to my research, the best types of food for improved concentration are:

foods high in omega -3 (I’m trying to snack on chopped walnuts whilst working but I really don’t like them! haha)
foods high in antioxidants e.g. berries, tomatoes and vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are particularly good and help improve brain function
foods which provide a dopamine boost such as bananas, avocado, spinach, tomatoes, nuts, seeds and chickpeas are great for increased motivation, better mood and improved attention levels
a moderate amount of caffeine, for example from green tea, a small amount of dark chocolate or one or two cups of coffee per day (maximum) can increase mental alertness
foods high in Vitamins B6 and B12 which improve cognitive function – I get my B6 and B12 from fortified oat and soya milk, wholegrain cereal, eggs, nuts and seeds but none vegetarian sources include lean meat and oily fish.
foods high in fibre such as veggies, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds and beans which all help to keep blood sugar levels stable preventing spikes and dips in energy

Get some exercise

Exercise is a great stress buster, mood improver and mindful activity, all of which can help with concentration. After a good workout (following the initial tiredness), our mind feels sharper and our cognition improves too. I do yoga, Pilates, Legs, Bums and Tums and Zumba each week but I also make sure I fit in a walk each day, preferably in nature as I find it really calming. I also take mini exercise breaks between working sessions which might involve dancing to a favourite upbeat tune, doing some basic stretches or completing a five minute low impact fat burning exercise such as high knees, modified jumping jacks and oblique crunches.

Work to improve your sleep

At the moment, I generally enjoy a really good night’s sleep and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to start my day. However, in the past, I’ve really struggled with insomnia and know the effect that tiredness can have on both the body and mind. Sorting your sleep out takes commitment but is vital if you want to stay alert and productive during the day. A good place to start is to ensure you find a restful and relaxing activity to do just before bed. However, if you’re really struggling with poor sleep this in depth post should help too.

Take regular breaks

I’ve shared before how I use The Pomodoro Technique to help me take regular breaks during my working day. Taking a short break enables you to rest and recharge ready to continue your task or start a new one. Just make sure that what you do during your break isn’t something just as taxing and mental exhausting as your work related task. Here’s a few ideas:

stretch your legs
grab a refreshing drink
re-fuel with a healthy snack
do a mini meditation
close your eyes and listen to a favourite piece of music (I prefer classical)
tend to your houseplants
declutter your workspace
read a few pages of a book or magazine
close your eyes and do some deep breathing
go outside and explore your environment using your senses
do some doodling
find a new recipe to try (extra points if it’s a healthy one!)

Identify your priorities for the day

Each evening, I like to sit down with my bullet journal and evaluate my day. I then take five minutes to decide what my priorities should be for tomorrow. This could be particular tasks such as shop orders or preparation for a session at the university, but equally, might be wellbeing activities such as enjoying a brisk walk after breakfast or spending some time tending to the garden to get me motivated to do some focused work.

Eliminate distractions

Modern life and technology provide constant sources of distraction which can seriously affect our concentration levels and work rate. However, most of these things are completely within our control and we can choose to do something about them. Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

turn off your email notifications
choose a time (after lunch) to check and deal with emails
put your phone in another room
leave your laptop turned off and adopt pen and paper methods for a while
create a work plan for the next day in the early evening
remember your priorities for the day – work on them first and exclusively at the beginning of your working day
adopt a social media ban habit between set hours of the day
tidy your desk up each evening and between task so you have a tidy environment to work in

Slow down

It might seem counter-intuitive, but slowing down can really help you focus better and get more done. My favourite way to do this is through my morning routine, where I get up early, have a leisurely and mindful breakfast whilst curled up on the settee and then fill in my Five Minute Journal. After that, I do some quiet reading, usually of some kind of self-help type of book but sometimes I choose a beautifully descriptive memoir that I’m currently reading called Twelve Moons. Other ways of intentionally slowing down include:

leaving gaps in your plan for the day to do something relaxing such as sitting out in the garden and feeling the sun or a gentle breeze on your face, working on a puzzle such as a wordsearch or jigsaw, or reading a magazine.
making time for a hobby or a special interest each day, for example, you might read, paint, draw or learn how to play a musical instrument
eating at the dining table and be really mindful of what your eating and how it smells and tastes (leave your phone in another room)
having ‘tech free’ time each day – no phone, laptop, tablet, TV or radio. Enjoy the break and use the time to think or journal about how things are going for you right now
practicing gratitude – this could be as part of your morning routine or something to do before bed

Remember multi-tasking is a myth

It’s a modern belief that being able to multi-task (doing two or more tasks at once) is a desirable quality that leads to better results through an increase in productivity. However, various studies by psychologists have found that our brains are not capable of working on multiple tasks at the same time and what we actually do is quickly switch our attention and focus from one task to another. The negative effects of this include higher stress levels, lack of focus, mental blocks which hamper progress, fatigue, poor problem solving skills and mistakes. The better option, is to select one task at a time, eliminate distractions and cultivate ‘deep work’ which science professor Cal Newport defines as peak concentration that lets you learn hard things and create quality work quickly.

Final words…

I hope you’ve found today’s tips useful and they’ve given you some ideas for simple changes you could make to your working day to aid your concentration and focus. Some of the points may resonate with you more than others and I would suggest you give one or two of these a try first. You should also know, that even though I have good awareness of strategies for aiding productivity, I do have days where I break my own rules and consequently get much less done. However, if I feel like I haven’t achieved a great deal, I will usually sit down in the evening to reflect on why and make plans to do better tomorrow. And, even more importantly, I’ll remember to be kind and self-compassionate by not berating myself for the lack of progress with my to-do list.

What’s your best strategy for improving your focus and concentration? How does it help? Let me know in the comments.

gardening, goal setting, journalling, lifestyle, Planning and journaling, productivity, reflective journalling, Setting goals and intentions

Monday Matters: 7 Reasons Why You Need to Keep a Garden Planner and Journal

Posted on Jun 9, 2023Jun 12, 2023 by Laura

Over the years, I’ve kept various records of plants we’ve put in our garden, and I’ve saved all of the plastic information cards that come stuck in the pots when you buy them. I’ve also made notes in my bullet journal and even drawn plant ID cards for some of my favourite purchases. However, these resources are in an array of different folders and notebooks and often I can’t locate what I need when I want to check something. So, I decided I would like to keep a garden planner / journal and I found the perfect folder when I visited one of my local garden centres and asked my husband if he would like to buy it to give me for Christmas. Of course, any notebook or file would have done, but as someone who adores beautiful stationery, this one provides the motivation to use it regularly and has lots of different papers and pockets to put things in.

I’ve been using the folder since the very beginning of Spring 2023 and so far I’m finding it a really useful record keeping tool. I’m also hoping that by documenting everything garden related, it will help me to feel a real sense of achievement and begin to recognise that all of our efforts are paying off (even when I feel like it’s a constant battle to keep on top of the weeds or a few of our plants aren’t looking their best).

What is a garden planner and journal?

A garden planner and journal is a paper based or electronic place to store everything related to your outdoor spaces and even your houseplants if you so wish. As well as making you super organised it can provide, for example, a place to keep track of what you’ve planted and where, journal space to evaluate what has worked and what hasn’t, pages to record and plan seasonal tasks, list of to dos (AKA jobs for the weekend!), photo showing different parts of your garden over time so you can see and celebrate your achievements over the months and years. You can customise your records to suit your needs but you might include details of your soil in different parts of the garden, information about your various plants and notes on how well they have done depending on their location, ideas you have collected from magazine and online articles, issues you’ve had with some of your plants such as garden pests or poor growth, labelled sketches of flower beds or the garden as a whole, lists of your seed purchases and even a garden wishlist – the possibilities are endless.

Why should I keep a garden planner and journal?

In a nutshell, keeping a garden planner and journal, which you regularly write in, will make you a better and more efficient gardener and enable you to get so much pleasure from your space no matter whether it’s a few containers on your balcony, a tiny plot or a vast amount of land which keeps you constantly busy. Here are my top seven reasons why you should start a garden planner and journal today:

It helps you remember what’s where

Drawing a labelled sketch of the different parts of your garden such as flower beds, vegetable sections, corner plots, rockery etc helps you to remember exactly what you’ve got and where things are located. It can also provide information such as the particular colour or variety of plants.

I’ve also created a list of containers (size, colour and location helps here), what’s in each and when the plant grows and flower so that I know what’s going to pop up when and also, if it doesn’t come back, I can record and evaluate accordingly.

It’s a good idea to sketch your garden each season so you can see what’s in flower at particular times, which veggies are currently being grown and where your evergreen / deciduous shrubs and trees are. Then you can add in your annuals and assess whether there are any gaps which you want to fill.

You can create and maintain weekly and monthly plans

If you love your garden and want it to look good, you need to regularly dedicate time and energy to gardening. My planner contains weekly overviews for each season where you can record particular jobs that need doing each year and also ‘Jobs for the Weekend’ pages for running task lists. It’s really satisfying ticking them all off and it helps us to see what we still need to do and estimate how long each job will take. These task lists can then be revisited next year.

I like to go on reliable websites like Gardener’s World and RHS plus other UK based sites to look at what I should be doing each month and then handpick jobs specific to our garden. I also follow a few UK YouTube accounts for ideas too. You could even keep a list of useful websites in your journal somewhere too.

A place to log new additions to your garden spaces

All gardeners love going to local garden centres and nurseries to choose new perennials plus annual bedding plants for instant colour. You can record all of these in a list, stating where they were purchased and how much they cost, plus key information front the plant labels. getting new bits and pieces for their garden whether it’s a perennial plant, a new pot, a comfortable bench or chair and cushions, so And your new additions list doesn’t just have to be a space for greenery, you can also record new pieces of furniture such as a gorgeous new bench and bright cushions or a little potting bench, atmospheric solar powered or mains operated lights, new paths or replacement gravel, patio slabs, hanging baskets, rockeries, storage spaces such as a little shed or a box to put soft furnishings over winter, and wildlife friendly pieces such as a pond, bug hotel, hedgehog house or toad abode! Then, when you can’t recall how long you’ve had raised bed, you can check your records instead of trying to establish how long it’s lasted from memory.

A good chart to have in your planner is a record of seeds which you plan to set, when and where e.g. in trays indoors or directly into prepared veg beds or outdoor pots, how many to set (usually dependent on size and desired crop), date to set and germination times. You can also include a section for any notes, so, for example we find that our two courgette seeds for the two large plants we want don’t always germinate so we tend to put a couple in each plug or create more plugs.

You can find examples of seed charts on Pinterest for you to draw up (preferably on gridded paper), or, if you’re pushed for time, you can purchase printables on Etsy.

Helps you track progress over time

The other week I found some photographs of my husband sitting out in our back garden a couple of years after we’d moved into our house. I decided to print them out as there’s a huge difference between how the space looked then and what it looks like now less than 10 years later. The transformation is amazing and if we didn’t have a photographic record, I don’t think we would be able to fully appreciate all that we’ve achieved. You might not have photos from a decade ago (or maybe you do?) but why not start recording now and see how your space has changed in one, two or even ten years?

A useful spot to record successes, challenges + complete failures and reflect on why

We’ve been developing our garden for over ten years now and have had many successes but probably just as many failures. Some of the failures are permanently stuck in my memory, like the fact that every time we have tried to grow lupins, no matter where we got the plants from, the ended up covered in aphids which made my skin crawl! Likewise, some of our complete successes still take pride of place in our flowerbeds such as the beautiful, long lasting and colourful geums. However, there are many more triumphs and disappointments that I wish I’d written down and reflected on. Here’s a list of aspects of gardening which you might like to make a few notes on:

garden pests – what specific plants they’ve eaten, when they eat (daytime, night time, particular times of year, following particular weather etc), thoughts about why they eat e.g. slugs and snails love to munch on our dahlia so this year we’ve potted one up, covered the soil in grit and placed it in the front garden porch away from other plants and it’s doing much better
plant diseases and treatment e.g. our hollyhocks get rust every year so I inspect them early on and removed infected leaves quickly and dispose of them
plants which don’t like the conditions – too dry, too wet, hate clay soil, not enough sun/shade etc and whether they are to be moved or just dug up
weather related challenges (e.g. storms, continuous rain, dry spells etc.) and how specific plants coped
seed germination failures – dates planted and when replacements set or when new seeds purchased and set
weed related issues e.g. we have a huge problem with celandine and it’s a constant battle to get rid of them, I spend 10 minutes every day on their removal and I’m glad when they die back by mid May

I’m sure you probably have many more ideas but hopefully these are enough to get you started.

A place to dream, make wishlists, include inspirational images, identify your short and long term goals and make plans of action

If, like me, you have a beautifully, colourful and well maintained garden on your vision board for the future, it’s a good idea to have a section in your journal to include wishlists, inspiring photographs, goals and action steps and maybe even a written explanation of what you want your dream garden to look like and how you want to feel when in it. You can then check in regularly with this section of your journal and see how well you are progressing with your goals. You can also note down things from your wishlist to look for next time you go shopping to one of your local garden centres.

Final words…

As you start your record keeping, remember that your file doesn’t need to be perfect and will most certainly evolve over time. You might want to start by simply taking a few photos of how your space looks now and then making a few notes of some of the plants which are located in each section. Or, if you like drawing and creating diagrams, you might take some squared paper to draw different parts of your plot and label the names of plants currently growing there. I can also recommend colouring in the plants that are currently in flower so you can see the balance across your plot.

Then, on another occasion, you might make a basic to do list (try Googling garden jobs for June and your specific location) for the month and tick tasks off as you complete them. You could even add a few jobs that are already complete or underway to get some easy and satisfying ticks by the end of the week.

I hope you’ve found today’s post useful and it has inspired you to give this form of planning, record keeping and journalling a go. Let me know what you choose to do first and how you get on.