Gardening for Mental Health: Where To Start Is The Hardest Question

Not just a question for the garden!

The biggest part about planning where to go is to figure out where to start. You can take this question into any aspect of your life and for many it is just an easy question with answers that come without even thinking however for those of us with mental illness this question of where to start can often never be answered. We often dwell in a cycle of thought (or lack of it) where no answers seem forthcoming. Often the options are so overwhelming and the answers so complex and leading to more questions that our brains freeze and choose the option of no thinking with no options and no choices to complicate things.

People with mental illness often find themselves in a house of disarray with dishes not done, clothes not washed, floors not cleared or mopped, and a butt groove on the couch with the remote control glued to their hand. Don't think they enjoy it because they don't. Every decision they make now starts with "where do I start?" Because the tasks are now too big!

To be so overwhelmed by the basic every day jobs cannot be underestimated and when they get out of hand and those basic jobs turn into much more due to neglect from depression. Well meaning family and friends say just start with one item and put that one item away. Well before we can do that we need to clear the bench, or sink, or do the washing, or fold the clothes already washed but hang on..... they need to be washed again because the cat or dog slept on them!

So where do I start in my quest to rejuvenate my garden?

Several things need to be considered and they are the grey water, black water, and septic systems. I decided to start with herbs and flowers on a slightly built up bed that will sit over the black water system. Several herbs I can use in relaxing teas, catnip for Sox whom you will see in many of my photos and flowers to attract the bees to pollinate my fruit and vegetable plants.

The location for the herb garden

I am choosing to eradicate the weeds by hand or natural methods.

My seedlings were the best little things plants I could afford, the ground was rocky and hard but after a few bags of potting mix and some cheap bricks I managed to mark out my herb bed, build up the soil and water it with Seasol and planted my little darlings and have watched them grow.