Gardening to Boost My Writing
boost our creativity with gardening
Writing is a lonely and tiring job!
When someone asks me what I do for a living? I often get confused about what to say.
Even after 8 years and having 3 businesses, I still find it confusing to answer such questions. Because whenever you say you work online, people will look down on you.
That happened to me recently when my Uncle asked me how I earn money.
Tell them I am a writer. I write ebooks. I also have two blogs that generate money every signal month. Or tell him I also have an eCommerce store to sell my music stuff?
I sometimes shy away because I am not a talkative person. And only people who know me well are my close family and a few school friends.
I still remember an aunt (cannot blame her because she was very sweet) who advised my mom to get me a job. She didn’t know how much I earn nor she knew that I pay my bills.
We, freelancers, don’t tell how much we earn even if we are making a full-time income from it.
When any month goes well I don’t show that on my face. If a month goes bad I am still a zombie.
Zombie is the right word for me. My aunt says I just don’t show any type of emotion.
We all have bills to pay. And we have to do it all alone. We have become a machine.
A non-emotional human robot who is constantly thinking about money even in dreams.
Many don’t know that we freelancers even wake up at night around 2 am to see if Amazon has not banned our KDP account.
We all have different issues at home. Some are having relationship problems. Some are having health problems. And some with financial problems.
Whatever it is, finding a hobby that can give you something in return is worth it.
Why Gardening works best for me as a hobby -
So I started gardening for various reasons -
- I get a chance to stay away from my laptop due to my constant eye pain.
- I get time to play in the mud and be under the sun.
- The worries go away for a short period.
- Creativity booster? Recommended.
- And I get to eat awesome vegetables in return.
I grow vegetables.
I am not a fan of packed food but sometimes we don’t have a choice. Most of us hardly have any energy left after work.
But health is our top priority right now. We cannot survive on packed food, we need good nutritious food (if not organic) at least for better health.
I have a very small space. The terrace area is vacant so I decided to start my second attempt to grow vegetables again. During the pandemic, I heard that some people were using chemicals to make vegetables. Cabbage was being made by pouring some liquid right in front of my eyes into a pot (on YouTube). No, its not magic. Its hell.
And during that time our health was not so okay. We were scared to buy local vegetables during that period.
The time was really the worst and reminded me how we are living — busy with no time for physical and mental health.
Gardening for me serves both purposes. I am slowly regaining my mental health. Yes, we will be harvesting and eating our own grown vegetables soon!
Why do I recommend starting gardening?
Most of the people are living in small rooms, I can understand that. So I cannot recommend vegetable gardening to you but you can grow small herbs in your own kitchen.
I used the traditional method only. You don’t have to go for expensive stuff. I make my own fertilizers now. I use to buy black soil from the market but now I won’t be using it anymore.
If we don’t pay attention to it then it can get too much expensive after some time.
My routine for gardening care -
Fertilizers were expensive two years back when I was starting out the first time. Thanks that I didn’t have bought them much because making them at home was actually very simple.
Put all the vegetables and fruit peels in the bucket and pour the soil over it. Keep on sprinkling water over it every morning and keep it under the sun. After 45 days you’ll get a perfect batch of soil that you can use for gardening. I use this technique myself. I have more but doing it in the city won’t be easy.
Cereals, millets, and pulses are my daily food. So now I have made a habit to collect vegetable peels and mix them with the soil. I never had a problem growing my plants.
What plants I am currently planning to grow?
Only those plants which I can eat. I am not a fan of growing flowers or showcase plants because I have a small terrace and I cannot use those for my cooking.
- Neem plan
- Alovera (I have three pots filled with Aloe Vera. They just keep on giving babies..)
- Tomato (requires a really small space I tried during the pandemic)
- Chillie (on my mom’s request. I am not a fan of chilies and wish I could use the pot for something more valuable. But who can win from our mom)
- Wheatgrass — The simplest of all.
- Leafy vegetables like Cabbage, and spinach.
Right now, I only have three from the above. I also have a lemon plant but I am thinking of pulling it off because it’s taking up lots of space.
I have one mango tree as well!
Conclusion
My family has been into agriculture and gardening for a very long time. For me, gardening is care and not hard work! Doesn’t need much of my brain while doing it. I am sure that it will help to regain my strength and give me a break from writing.
So far the experience has been good and will continue to work more on my terrace garden.
If you want to know more about making money on Fiverr, then you can check out my book “Small Ebooks, Big Money”. Happy Writing Journey!
