Helen's Garden Ramblings

Hello my lovelies how are you all doing.

Thank you so much for all your get well wishes and blessings 🤗

I am now on the mend.

It has been a difficult and painful few days, and with my inability to 'do nothing' all day, I found myself constantly getting up and walking around the garden or the house to check on my plants.

It did give me time to study too and that has helped me advance my course a bit faster.

Hopefully I will be opening my herbal service around August/September, and I will be offering consultations, online appointments, home visits and eventually my own little clinic room.

I will also be incorporating the beautiful poultice therapeutics into the service. Which is an amazing holistic treatment. Along with products made for you after the consultation.

These products can be body balms, bath scrubs, shampoo and even laundry detergent for people struggling with shop bought detergents.

You can keep up to date with my progress on my new page.

You will find lovely information on skin issues, how herbal medicines work, history of certain plants and much more.

The link is below 😊

I am going to try and do a couple of hours work today at a couple of gardens, and hopefully won't do any damage.

I hope you can all get outside today as the weather is beautiful ☀️🌞

Oh before I go, I will be having a 'tabletop' sale in my back garden on the drive probably next week.

I have lots of stock from the shop that needs to go, I have loads of plants being potted up and handmade garden ornaments.

Keep an eye out for the post 😊

Tatty bye for now everyone. Big hugs and blessings to you all 🤗🥰

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I'm the right height for the Shire 😁🤣😅

Good morning everyone 🤗😊

I am on the mend and have now got some movement back in my neck and shoulder, but there is still pain and discomfort.

I have cancelled all gardening jobs again today and will be relaxing a bit more, along with a few gentle stretching exercises throughout the day to avoid stiffness. Nothing to strenuous of course.

I slept much better last night which was great.

I will be spending my day studying, walking around my gardens and drawing up plans for my back garden.

Oh and helping Edward learn more about gardening design too.

He's interested in creating gardens for special needs, disabled etc. Which is a great idea that we can work on together whilst he takes a course.

Garden design is something I enjoy too, but not garden design thats all concrete and plastic. I'm talking about a design that incorporates wild native plants, your own mini stream leading to a natural, unlined pond.

I'm talking about a garden that is edible and medicinal, that is great for bees, provides habitat for ladybirds and beetles.

A place where you can walk in your garden, however small, and feel like you are in meadows, little forests and even close to the beach.

I am excited to pull together all my training, experience and knowledge to open this part of my business.

Helen's garden designs for herbalism, food, medicine & nature 🌿

I was a grade A student in art and so I love drawing. In fact my final art piece all those years ago was called 'in the garden' and it was a painting of two daffodils and a butterfly, close up so you could see every detail.

I also remember in English class being asked to write up essays on two subjects that were related in some way but still different. I chose Dhalias and Chrysanthemums... I think life has always been trying to guide me towards the natural world, it just took me a long time to realise it.

I have studied wild plants intensively over the past 10 years, I took a course last year in garden design & planning, I studied foraging and past the L3 diploma with a distinction last year, and my studies in herbalism all add to my knowledge and experience. And I can't wait to use all this to create a beautiful piece of nature in everyone's gardens, starting with my own.

My books are now open to anyone wanting a consultation on how to create a beautiful piece of woodland or wild flower meadow in their back garden.

As I am out of action today, I am going to draw up a few garden ideas and post them on here. Including my own neglected back garden, which to be honest, is beginning to look less neglected and more a working progress.

Very exciting isn't it 😁🌸🌿

I think I will go and grab a cuppa and sit in my back garden and start drawing.

Have a lovely day everyone, and get outside. It's gorgeous out there 🤗😊🌸

Tatty bye for now everyone 👋

Good morning...

I am taking it easy today. Having a day off and this time it's not weather related.

I had to cancel my afternoon gardening job yesterday.

I only just managed to get through Vicki's garden and the drive home was very very painful 😖😥

On Monday I did more sweeping the beds at my elderly neighbours so she doesn't have to look at the wild plants between her beautiful roses.

I had already done a few hours gardening in Parkgate, including pulling the big plants at Sylvia's home.

I felt fine when I finished at Sylvia's, but whilst working on Beryl's (my neighbour) I felt something pull.

But I continued digging in the rock hard soil until I finished.

Each dig I could feel the 'pull' tighten. Each time I turned around the 'pulling' sensation became stronger.

Once I finished I had a lovely cuppa on the sofa. Massaged my shoulder and neck and thought nothing more of it.

Yesterday morning I awoke with neck pain. And it was painful, but I am a trooper. I hate being poorly and I hate having to cancel with my clients.

This year has been particularly bad for cancellations due mainly because of the weather and a couple of illnesses.

But I am proud of the fact, that unlike some other tradespeople, I always give my clients adequate notice if I can't make it. I would never just not show up.

I did go to Vicki's and got to work on the area that had become overgrown.

Every dig brought me pain. And every dig made it worse.

After my two hours where up, I headed to the car, barely able to move my head.

I messaged Jeff, deeply apologized and cancelled his slot. Then carefully drove home.

Once home Ed made me a cuppa. I could see he was concerned.

Ed is used to seeing me with injuries, bites, allergic reactions, but this was worse and he decided that any jobs this week he would give me a hand.

I decided to make a nice cup of herbal tea to relax and ease the pain.

Lemon balm (Melissa) is a wonderful anti-inflammatory herbal 'go to' in my apothecary. I grow it in my herbal garden and use it regularly for relaxation and to help soothe nervous tension.

I added a little Valeriana officinalis. Not too much as I was planning to get up and go to work and too much Valeriana will mean sleeping toooo long 😴😴😴

Valeriana is calming, a sedative and has anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing) properties. It improves sleep quality, and relaxes muscle cramps.

I also added a teaspoon of Lactuca virosa dried leaves in my omlette.

Lactuca virosa is my favourite herb for pain relief. It is a sedative, analgesic, and antispasmodic.

With all these beautiful plant medicine gifts I could feel a reduction in the pain, but I was certainly still hurting.

Last night I slept reasonably well until around 3am. The herbs had begun to weaken and the pain and tension was returning.

All night I was unable to get comfortable and it created so much irritability.

At 8am I finally got up, which is no easy task from a loft bed mezzanine.

I was a bit fuzzy headed from the herbals and lack of sleep. My neck was still painful, more so if I turned my head.

I made the decision that I would once again have to cancel all garden jobs today as it not only would be painful to drive like this, but dangerous as I can not turn my head to look over my shoulder.

Fortunately my clients are beautiful people and understand that things happen.

Last year was a great year. Barely a single cancellation. This year I have had more days off than on. And this is not good.

Not good for my clients gardens, not good for my mental health and definitely not good for my finances as I don't have any other income.

But, my health comes first, and I am determined to spend today resting and occasionally moving the shoulder, (after Ed applies a bit of fly agaric tincture to the painful area)

Fly agaric is frequently applied topically (skin) to help alleviate sciatica, rheumatic pain, muscle soreness & bruising. It is massaged into sore muscles and bruises to reduce inflammation and discomfort.

I hope you are all well and getting plenty of good food, exercise and water.

And remember that natures plants are a great healer, with the correct dosages and mixes.

Take care everyone and get outside. It's beautiful out there 🤗🌿🌸