Small but mighty, Rajul Shah shares how gardening builds resilience and how she became The Small Gardener.

One of the few positives of Lockdown is that some of you have been able to lavish loads of time on your gardens. I spoke to professional gardener and garden designer Rajul Shah, The Small Gardener about hers from her (#TotalGoals of a) garden studio in Norwich. 

Giving me a quick tour via Zoom, Rajul’s garden is lovely! There are pleasing prairie grasses and relaxed borders seem to undulate playfully around a lawn. It looks like a much loved, tactile and also practical space for a busy family.

Rajul, did lockdown affect your ability to garden?  

Mine often gets neglected when I spend time in other people's gardens.

The design business was growing and lockdown did affect the business, but I could work from the studio with design work and because you’re working outside, and plantings are all outdoors. It wasn't too bad.

It may sound ideal, particularly during this present time during COVID, working outside in the fresh air and sunshine, but it isn’t always easy. There are early starts and brutal months working in the elements, but it’s a rewarding way of life. Rajul started off small, doing maintenance jobs, then took formal training to become a gardener, however she didn’t always have a career in horticulture and (thanks to gardening), it helped her overcome a difficult time in her life.

I had a bit of a career/life glitch. Is that the word? I was a teacher, a primary school teacher for years and then had two children and when my second was a baby, I basically developed what was (later) diagnosed as postnatal depression. That all coincided with us moving from London to Norwich; and starting a new really stressful job with two children under three at home, it all kind of fell apart and I basically had a complete break down and my depression was really bad. I stopped work and found that gardening just personally for me; it really (I’m sure you've heard this from lots of people), it just did me so much good. 

It’s really inspiring to hear how Rajul nurtured something she loved doing, into a new career.

I became quite obsessed; reading magazines and gardening books and watching everything I could on TV and I suddenly thought, well, I love this so much. I wonder if I can turn this into something I do full time or something I can do for a living and, and I literally just thought "Oh, I'll give it a go”. Then blogging felt like a really natural outlet for me to sort of express all the feelings that I had and some of its pretty personal. 

Rajul shares some really candid experiences on her blog and marries it with really helpful advice. For many of you for whom gardening is a salve, you may find her articles like (part of her A-Z of gardening) D is for Digging (and Depression) helps with both solace and garden solutions, things you too may be stuck with, not necessarily just in the garden. 

I felt like, if I had something like the blogs that I do, when I was starting up gardening, it would have really helped me out and all of that came about really organically. That's when I came up with The Small Gardener name. 

If you’re not sure if you want to dig-in straight away into a gardening career. Rajul took some small steps before blossoming into the esteemed gardener she is now. 

I did a short garden design course, (I think, one day a week). I didn’t want to invest heavily in something that might not work. So I did this eight week course and just found it really enjoyable, it gave me a lot more confidence. Then I ended up doing a garden design diploma, then I did an RHS level 3 course all the while of just working and building the business off at the same time. 

Along with sharing her insight into becoming a gardener, Rajul shares some of the weird and wonderful stories that happen when you’re a gardener, one of my favourites is ‘Hello Mr Bum Juice!’ on the Becoming a Gardener section of her blog. Training to become a gardener with other people who are just as keen, also has its perks.

I think a brilliant thing about doing these courses is, now I’ve just got this little gang of plant geeks. It's not boring if you talk to them in detail [but] when you go on garden visits with your family, it's like, “Oh, this is all very pretty. Let's go get an ice cream”. Whereas, if you're going around with gardeners, you're like, “Oh, my God. I wonder if that would work here”. 

It's just it's totally different.

Rajul may not have always been a gardener, but she was once small in a garden where some magical memories were made. I delight in hearing about the gorgeous garden where she spent her early years.

Rajul when she was a much, much smaller gardener. Aww.

I grew up in Kenya, in Nairobi and it's very much an outdoor childhood. If you weren't barefoot, you were in flip flops. The first house that I remember, we had a very big garden, at the top of the garden was this really steep bit of woodland. There was a nice lawn and a ‘garden section’. I remember we had a  passionfruit!

My mum used to make passionfruit juice every year .

YUM!

We had this huge pepper tree, a bit like a willow tree and we used to hide in there and play. In Nairobi you have this lovely really fine red silty soil. So you could make the best kind of squishy mud and get mucky having fun and running around really. 

In my own experience of doing gardening workshops with young children, the thing kids enjoy the most is getting completely submerged in in mud and for a lot of gardeners I speak to, it seems like early memories of being outside are cherished ones. It’s no wonder that gardens become our ‘happy place’ as adults.

How can parents new to gardening get comfortable with letting their own children roam around in the garden as well?

Mine are now 9 and 11. So it's a while since they were really, really little but I was an early years teacher, originally. There are dangers in gardens that we should be aware of*. But I do think if you're in the garden, when your children are little and you talk about the garden and help them explore it, they soon learn and it just comes natural for them to not only be safe out there and learn how to have fun out there, but also to be responsible for it. 

We've always had foxgloves* in the garden for example, even they were really little toddlers, but I've never been concerned that that they would do anything inappropriate with them because as they became more independent and I wasn't watching them all the time, they knew which parts of the garden they could pick things from and eat things for them or not. And then they also knew to ask me if they weren't sure. So, there are certain things I probably wouldn't keep in my garden like aconites*, that are really deadly, but they know where the red currant brushes are to go and help themselves to and if they get a little prickly thorn in their finger to put a bit of Savlon on it. I think makes you a bit more resilient as an adult. 

*Things to avoid or keep young children and pets away from.

There are so many multiple benefits to gardening, is being in a garden and gardening immediately  helpful for you? 

I do still suffer from anxiety and low mood quite regularly, especially at times of the year when I'm not in the garden, you know, in winter when the light’s gone? And for me, it's because it's multi sensory, it's so involving. [In] that moment where you say, “Oh, I'll just weed that bed”, you start weeding that bed and then you see something [else].“That needs pruning” and then suddenly, you're doing something else and then the jobs just slowly build up. [Then] there’s the physical aspect. I did a blog post about digging and just getting a sweat up and just being really involved and the smells and the textures and everything. You are able to process whatever it is that's going on in your head [and] even if you haven't exactly resolved anything, your mood is lifted and you just feel a bit better, able to cope. Plus you've got the satisfaction of the results of all your labor, which you can then feel good about. It’s not a cure all, but I do think it's a really good therapy and a physical activity that you have to focus on and that somehow helps your mind settle. 

GPs are even prescribing gardening in some practices now. If only there were more places for people to access gardens? If you wish you had somewhere to garden: Take a look at where gardens are available near you on the lendandtend.com map. 

Your ground is very different to what I've got down in flinty South London. Do you have any tips for people that are just starting out in your neck of the woods?

In Norfolk,

we’ve got a mix, really in the terms of the type of conditions we've got. In East Anglia we're incredibly dry, there’s been really low rainfall.

Look at what's growing nearby in gardens near you. Look at what's doing well and, and just try things. 

We've got clay soil in some parts of Norfolk but round where where I am it's very sandy, very free draining. There's only so much you can do to it. I mean, you can add tons of organic matter, yes. But ultimately it's still going to be dry. There are things I would love to grow, but it's just not going to happen. So what I've done is slowly over over the years is work out what's really happy in my garden and what isn't, and have lots of them.  

Grasses and prairie prairie plants do fabulously up here.

Hydrangeas might struggle a little bit. I've lost roses this year because the droughts that we've had, (three years of drought in a row here). 

There are a huge plus sides to having dry sandy soil, you don't have to lift your Dahlias and your Gladiola, you can leave them in and they’ll pretty much they'll come through next year, things don't really rot off in the ground in the same way they would in a wet winter soil.

Another pro tip from Rajul, is actually not about gardens, but about How to Green-up driveways.

During COVID whilst it may not be possible to garden-share a back yard, due to social distancing and shielding, gardening and garden-sharing front driveways can still be mutually beneficial, as front gardens and drives are usually an accessible space.

Plant your

driveways

In Rajul’s article learn how to start re-wilding a drive so it can still be a dual purpose space. 

A useful tip for people who want to try garden-sharing, but who may not be able to access the back garden if it means going through the house; of course we must all be extra careful for those shielding due to the COVID situation, but it’s a great idea for terraced houses with no garden access, too!

The space you want to put your car on doesn't have to be completely solid… in the middle, leave it open, stick some shingle over it and plant it because if you commute in; your driveway is going to be empty for a huge amount of the day. Fill it with low growing plants, you know things that are going to creep and crawl all over the place that are great for attracting insects and butterflies and bees. And don't waste that space and even the little edges and crevices between your fence in your driveway you know, don't forget that little space to you know, you can have house leeks or down there there's there's lots of things that you can plant there that can be beneficial. If you are on a road that isn't very busy or doesn't have a lot of pollution and if your front garden is the sunny part of your garden, maybe put a bench out and grow some fruits and veggies. (Okay, you may have a few passers-by nicking a strawberry or whatever, but the lovely thing about being in a front garden is, you get to know your neighbourhood.

If you're out there, doing a bit of pottering; people stop and chat to you and you get to know your neighbours and you see people regularly and that's really lovely.

It’s true that it can bring about inner peace and gardening is known for inspiring a bit of healthy competition, but the pursuit of perfection is something that pervades gardening.

One of the things with houseplants that started to drive me a bit crazy was the whole ‘Instagram plant thing’, like everything has to look perfect to get the picture dressed and framed in order for you to curate [your feed]. Another thing is to not care too much what other people think of your garden. I think that's really really important.  Any garden is special if it's special to you, I don't think it has to be Instagram worthy. Just have a go.

What's really helped me is, I always know that; okay, if this shrub looks dreadful this year [if] it didn't flower? I clearly should have done something different. So, next year, you've got a fresh new start. So nothing is ever lost. It's all part of the fun. 

So true! If you want to try communing with nature and being alone with your thoughts for a while, being around plants is so so beneficial, it really helps with being present. 

A garden is never finished.

It's an ever changing, ever evolving thing and you'll get things right or you won’t. It really builds your resilience and all that experimentation is really important.  

Connecting with Rajul blew my tiny mind.

The world is indeed a small place and us gardeners do often have mutual friends, but it was when I was researching for a photo for my previous interview with Advolly Richmond, that I found Rajul’s example of an Auricula Theatre and then realised her name was familiar, as we had a friend in common, too!

It never fails to amaze me when these little things happen and it’s one of the reasons why I’m so passionate about getting people Patch-Matched with Lend and Tend. Who knows who you might meet, or make friends with when garden-sharing?

For all of you who may be new to gardening, or know what you’re doing out there; but just aren’t able to anymore, I hope that these interviews with inspirational people from the world of gardening, like Rajul might give you some insight to help your small seed of an idea grow into a mightily accomplished garden project no matter how big or small.

So, sign up to Tend to a garden if you don’t have one and sign up to Lend your (front or back) garden, if you’d like to see it put to good use. 

Thank you so much to the small but impressive Small Gardener, Rajul Shah and make sure you follow her for some enormously helpful advice https://www.instagram.com/smallgardener/

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