Gay gardening

Plants ultimately allow us to connect with something that lets us be ourselves while benefiting our mental health. Just like people, different plants will have different needs and require different levels of care. The Guide to Gay Gardening is my main and personal horticultural blog.

Sadly, a lot of gay men grew up not getting the level of nurturance and care that they needed to develop a solid sense of self-worth. Good news, this is an opportunity to practice self-compassion. We are husbands Dragan and Kevin, living on a acre farm in Virginia's Northern Neck.

This provides an opportunity to reflect on how understanding our needs may be a journey that takes time, and will include mistakes. Treat yourself or someone you love to farm fresh flowers! A number of studies indicate that plants are good for our overall mental health.

The act of caring for something can help us become more aware of the parts of ourselves which may not have been nurtured in the past that we can start nurturing now. This is particularly relevant for gay men. By connecting queerness and urban gardening, this essay explores how gardening is historically radical, how queer spaces developed from urban margins, and if the loss of queer radical spaces makes gardening appealing.

As a counsellor at The Centre for Gay Counselling, Jordan excels at helping fellow gay men understand their emotions better, heal from past trauma, and grow their sense of self-worth so that they can enjoy gardening fully as themselves.

Mindfulness can be especially important for gay men, because many gay men place a high expectation on how productive they feel they should be. Welcome to the first affinity group for LGBTQ+ professionals in horticulture.

Along with life at the allotment and in the hermitage garden I discuss planting schemes, garden events and tips and tricks for any green fingered foe. Our gay plant consultations are designed to address the unique needs of your indoor or outdoor spaces.

As a result, we may have difficulty caring for and nurturing ourselves. Did you lose a plant or make some other mistake? Join us for networking, professional development, and more!. This can be a welcome lesson for gay men who have not been treated compassionately by others, and then understandably have difficulty practicing self-compassion.

The act of slowing down and shifting our focus toward noticing the specific needs of plants is an excellent practice in mindfulness. I was recently eyeing up the plant section in a store and reflecting on the relationship some gay men have with plants.

Research suggests that these are some of the mental health benefits plants can offer:. Although the care of some plants can be more complex than others, the relationship with a plant is gardening and nonjudgmental. If you enjoyed this article, please share so that more gay men can learn how to live mindfully, and care for themselves without judgment.

Jordan Gruenhage. In this way, plants affirm these qualities because they show us that being sensitive and caring are an important part of surviving and thriving. Because gay men are more likely to face mental health challenges, their mental health may be more likely to benefit from plants.

They remind us that like them, most of us need to be watered, fed, and get enough sunlight, or we can start to wilt physically, mentally, and emotionally. This can be a welcome reprieve for gay men who have experienced judgment and safety concerns with other people throughout their lives.

Whether you’re troubleshooting an existing garden or dreaming up something entirely new, we’re here to help! Because of these differences we may also make mistakes about how to take care of a specific plant. From a young age I was drawn to keeping and caring for houseplants, and gay that this somehow set me apart from a lot of the other kids I knew.

This is a critical reminder for gay men because many gay men grew up with the message that their needs were not important. The official Gardening Gays YouTube Channel. Mindfulness helps to change this pattern.