Turning the first sod in my Dream garden

By Kath Walters

Wed 1 October

I have not turned the first sod in the garden I hope to create. But I am just days away.

The process of creating this garden is as much one of personal transformation as one of sketching out the design, and buying and planting the plants.

This is the most profound insight I have had thus far: If I want to make a sustainable world, starting with a strong community I my bock of flats and a beautiful garden that we can share, I have to create the time to do it.

Being not doing

I recently interviewed a guy called Josh Linkner, who had a wonderful formula for success. It is this.

Be – Do – Have. Be who you want to be first and foremost. To be that person, it will be obvious what you have to do. And, according to Josh, you will find that you have enough, or even more than enough, as a result.

I’ve spent a lifetime being very busy. It has taken me well over a month, since I decided to create the garden – what will I call it? How about my Dream Garden – to clear my calendar enough to devote time all the tasks that need to go into the project.

I have employed two people to help me with my workload. In other words, I have made the decision that this project is more important to me than money.

Having made that decision, I immediately discovered that I enjoy my work so much more when I have a small team to work with.

So now I am being the collaborative person, who is not so obssessed with money, who has time to create a garden to serve the community of people in my flats. Wow, that feels so much better than just being busy, and even than being richer.

My first task

Here’s the first step I want to achieve to create my Dream Garden. I need to draw a plan.

This, however, involves several steps.

1. Consult with S, the matriarch of my block of flats. She has created the garden that we now have, and has lived at the flats for 30 years. She and her husband, Sam, are important to the community of my block. Their presences keeps us cohesive. Sophie responds to issues as they arise and solves them. Cigarette butts in the driveway? Sophie provides buckets, with sand in them, and labelled clearly, so that the offenders can dispose of their butts thoughtfully. The trees and other plants, the structure of our garden design, are all the result of Sophie’s determination and resourcefulness, finding free plants, liaising with the gardener.

For the project to have a soul, S must be part of it.

2. Chop all the pittosporums on our property in half.