There comes a moment – usually when you’re standing in your kitchen, sipping a cup of tea, and staring out at the wilderness that is your garden – that it hits you… after years of airport lounges, living out of a suitcase, and moving around wherever the mood takes you, you’re now ready to put down roots. Literally. You want a garden where you can grow things, potter about, and maybe chat to your neighbours over the fence (or not, depending on how introverted you happen to be). 

This might all seem like a big shift, especially if you’ve been travelling for a long time, but gardening can be just as much of an adventure – and just as good for the soul – as travel is, and with that in mind, here are some tips on starting a home garden after years of travel. Read on to find out more. 

Making The Switch

If you’ve spent years gallivanting around the world, your idea of downtime might not involve kneeling in the dirt or comparing compost types, but the truth is that there’s something so wonderful and so grounding about tending to a garden that it might be just what you need. It’s a much slower pace of life, and that’s pretty much the point – it’s a chance of pace, a re-set button, and a great thing to keep your mind occupied while you’re adjusting to being at home again and staying in one place. 

The best part is that you don’t even need to be ‘good’ at gardening to enjoy it. All you need is a patch of earth, a few containers, or even a balcony with some decent sunlight and you’ll be able to get started without any prior experience at all. You’ll be able to grow all sorts of things, like herbs, tomatoes, leafy greens, and so on, and if you do make a mistake, it doesn’t matter, you can just try again. 

Learn The Language

At first, the language of gardening might sound more confusing than any other language you’ve encountered, but once you dig in (literally), you’ll soon understand what mulch, deadheading, perennials, and various other exotic sounding words actually mean and, more than that, you’ll be able to make a garden out of them. 

The secret is that gardening isn’t about perfection. In the end, plants are really resilient, and they’ll put up with a lot before they finally die off, which means all you need to do is give them the chance to grow, and they’ll take it. Good soil, enough water, perhaps some plant food, and maybe a little research, and you’ll end up with something growing. 

Get The Right Gear

Of course, gardening does need a few tools of the trade to make it all happen, so you’ll need to invest in some useful things like a trowel, gloves, something to water the garden with, and other basic items like that. 

Something else that’s usually going to make a big difference is the Worx wheelbarrow, which can tackle a number of different jobs like taking soil to the right areas, moving mulch around, transporting pots, and clearing class clippings, among plenty of other things. Without a tool like a wheelbarrow, you’ll be in for a lot of hard work that might even be impossible, and would certainly make gardening a lot less fun and soothing. 

Enjoy The Chaos

Gardening is a lot of fun, but there’s one thing that’s important to remember – no matter how well you plan or what your ideas might be, nature doesn’t care (in the nicest possible way!), and sometimes all those ideas and plans might come to nothing if the weather doesn’t play ball or the local wildlife get involved. 

But that’s actually part of the charm because gardens are living things and they change all the time – sometimes for the better in the end, even without you doing anything with them at all. So what you need to do is just accept that and enjoy how chaotic it can all be. Yes, you can (and should) still plan some things out, but don’t get too precious about it all because that can often lead to disappointment, and it’s far better to just learn to adjust and enjoy whatever results you happen to get, even if they’re not the ones you were expecting. 

If you’ve landed after years of travel and you feel ready to create something more rooted, starting a garden could be the perfect solution.