Hey darling, welcome to the Rebellion!

Grab your trowel we’ve got minds to quiet, societal expectations to shed, gardening confidence to grow and garden sanctuaries to cultivate.

I’m writing to you from a little village just outside of Reading, in the South of England.

On warm and sunny days I sit and write underneath my grapevine wrapped pergola which provides just the right amount of shade and a soft dappled green light to help the words pour out of me.

When it’s cold and grey outside, I’m tucked up in my attic office, surrounded by plants and the beams of our 18th century cottage. Likely with a hot water bottle on my lap and a steaming hot cup of coffee (I really feel the cold!).

I’m writing my newsletter here on Substack because I want to provide a simple way for you to harness the healing power of nature in your own garden, because being disconnected from nature and ourselves is keeping us stuck, exhausted and burnt out.

And I wanted a way for you to do that in community with other women who get it. Who are also figuring out how to say fuck it to putting another load of washing in the machine and instead getting out into nature to soothe their frazzled souls.

I’m writing here for the women who love being in nature and want gardening to be a joyful, nourishing experience.

They need encouragement, clarity, and a sense of community as they grow their garden sanctuary and they want someone to provide simple, soulful, and practical guidance that meets them where they are.

I’m a mum to two wild and wonderful little girls, married to a handsome forensic scientist who is also amazing at bringing to life whatever DIY or Garden project I dream up. I love wearing bright colours, the feeling of the sun on my skin and deep and meaningful chats with friends.

I’m here on Substack specifically because I find the rest of the internet really lonely and I want to carve out a space here for us to come together as we grow, to find ourselves in the weeds in community, to share the good bits and the shit bits of both life and growing a garden.

I don’t believe you need to know every latin plant name (I sure as shit don’t) or have an RHS qualification to be considered a gardener. I’m fed up with the gardening media being utterly stale, male and pale and I’m on a mission to switch it up and show busy women how to garden in a way that is accessible for them.

What I hope to publish

🌱 Free subscribers get:

• My Dream Garden Visualisation to help you quiet the noise of the internet and others opinions about what your garden ‘should’ look like and tune into what YOU actually want it to be like.

• One post a month that includes 3 things i’m doing in my garden that month so you can give the same things a try in your garden and notice how it makes you feel.

• The ability to watch my gardening TV show called Adventures with Flowers TV which is recorded live every Tuesday at 12pm (UK time). Episodes are max 30 minutes long and are teaching style sessions, collaborations with other relevant experts and live garden mentoring (You can apply to have me solve your gardening problem live here). Think Gardener’s question time meets Gardener’s World, but more fun, more ‘fucks’ (I’m a swearer) and more feminist musings.

🌿 Paid members get the above plus:

• Horticultural therapy activities for each week of the year so you know what to do in your garden to calm your mind

• Weekly Accountability thread to support you to actually get gardening as the antidote to burnout.

• 2 x community garden along sessions per month so that you can get some of your gardening jobs done and feel held by your garden and your fellow Seedlings

• 10% off all in person community workshops and 1:1 services

🌷Bloom tier members get all the above PLUS:

• Seasonal garden goal setting sessions

• Daily drip fed activities to make your garden sanctuary a reality.

• The ability to request bespoke instructional gardening videos to support you as you grow your sanctuary.

A word of warning…

I’m not here for the ‘open up the gates to your show garden, wander around drinking tea, eating cake and critiquing your planting choices crowd’ and I’m definitely not here to show you how to grow prize winning dahlias.

I’m here to mobilise more women into the one place that most of us have access to that is underutilised in terms of wellness benefits.

Because the only ones that can make a change to our health and happiness is us. And it starts in the garden.

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.