I returned to the city after ten days holiday to find my garden burgeoning with growth.

Lettuces, beetroot, and beans were flourishing, new seedlings were doing well, and a poppy grown from seed gifted at Beltane in October was now as high as my arm. Its feathery leaves fluttered in the wind.

I was once confident in my gardening skills through decades of growing food at the bach. The soil was rich and over the years I’d added more and more compost and manure.

But on an apartment balcony in the city?

I failed and failed again.

Was I not watering enough? Overwatering? I bought the best organic compost to fill the pots and still, the plants died.

Finally, I took time to study this different kind of gardening and to learn the secret of being kind to confined plants.

I filled a new planter box with organic veggie mix and put potting mix in the pots instead of compost. I gave away the large river stones in my long planter trough that edges the balcony, and with my granddaughters’ help removed agaves, tore out the weed mesh, and added good potting mix. Every two weeks or so I add worm juice from the worm bin.

Now lettuce seedlings are thriving in the test patch we cleared in the middle section of the trough. I’m bringing in flowers and herbs to mix with the vegetables.

My dream of turning my balcony into a food garden is being realised.

Why am I telling you this?

Because New Year invites us to do something new to realise our dreams. (A dream is much more exciting than a New Year’s resolution!)

To realise a dream three things are important:

1. A clear intention

2. Commitment

3. Support

My intention was clear and came from wanting to do something good for the planet.

Commitment took the form of holding on to my intention despite many failures. This meant reigniting the vision at times, remembering why it mattered so much.

Support was needed to undo the preconceptions I had, based on one way of gardening, and open to new ways. I needed new knowledge.

The result? To my surprise, I found my fingers have greened once more right here in a city apartment.

Green fingers are about more than gardening

Green fingers for many of us begin with gardening and the joy of tasting a carrot or lettuce fresh from the soil. Growing our own food reduces pollution, packaging and pesticides (if we grow organically). And there is more.

Green fingers offer themselves in service to the earth and the well-being of this planet. They know what is destructive for the earth and what is restorative. They take actions of many kinds that are restorative and generative; perhaps actions to save an ecosystem and protect an endangered species or vital habitats.

The world needs as many green fingers as it can get.

How green are your fingers?

What actions are you taking for the environment?

What is your dream for 2023?

I wish you intention, commitment and support as you realise your dreams and open to the freshness of a new calendar year to fulfil your dearest wishes.

With new year’s blessings,

Juliet

Regeneration means putting life at the centre of every action and decision.

— Paul Hawken

PS Are you struggling to deal with the complexity of the world’s problems – and maybe your own? In The Persimmon Journal, I offer you a quieter world where you can feel refreshed and breathe in simplicity, spaciousness and presence.