May was mental health awareness month.  My gardens helped balance my physical and emotional energy.  When things are unbalanced, so much can go out of whack: goals, hormones, chemicals, ph, relationships and most important, plants.

When soil is unbalanced, it can cause the garden to react in unfavorable ways.  How can soil become unbalanced? One common cause is synthetic fertilizers.  They can add nutrients for big blooms and fast results but because of synthesized ingredients can have a hard time of being in harmony with the soil’s ecosystem.  They can dehydrate the soil and kill other living microorganisms.  Over time anything planted in the soil will react accordingly: plants with weak immune systems that can get attacked by pests and disease and a seedling of undesirable plants (weeds) will take over.

So how do you regain balance?  Go back to basics using organic fertilizers based on the need of the plant.  If no plant, add a nice covering of compost or topsoil/soil conditioner.  No tilling or major digging.  Let the soil rest for a bit.

Sometimes instead going with our intuition and being content with yourself, we add synthetic things to our life. They can give us fast admiration from others and bloom our self-esteem, but that is temporary.  Over time we must do more to get the same results while slowly destroying self-esteem, confidence, creativity, etc.   Go back to basics.  Check your mind, association, and priorities.  Rest for a bit.