Body, soul and soil - harvest happiness

You’ve been working hard on your plot all year - sowing seeds, tending to young plants, protecting them from frost, wind, pests and disease, keeping them watered and making sure they’re healthy. Now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labour!

It’s too easy to focus on the things that haven’t worked. The plants which have failed to thrive, succumbed to disease, or been eaten by the local slug population; the projects you started but still haven’t finished.

If you haven’t done it yet, stop to consider how much you have achieved so far this year. Gardening often brings simple rewards - and that’s why we love it! Seeing our favourite dahlia in bloom, enjoying the shade of your favourite tree, or filling a breakfast bowl with raspberries can be just as satisfying as seeing a major garden design project come together.

All seasons of the year can be rewarding in their own way, but harvest time brings a real sense of achievement and satisfaction: picking your own tomatoes, fresh from the vine; roasting potatoes just dug out of the earth, collecting armfuls of carrots and parsnips, or bunches of flowers for a vase.

Enjoy these moments, celebrate the harvest bounty, and give yourself a pat on the back for choosing to do something which is so beneficial for your self, your family, community and for the planet.