Remember to tend to your garden

There is a great Today’s Special Value from Hayloft coming up this weekend that I wanted to tell you about, but more on that later, as it got me to thinking about the many benefits of gardening, or more specifically, life gardening! It is important to tend your borders and beds but it is also important, I have realised, to tend to the garden that is your life too.

Like a garden, we need feeding and watering but, just like a garden too, we also need loving and nurturing. How much time have you spent tending to your life garden recently? How much loving and nurturing have you invested in you? I only ask as I know it’s something I forget to do. It’s hard when you have other commitments pulling you in different directions. Stopping and taking time to invest in yourself so you can reap the rewards always feels like something that can be put off until another day. Why not make that day today?

Investing in yourself doesn’t have to be a big thing. Small changes can lead to big rewards. I read an article recently about someone who simply started walking each morning, first thing, as soon as she got out of bed. She always had the excuse many of us have for not investing in ourselves, namely, not having enough time. She found that just getting up an extra half hour early and walking in the fresh air before her day started was her time and a great way to reconnect with her thoughts and her feelings before the day began and time ran away from her.

Personally, I have started to use an app that helps me to meditate. Currently I am only doing 3 minute stints but those little ‘time out’ moments a few times a day can be really impactful. It is important to keep topping the tank up before you find yourself running on empty and everything grinds to a halt!

Speaking of running, I started doing that as well a few mornings a week and it has been really helpful at keeping my stress at a manageable level, for now anyway! I have been running with Evey Avery, one of our fashion guests. She runs where she lives and I run where I live, but we video call each other on our phones and run and chat (breath permitting). Having someone to run with keeps you accountable so on many occasions, knowing that Evey is there waiting for me at her end of the video call has been the only thing that has motivated me to get up out of bed and get my trainers on. (She has confessed it has been the same for her too!). I have now jokingly started calling our sessions ‘running therapy’ as we talk about everything that is going on in our lives and we support each other and motivate each other, all the while we keep on running and it feels like a real investment in my life garden, which, trust me, I need as I seem to be in a phase of life where I am spending my life crashing from one crisis to another! Besides, we are now up to running about 5 – 6km each morning and we have got there steadily and it feels like a real achievement.

We have some great ways to help you invest in yourself here at QVC, including something I have been using recently, which is the Wellbeing Aromatherapy Balm Duo from Scentered.

These are 100% natural aromatherapy oils so they aren’t just fragrance (though they smell amazing), they are actually proper oils that provide you with a therapeutic feeling. These I use when I need to relax or destress or if I need a bit of a boost to feel happier. I simply apply them to my pulse points and breathe deeply.

Check them out and try them for yourself or perhaps give them as a gift to someone you know is not tending to their life garden as much as they should!

Alongside these I also use the Neom Wellbeing Pod. It is a little bit of an investment but it is really worth it. I actually put this on my Christmas Wish List and the family got it for me (I’m very lucky). The Wellbeing Pod is an essential oil diffuser that works to deliver the perfect amount of fragrance to your home.

It has a soft ambient light in it as well, which you can choose to have on or not, and it comes with a timer so you can decode how long you want it to go for. It is really helpful for changing the mood in a room. I think it is great if you work from home and all day long and you have the stresses of work in your living room or bedroom, or wherever your home office is. Pop a few drops of essential oil into your pod along with some water and let it do it’s thing. The process of just switching it on is simply a reminder to me to take a few moments to myself.

Now, about that Today’s Special Value we have coming up this Sunday from Hayloft.

This incredible 100-bulb Artisan Allium Collection from Hayloft Plants is the ultimate edit for Allium fans, boasting five varieties including dark purple Graceful Beauty, white and pale pink Miami and vibrant blue Caeruleum, and offering a bold architectural look with large, rounded flowerheads on long slim stems.

Drought-resistant and easy to grow, this 100-bulb collection offers an abundance of colour that’s perfect for scattering across your borders or adding to pots and containers outside, plus they make great cut flowers to decorate inside your home too!

They are on Advanced Order so no money will be taken out of your account until they are shipped out to you. By ordering yours now, you are simply securing the stick. They will delivered after 6th September and these spring-flowering bulbs need to be planted in the autumn in well-drained soil and will grow and bloom from April to July the following spring and summer.

Perennials and pollinators, these bulbs will come back year after year to give your garden a perfectly pretty, eye-catching display that not only you but also the local bees and butterflies will love.

• Wildlife attracted: bees and butterflies
• Flowering period: April – July
• Planting position: full-sun
• Soil type: well-drained
• Mature height: 15cm – 90cm (6″ – 35″)

What you get:

• 30 x Sphaerocephalon Allium bulbs – flowering in July to August with green flower heads that mature to maroon red. Mature height: 90cm (35″)
• 30 x Oreophilum Allium bulbs – flowering in June with vibrant pink blooms in open round clusters. Mature height: 15cm (6″)
• 20 x Caeruleum Allium bulbs – flowering from June to July with globes of blue star-shaped flowers. Mature height: 60cm (24″)
• 10 x Graceful Beauty Allium bulbs – flowering from April to May with white flowers boasting a pale pink flush on lavender-coloured stems. Mature height: 30cm (12″)
• 10 x Miami Allum bulbs – flowering from June to July with a dark purple flowerhead on a green stem. Mature height: 90cm (35″)

So getting this Today’s Special Value is an investment in your future garden. What are you going to do today to invest in your own future? It doesn’t take much – try something simple today as a first step and start reaping the rewards down the line.

Until next time,

Miceal Xx