The Garden Is More Than a Hobby: 4 Life Lessons from My Tiny Porch of Possibility

Gabby
Jun 15
4 min read

Updated: Jun 27

The Garden Is More Than a Hobby

This summer, I started a simple project to keep me grounded: a cut flower and herb garden. On the second-story porch of my apartment... Now, you might be thinking: Gabby, how’s that supposed to work? Truthfully, I have no idea if these plants will survive beyond a few sprouts, but hope is half the fun. It's still early, but I have a few sprouts popping up and I'm happy with just that as I expected nothing to happen. I truly didn't expect to learn so much from a few flower pots and seed packets.

Apartment porch showing the porch garden.

Lesson One: Growth Takes Time (and That’s Okay)

Waiting for flowers to grow might be the slowest process imaginable. When I first planted my seeds, I'm not even joking, I kept checking them throughout the day thinking that something was going to happen. Just like in life, we often expect things to have fast results when that is just not the case. It's easy to get caught up in those results and not realize that growth takes more than being planted and watered. Even when I started this blogging journey I expected to have hundreds of views on my first post when that is just not how it works.

This little apartment porch garden taught me that some of the best things grow quietly and slowly. It took two days before I started to see any sort of growth with this garden and even then it was just a few tiny sprouts in some of the pots, not all of them. To this day, I am still waiting on my mint to even sprout!

Lesson Two: You Don’t Need Perfect Conditions to Bloom

Now, my garden is far from Pinterest-perfect, but it is doing something! I can promise that my porch does not provide the most perfect growing conditions for these flowers and herbs, but so far it is providing just enough. I also didn't go blow my wallet because I knew that these conditions were not the best. I spent most of my time in the Dollar Tree picking up supplies and if I need to, I will go purchase better containers. You can also only do what you can with what you have. Whether that is space, energy, or resources, you can only do your best.

Take that lesson with you in the real world too. Even though you are starting small, you can one day take that little garden and turn it into something big. Small starts count more than you realize.

Lesson Three: Tending = Intention

My mornings and late afternoons have new routines that I didn't have before. After I get through my own morning routine, I now spend time checking on my flowers to see how they are doing. It's quiet and peaceful to head out to the porch and water my sprouts that have appeared, and now there are quite a lot! I noticed that I may have better success by moving the pots from one side of the porch to the other to receive more light.

These little quiet rituals have taught me to be more mindful. The same care I give these plants is the kind of attention I owe myself, too. Even if it is small, you still have to show up and take care of yourself. Think about when you are your happiest. Is it when you are showing yourself love or when you are bogging yourself down in the craziness we call life. Attention itself can be a form of self-love and self-care.

Lesson Four: Things Happen Below the Surface

When you plant those seeds, you have to trust that you are providing a good enough environment for them to sprout because you can't see a thing! You have to trust that even though nothing seems to happen for days, roots are actually forming. You are constantly planting seeds in your life whether it's personal growth, healing, or creative projects that feel "stuck." This little project has shown me that all the little things I am doing are growing roots that I can't see yet, but are helping me become a better person and even allowing pieces of me to heal. Sometimes growth happens before it's even visible, you just have to trust the process a little bit.

My Garden Might Be Small, But the Lessons Are Big

This little garden side quest has given me such an unexpected impact on my mindset from growth taking time to things happening below the surface. What I love about this blog is that it lets me reflect on the things that I do and share them with the rest of the world. Right now it might be a small project that is growing its roots, but one day it will blossom into something big. As for the garden, I share updates over on my TikTok and Instagram so head over there to see them. There's a whole lot left to grow, but I think that's kind of the point.