What to do in your garden in May
To ease your mind and soothe your soul
Hi darling, I’m Kendall, a horticultural therapist. Here on my Substack, I share tips on how to use your garden to grow your personal power in a world that tries to keep women stuck, exhausted & burnt out. Come grab your trowel and join the rebellion, we’ve got a patriarchy to dismantle.
Welcome to the Seed, the place where you’ll learn to resource yourself in the garden using 5 minute mindful gardening activities so that you can unlock more joy in your life.
It’s been a sweaty start to the month of May here in the UK. A trip to London earlier in the week plagued by train delays, due to the heat and our knackered old railway system.
I could feel my stress levels start to rise as the cancelled notices pinged on the website. So I took myself into the garden to check on my seedlings and calm my nervous system.
Studies show that just 20 minutes of gardening every day reduces your stress levels by 4.2%.
I’ve been gardening mindfully for so long that now my brain and body automatically start to calm when I go out into my garden.
But I know that it can feel like a lot to figure out when you’re just getting started with gardening.
My mission in my 1:1 work and here in the Seed membership is simple. To get you gardening regularly so that you can feel less stressed, less like your brain is about to explode from being so overstuffed. To bring you peace, headspace and clarity and dare I say it, daily pockets of joy.
Mindful Gardening activities
These activities are designed to be done throughout May so you can grow your gardening confidence in community without feeling overwhelmed. With at least two 5 minute activities a week, they’re designed to fit into the busiest of lives and meet you where you’re at. Come and join us for £50 for the entire year and garden alongside us instead of figuring it out alone.
If you’re using the Substack app, click the 3 dots in the top right of your screen and choose save from the drop down so you can find this signposting article throughout the month and easily access your mindful gardening activities. Or if you’re reading on email I really recommend creating a folder in your email inbox called The Seed and popping this email in there for easy access!
If you’re like ‘that’s great Kendall but I’m brand new to this gardening thing and I feel like I need some guidance on where to start’. Then run don’t walk into The Great Garden Rebellion. In it, I take you through the foundational steps you need to get started in your garden, one day at a time, in just 20 minutes a day across 5 days.
Thats right after just 5 days you’ll:
🌱 Know exactly what to do in the garden to feel less anxious and burnt out.
🌱 Find the time to actually get gardening
🌱 Have 10 minute tasks that you can undertake no matter what.
🌱 Understand the essential steps you need to make sure everything has the best chance of success.
🌱 Have a place to improve your confidence level around building a gardening habit.
Do this one thing in May to grow your garden and improve your wellbeing and mood
Our May focus is PLANTING OUT YOUR PLANTS. Whether that’s plants you’ve bought from the garden centre, that have been given to you by your neighbour Pat or plants you’ve grown yourself from seed.
I’ve noticed a recurring theme with some of my 1:1 clients recently and that is that they have been reluctant to plant their plants into the border, opting instead to plant them in pots.
After some gentle questioning from me, the reasons they’re doing this have become clear.
They think that the plants will be easier to look after in a pot.
The opposite is actually true. The pot will restrict the size of the plant yes, but it will also mean a lot more watering and feeding of the plant for you. Get the thing in the ground and let Mother Nature help you to keep it fed and watered. Then all you’ll need to do is prune it or cut it back once a year (if you need help on when to do this book in for 1:1 support in Seasonal Sessions).
They’re unsure and maybe a little scared about where to plant things
How closely should the plants be planted, should they go at the front of the border or the back? These are all the things I help with in a Garden Glow Up. Either planting the plants alongside you (if you’re local to me) or creating you a planting plan to follow if you’re further afield.
If you’ve grown plants from seed this year they might be getting a little big for their pots right now. But in many places in the UK there is still a chance of a frost at night (hot days with no cloud can often mean low night time temperatures in May). So it’s still a little early to be planting out.
I’ve got a ‘How to know when to plant out your plants’ guide coming next week for paid members, but incase your plants are bursting out of their pots you can watch this live demo of ‘How to pot on your plants’ to give them some more space and nutrients to help keep them growing strong.
What’s coming up in the Seed in May for paid members
Live Q&A- 2nd Monday of the month 12th May 2025 at 12.30pm (UK time)
Come and ask me anything about this month’s theme of planting out your plants.
If you can’t make it live then you can submit your questions in advance on this chat thread here and I’ll answer them live.
p.s. this live video will go out to my whole Substack community but only paying members of the Seed will be able to ask questions.
How to know when to plant out your plants
You’ve carefully nurtured your little plants that you’ve grown all the way from those tiny seeds and you know they’ll eventually have to fly the nest and graduate to the big wide garden. BUT you’re nervous, are they ready? Will they be devoured by slugs? Can they withstand the harsh conditions of life outside the windowsill?
I’ll share exactly the signs to look for and the steps you need to take before planting your plants out in the garden in this article so that you know your little planty babies will be just fine!
The next of my Garden Adventures
This is a garden i’ve wanted to visit ever since I did my flower farming course with Rachel Siegfried at Green and Gorgeous nearly 8 years ago! So I’m absolutely pumped to be able to go and visit and bring you along for the ride of course. I’m combining my visit there with a trip to see a brand new musical that a friend is performing in. But don’t worry i’ll spare you my singing in the article!
If you want to be part of a gardening community where you can learn to garden without judgement, a place where you can share your wins and your struggles without feeling like a failure, then come and join the Seed as a paid member.
Have you got a border that could do with some love, or perhaps you’ve got a brand new area that you’d love to fill with gorgeous plants?
Come and learn what plants and colours to include to boost your mood and improve your wellbeing and create a border that has visual impact!
Brilliant! Love the voice over podcast style ☺️ going to go in the garden now xx