Adventures with Flowers TV: Gardening for busy women

Kendall Marie Platt šŸŒ±
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Because your garden should be a source of strength, not stress. Take small meaningful actions to grow your garden sanctuary, quiet your mind and reduce overwhelm- one plant at a time. adventureswithflowers.substack.com

  1. Jul 7

    5 ways I (try to) weave rest into my every day

    I am going to be talking to you today about five simple daily rest habits I use to weave rest into my everyday ā€” and how they help me avoid burnout. So welcome! If you are new here, my name is Kendall Marie Platt. Iā€™m a horticultural therapist and space holder for garden curious women, and I am on a mission to support you to create your garden sanctuary ā€” so that you can feel held, so that you can lower your stress levels through gardening as active rest, find some daily joy, and just generally enjoy your beautiful life. I am the master at teaching you how to do that in just 20 minutes a day, because we are all busy, right? And sometimes when we look out on our gardens, it just feels far too overwhelming to even know where to get started. I am an expert at breaking it down, leading you gently step by step to creating your garden sanctuary ā€” so that you can have a gorgeous garden, yes, but also so that you can feel better. Iā€™m a qualified horticultural therapist, and the whole way I approach my work is with you at the forefront of mind, so that every single activity you do in the garden is actually going to help you feel better, improve your well-being, and lower your stress levels. I know this is a hot topic, as it can feel hard to weave rest into a busy day. My Complicated Relationship With Rest (And ADHD Burnout Recovery) Iā€™ve got a really complicated relationship with rest. No matter how exhausted I am, even if Iā€™m unwell, no matter how much my body and mind are screaming out at me to rest ā€” I find it nigh on impossible to just do nothing. If Iā€™m ill and lying in bed, oh my goodness, within about an hour Iā€™m getting absolutely frustrated as hell that I canā€™t get up and do stuff, even though I know I need to rest to get better. I have done a lot of soul-searching and introspection to try and unpick why that is. I know itā€™s due to my conditioning ā€” I was born in the 80s, raised in the 90s, at a time when women absorbed the message that they were only worth something if they were producing. Now, I would argue that message is still given out to us today. So itā€™s quite difficult to actually sit and do nothing, because that then means that if weā€™re not producing, or doing something, or ticking something off our to-do list, then weā€™re not worthy ā€” and that goes against everything that feels comfortable in our lives. So it makes complete sense that we struggle to just sit and do nothing because we feel like we need to constantly prove our worth. Growing up in the 90ā€™s we were very much told that we could have it all ā€” work, enjoy our lives, have kids, do all the things. But all that really meant was that we get to do it all, because guess what no oneā€™s coming along to take any of those tasks off you. I have to rest quite often because I have ADHD. My brain works very quickly and its very intense and then it needs time to rest and recuperate. Time doing something that isnā€™t stressful on my brain. So any time I need to rest, I feel conflicted, but I know that my body and brain need downtime, otherwise Iā€™m going to hit burnout again ā€” which I have done twice in my life. So I have found alternative ways to weave rest into my busy days because, just sitting or lying down and doing nothing does not work for me. Here are five ways that I weave rest into my every day, in case you fancy trying some new daily habits to feel more calm and grounded. 1. Journaling as a morning stress relief ritual I make this a real ritual. I have a lovely journal I got for my 40th earlier this year. I make a nice coffee and come and sit either under my pergola, which has a grapevine growing over it, so itā€™s in lovely, dappled shade and is cool even in the heat. In the wintertime, I donā€™t sit under my pergola, preferring to snuggle up in my greenhouse, where Iā€™ve got a really comfy chair. Iā€™ll take my coffee and journal, get cozy, and just write my thoughts out. I might write about something thatā€™s happened to me earlier in the day, or just whatever comes to the top of mind. Because Iā€™ve got ADHD, my brain is very busy ā€” there are a lot of thoughts going on in there ā€” and sometimes I just need to empty that brain out onto the page. It gives me a real break from consuming information, and by extricating that information, it allows my brain to have that breathing space. This is a really lovely way to give your brain a little bit of rest throughout the day. You donā€™t have to sit and do it for hours ā€” I do it for just 20 or 30 minutes. But I always feel my brain is much calmer afterwards, and I actually feel well rested. 2. Gardening as Active Rest (Horticultural Therapy in Action) The second thing I do will probably come as no surprise: gardening. After Iā€™ve journaled in the morning, I settle in for about an hour of focused work. Itā€™s usually quite intense, because the way my brain works, I really focus hard on things. But once I start to notice my brain getting a bit fidgety ā€” struggling to focus on what Iā€™m working on, or I start reaching for my phone ā€” I know itā€™s time to down tools with whatever Iā€™m working on and go out in the garden. There are varying things I do in the garden to help my brain have a rest ā€” it's one of the ways gardening helps my ADHD brain reset. What I notice afterwards is that Iā€™m then able to focus again ā€” I often have more energy and Iā€™m more creative. Especially if Iā€™ve been writing and feel a bit stuck (which is usually when my brain starts to get fidgety), I notice that after gardening I come back with a plethora of creative ideas. Gardening is a form of active rest ā€” this is where your brain is active enough that it can do the activity, but not so active that it becomes stressed. Say youā€™re weeding, for example ā€” your brain focuses on the activity, but itā€™s not as active as it would be if you were writing something or putting together a presentation for work, where your brain has to come up with creative ideas. Gardening is a step down from that: active enough, but not stressful. As part of the Seed, my horticultural therapy membership, members get access to horticultural therapy activities for every week throughout the year. Some are just 5 minutes long, some are 20 minutes, and some are 60 minutes ā€” though those 60-minute ones can be broken down into 20-minute blocks. If you would love to try some 20 minute gardening activities as a way to give your brain a little rest and improve your energy levels, you can join us. Itā€™s just Ā£10 a month (about $13) or Ā£100/$133 for the year. We would love to have you ā€” we have community garden-along sessions where you can come and get gardening in community. But I think one of the most impactful things is the ability to just take 20 minutes, choose an activity, go out in the garden, give your brain a rest, but also be moving your garden forward into creating the garden sanctuary youā€™re craving. 3. No Phone After 7:30pm (A Simple Digital Detox Habit) I use social media for promoting my business, and it works ā€” I get a lot of my clients through social media. But what I often find, likely due to the way my brain is always dopamine-seeking, is that I end up over-consuming a lot of information. If iā€™m really honest, a lot of it is complete nonsense that I donā€™t really need. My brain just kind of hunts for information, filling itself with more and more stuff. I also find myself often on my phone comparing myself to others ā€” looking at what theyā€™re doing and thinking, ā€œshould I be doing that? Iā€™m not having as successful a life as they are.ā€ For a start people only put their best life on the internet so itā€™s all a load of nonsense, isnā€™t it? We know that. So by cutting off my phone usage after 7:30pm, it means my brain gets a break from all that extra noise I really donā€™t need to be giving precious headspace to. Iā€™ll use my phone during the day to promote my business, and then after 7:30pm it goes in the kitchen, away from me, so I canā€™t be tempted to pick it up and scroll. 4. Lunch With My Husband This actually allows me to connect with another human being. I think when we work online ā€” even though I do see clients in person as well ā€” it can be quite a solitary little life. So this gives me a good excuse to connect with an actual living, breathing human. It helps us to have a uninterrupted conversation and a check-in about how the other one is feeling. I donā€™t know about you if youā€™ve got kids, but I really struggle to have a proper conversation with my partner when the kids are around, and come the evening Iā€™m pretty knackered and donā€™t really want to dig into anything deep and meaningful. So a lunchtime break allows me to offload some of the stuff I may be worried about to my husband, and ask for help. I really struggle to ask for help, so this gives me a daily opportunity to actually do that. And by sharing the load my brain gets another opportunity to rest. 5. Reading Before Bed Escaping into another world in a book really helps my brain switch off, because Iā€™m so focused on whatā€™s happening for the characters that I forget about my to-do list and the things I need to do the next day. So reading, even if itā€™s just for 20 minutes before I go to sleep ā€” really helps my brain switch off and get into that snoozey mode ready for sleep. Iā€™d love to know: do you weave rest into your everyday? What are you doing to get some rest? Let me know in the comments ā€” or if youā€™re reading this on email, do hit reply and let me know. If you would love to come and try a little bit of daily rest in your own garden sanctuary, I've made it super easy for you ā€” Iā€™ve got ready made activities that you can just grab, get out in the garden and do, to get that brain quietening down. They come with instructions on how to get your brain to quiet whilst youā€™re doing them. We would absolutely love to have you in the Seed. Here's the link to j

  2. Jun 23

    How to keep your plants alive in a heatwave

    Hello from a very hot and sweaty Berkshire in the south of England. If your plants are wilting right now, donā€™t panic. Iā€™m going to share with you 3 things you can do to protect them from the extreme heat that wonā€™t take loads of time. If youā€™re new here my name is Kendall Marie Platt. Iā€™m a horticultural therapist and I am all about getting you off of your phone and into your garden as the antidote to burnout. Because too much time spent on screens is rotting our brains, and actually getting out in our gardens and emptying our brains of all of the things that weā€™re holding, even if itā€™s just for 5 to 20 minutes, is going to help you feel so much better. Now, itā€™s really, really hot here today, so this video and article is going to be a quick one because last time I tried to do a live when it was really hot, the phone overheated and cut me off mid stream! Bloom Is Now Open Before we get started I must mention that my signature wellbeing program, Bloom, is now open. You have got two weeks to get in ā€” the doors close for Summer on the 5th of July 2026. It is year-long garden for wellbeing programme to support you to transform your garden AND create a really nourishing gardening habit that makes you feel fabulous. Because in my world, it is not just about having a gorgeous garden ā€” itā€™s actually not even just about you getting out in the garden. It is about you reaping those wellbeing benefits from spending regular time in nature. So if you want to know more or have questions, put them in the comments and Iā€™ll do my best to answer them. Today Iā€™m sharing with you 3 things you can do to protect your plants in a heatwave and unsurprisingly they all involve water. 1. Terracotta Watering Spikes These self watering spikes for plant pots are new to me this year. In the video I take you over to one of my plants and give you a little demo of how they work. You push the spike down into the soil surrounding the plant in the pot so that there is only a little rim sitting up away from the soil. Then you get an empty wine bottle, fill it up with water, and pop it in the opening in the top of the spike. Then slowly over a few days the water trickles through the terracotta watering spike right down to the base of the plant, which is where the plant needs it and it can be taken up by its roots. I havenā€™t watered the pots that have the spikes in above since I put them in, which was about two weeks ago ā€” and you can see in the video and the picture above how healthy the plant is. They allow you to water your plants quickly and efficiently with little input from you. If youā€™re gardening in pots and you use them you just have to remember to fill the bottle back up every few days. Theyā€™ve been really, really effective in my garden and Iā€™m really enjoying using them. 2. Soaker Hoses These drip irrigation hoses for garden borders are brilliant for saving me time. I have them in all my garden borders. They have got tiny little holes all along the length of them, so that when you connect your normal garden hose to them and turn on the tap the water slowly leaches out and onto the soil. I always use them in the evening because itā€™s much better to water your plants in the evening ā€” it stops the leaves getting burnt, but it also means that the plants take up the water more effectively. More on this in this episode of AWF TV which shows you the best way to water your garden in summer heat: The soaker hoses sit on top of the soil so the water that comes out of the tiny holes goes right to where the plants need it. I leave mine in place all year round and turn them on in the evenings, letting them water the plants all night before turning it off in the morning. It saves me so much time standing out there using a traditional hose to water the plants, and it means that my plants get a really, really good watering overnight, allowing them to take up as much of the water as possible. 3. A Watering Schedule This has been a game changer for me. It helps me to make sure that of an evening, when I get that 20 minutes to go out in the garden, I know exactly what Iā€™m watering. I know which bed to attach my soaker hose up to, I know which pots need watering that day. It makes it really, really simple, so I donā€™t have to waste any brain power or overthink what iā€™m doing. I donā€™t waste a single precious minute thinking, ā€˜oh god, where did I last water?ā€™ Iā€™m going to be teaching you in Bloom how to create an easy garden watering system for busy women so that it works for your life. So that you have schedule that you follow every day, so it becomes a really easy habit and doesnā€™t add to the mental load and all the things that youā€™re already carrying. It makes watering and looking after your plants in the heat really simple. You still get to have a gorgeous garden, all your plants survive, stop looking so droopy and it doesnā€™t add any extra to your plate. Why Time in the Garden Matters If you have got any questions about any of the things that Iā€™ve shared, please do pop them in the comments and I can come and answer them. Iā€™m here to answer your gardening questions and help you get off your phone and into your garden. So please do avail of my knowledge. I have decades of gardening experience that I want to share with you to make it easy, because I truly believe that all women need to spend more time in nature with a healthy gardening habit for their mental wellbeing. All the research shows that when you garden regularly you lower your stress levels, you lower your anxiety, you increase your wellbeing scores. And for somebody like me with a very busy brain ā€” and iā€™d say 99% of women have a busy brain, because weā€™ve got a lot going on ā€” the only time my brain is quiet, is when Iā€™m in my garden. Even just 5 to 20 minutes every day is time thatā€™s just for you. Time to breathe and have a bit of time for yourself. Get out in nature, let everything thatā€™s in your brain out into the garden so that youā€™re happier, you feel more joyful, youā€™re less snappy with the kids, you sleep better. All of these things are what all of my clients report to me after weā€™ve worked together, what I experience myself, and what all of the research shows happens when you spend regular time in the garden. If you want somebody to guide you through creating a healthy gardening habit over a year together so that you can experience these benefits too , Iā€™m going to be giving you daily activities in Bloom ā€” no more than 20 minutes ā€” so that you can swap that 20 minutes youā€™re scrolling for (which, letā€™s face it, we all know is making you feel like s**t) and do something that is actually going to help you feel better. Doors close on the 5th of July 2026. We would absolutely love to have you ā€” there are some really cool women already in there. Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me next Tuesday at 12pm BST for my next live video in the app. Join the Seed to create beauty that restores you and daily joy that doesnā€™t have to be earnt in your garden This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adventureswithflowers.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Jun 9

    10 things you can do in your garden in June instead of scrolling on your phone

    Welcome to this episode of Adventures with Flowers TV. My name is Kendall Marie Platt. Iā€™m a horticultural therapist and space holder for garden curious women. My whole MO is to get more people off of their phones and into their gardens as a way of connecting with nature as the antidote to burnout. So if you are finding yourself scrolling on your phone to numb your feelings to try and feel better, then I can assure you as someone who has tried doing that for a really long time, it does not work ā€” but getting out in your garden and spending time in nature does. Today Iā€™m going to share with you 10 really simple things you can do in your garden right now that will help you to feel better. Theyā€™ll help you improve your sleep. They will help you feel less anxious. They will help you feel less overwhelmed. They will quiet your mind. They will help you be less snappy with the kids. If you can create a regular routine getting in the garden ā€” and Iā€™m to the point now where every time I reach for my phone Iā€™m like ā€œnoā€ and I get out in my garden instead ā€” I can guarantee you that instead of piling more information into your brain, giving yourself comparisonitis and comparing yourself to everybody else online, you will feel so much better if you get out into the garden and empty your brain of all of the stuff thatā€™s milling around in there. These are just a few of the things that you can do right now in June in your garden that will help you to do that. Also, just to say that if this sounds appealing to you, then my signature program Bloom is now open for new members. If you know that you need a little bit of accountability to get things done, if you want things broken down into really simple steps so that you can just get outside and do the activity without having to research and work out what the hell you should be doing right now, then this is perfect for you ā€” so do head over to the link here and have a little look. Right, should we crack on? 1. Stake your tomatoes Now, Iā€™ll be honest with you, Iā€™m more of a flowers girl myself ā€” Adventures with Flowers is my business name ā€” because I believe that we should all be able to have adventures with flowers on a daily basis because that ultimately is what is going to make us feel better. But I do make an exception for tomatoes, snack peppers and mini cucumbers because the kids like eating them. As your tomatoes grow they will start to sag and get top heavy, especially when the fruit grows so the plant does need a little bit of support. All you do is you take a bamboo cane and poke it down into the soil next to the plant and then using a plant tie attach the growing stalk onto the cane, so it gives it some really good support. So that is the first thing that you can do in the garden instead of scrolling on your phone. A really lovely mindful tip: give the leaves a little rub, bring your fingers to your nose, inhale deeply and transport yourself off ā€” especially with sun on your skin ā€” to somewhere where you last ate a lovely sun warmed tomato salad. For me, thatā€™s the South of France. A gorgeous little mindful minute in the garden. 2. Tie in your sweet peas In the video I take you on a bit of a tour of the garden. With all the rain that weā€™re having in the UK, intermingled with these sunny spells ā€” my sweet peas have gone mad. The plants themselves will have used their tendrils to grip onto the string of the support iā€™ve created for the, but I want the plants and flowers stems to grow nice and straight and tall. So I need to tie them in. Again, get some plant ties and tie in the main growing stem of the plant so they scramble up the supports rather than out and up nearby plants. 3. Rage weeding This next one is one of my fave activities when iā€™m feeling angry or frustrated. I channel the frustrations of the day into the weeds and then when iā€™m unearthing them itā€™s like unearthing the anger and frustration from my day. 4. Cut the grass This is not really a job I enjoy, if Iā€™m completely honest, mainly because of having to navigate kidsā€™ toys, the washing line and my garden borders at the end. So generally my husband tends to do the grass cutting. But it is a really wonderful mindful activity. When I do it I make sure to get into my body and I really push through my legs as Iā€™m walking up and down. This really helps bring my mind and my attention to the back of my legs as Iā€™m striding up and down and allows me to work on my mind body connection. Plus the smell of freshly cut grass is delicious. 5. Tackle the bindweed In the video I take you down to my border of shame. It has been inaccessible, because my husband had a load of stuff here and so the bindweed has taken over pretty much everything. Itā€™s climbing up and trying to strangle all of the plants. If you have bindweed in your garden, it is a real pest to get rid of. It grows through underground roots that snap really easily and if you donā€™t dig it all out it will keep coming back, especially if you donā€™t keep an eye on it. I probably need a weekā€™s worth of weeding sessions in this border alone, just to get rid of the bindweed. When you take it out you have to be really careful about uncurling it from the plant so you donā€™t snap the stems. It is another great activity to ground you in the present moment because you have to really focus on your senses while youā€™re doing it. When youā€™re so absorbed in the task at hand thereā€™s no chance of your brain diving off all over the place and thinking about all the things youā€™ve got to do, what youā€™ve got to cook for dinner or the fact that youā€™ve got to book a doctorā€™s appointment. It allows you to be really present in the moment. So if you have got bindweed too, donā€™t worry ā€” many of us have it. It is a case of slowly unfurling it and digging it out, and the key to doing this is little and often and keeping going. Thatā€™s another reason why Bloom is such a good community to be in, because itā€™s really easy to get disheartened when weeds are constantly growing and you feel like you arenā€™t making any progress. But seeing other people going through alongside you makes you feel less alone and presents you with the opportunity to turn removing it into a fun activity. A bindweed blasting week as we all focus together on digging out our bindweed. 6. Top up your pond with rainwater I have got a water butt right near my mini pond, and so what Iā€™m going to be doing later this week is filling up my watering can with water from my water butt ā€” not from the tap, because tap water has got all sorts of chemicals added into it ā€” and Iā€™m going to be adding that water from the water butt into my pond to make sure itā€™s nice and full. So thereā€™s lots of water in there for wildlife such as the bees to come and have a drink, and for the birds who like to come for a little dip in there too. 7. Sit with a cuppa in the sunshine My next one is quite an unusual one and you might think to yourself, I donā€™t really think this is a gardening thing. But something I donā€™t think that we do enough of as women, is to sit, cup of tea in hand and appreciate the hard work and effort that we have put into life every day, as well as creating our garden. In my Bloom community, this is something that I will always encourage you to do at the end of every gardening session: just take two minutes, even just to sit and acknowledge that you have taken the time out for yourself. Or to celebrate the effort youā€™ve put in to weeding that border, or planting out those plants, sowing those seeds, whatever the daily activity is. Itā€™s really important to sit and acknowledge that itā€™s a job well done. I think we are so quick in this world to move on to the next thing before weā€™ve even acknowledged what weā€™ve achieved. I think itā€™s really important to, firstly, recognise what weā€™ve achieved but also congratulate ourselves for it, because often nobody else does. Once you start doing this at the end of every gardening session, guess what? It echoes out to all other areas of your life and you start taking the time to acknowledge all of the things that youā€™re achieving. 8. Sow some foxglove seeds My garden is full of self-seeded foxgloves. The first time I grew them of course I sowed the seeds myself, grew them on and planted them out. Now I encourage them to self-seed and they pop up all over the garden. Right now in June, is the perfect time to sow foxglove seeds so you get lots of lovely flowers early next year. This is an ideal activity to start with if youā€™re new to gardening and havenā€™t got an established garden. Quick word of warning: foxgloves are poisonous to pets and children. So if you have either, grow them in a place that is inaccessible to said children or pets, make sure the children are aware that they are not to eat or play with the flowers or give these a swerve and try sowing some honesty seeds instead. We grow foxgloves because I love them, the children love them, the bees love them ā€” and we are all about cultivating a real sanctuary, yes for me and my family, but also for wildlife. 9. Deadhead your roses My roses were looking glorious earlier this week and then the rain cameā€¦. So now many of their petals have water damage on them and the heavy downpours have meant that many of them have had their petals knocked off sooner than they would normally have done. By getting off your phone out into your garden and deadheading them youā€™ll encourage the plant to produce more blooms. A little note here to say, if you have no idea how to deadhead a rose, then come and learn how with us in Bloom. Not only will I be sharing daily gardening activities to invite you into the garden iā€™ll also be showing you exactly how to do the activities too, so even if youā€™ve never gardened before youā€™ll feel supported and held as you create your new nourishing habit. 10. Cut a posy of flowers to bring ind

  4. May 26

    Watering tips to help your plants survive a heatwave

    Today Iā€™m going to be bringing you some watering tips to help your plants and your garden survive in this heatwave we are having in the UK right now. But if you live in a hot climate, you could absolutely apply this to where you live as well. I hope youā€™ve got a drink and youā€™re ready to learn. I have forgone my usual hot drink in favour of a water bottle the size of my head, but itā€™s necessary in this heat. Iā€™ve got a few ice cubes in there so it stays nice and cool. Welcome if youā€™re new here ā€” Iā€™m Kendall Marie Platt. Iā€™m a horticultural therapist and I am here to get you off your phone and into your garden as the antidote to burnout. One of the ways that I do this is through my channel Adventures with Flowers TV. I come live here every Tuesday with tips on largely gardening, but also life stuff on how to actually fit gardening into your life, because we all know that nature is good for us, but sometimes it can feel hard to actually get out and get in the garden. Tip 1: Water in the Evening My first tip is to water in the evening once the sun has gone down. I know it could be tempting if you go out to the garden around lunchtime and see plants wilting and think they need some water. But actually, that is not going to be that much help to the plant because the water is probably going to evaporate before the plants even have a chance to use it. So, wait until the sun goes down and the temperature drops. At the minute in the UK, Iā€™m waiting until about 8.30 in the evening and then going out and doing my watering. This means the water will actually have a chance to sit on the soil and then go down to the plantā€™s roots, which is where the plant actually needs the water, rather than just evaporating straight away in the heat of the day. You can of course water very early in the morning as well. My preference is to do it in the evenings for two reasons: early in the morning Iā€™m in kid chaos and thereā€™s no way Iā€™m going to be able to get out into the garden. Also, if you water in the evening, the plant has the whole night to take up that water before it starts being evaporated by the sun. Tip 2: Water at the Base of the Plant This leads nicely on to the second tip, which is to water at the base of the plant. I see so many videos of people with soaker hoses just spraying their plants. Your plants are not going to take up water through their leaves ā€” the water needs to go down on to the soil and be taken up by the roots. If you spray with abandon on your plantā€™s leaves, especially in the middle of the day, you can very easily actually burn the leaves. What happens is the water spots land on the leaves and then the sun evaporates them off, which can actually burn the leaves of the plant causing the plant stress and opening it up to be vulnerable to pest attacks. Just like us when were stressed we seem to pick up every bug going. So letā€™s give the plant and ourselves every chance of minimising stress and staying healthy. Tip 3: Give Plants a Deep Soak The third tip is that plants like a really good soaking rather than a little dribble of water. Rather than setting yourself the task of trying to water the entire garden in one evening, youā€™re far better off choosing one section of the garden and giving it a really, really good water. Because then the plants have had a chance to have a really, really good drink. When itā€™s really, really hot, we donā€™t just have one little sip of water ā€” we like to drink lots and lots to replenish ourselves, and plants are the same. So give them a really good soaking rather than just giving them a little taste of it and then taking it away. I recommend to my clients to actually create a schedule for watering the different areas in their garden and this is something we will be doing together in Bloom when the doors open again soon. Tip 4: Prioritise Newly Planted Plants The fourth tip is to focus your watering efforts on newly planted plants, because their root systems are not yet established. Plants that have been in your garden for a long time are going to have a really well-established root system ā€” the roots are going to be able to find more water than a plant that has just been freshly planted and has got a really tiny root system thatā€™s not yet established. So, if you are short on time and youā€™re conscious of not using too much water, please focus your watering efforts on plants that you have newly planted, because the more established ones shouldnā€™t need it. Tip 5: Move Pots into the Shade The fifth tip is to move your pots into the shade temporarily. Youā€™ve probably arranged your pots aesthetically ā€” in a gorgeous little collection by a doorway, either side of your front door, or next to your seating area. Chances are those places are in the sun for a large part of the day. For a prolonged heatwave, I would recommend moving those pots temporarily into a shadier part of the garden, or certainly an area where the sun is only shining on it for a couple of hours a day. This is because the plants in the pots have got a smaller root system ā€” the roots can only spread as far as the pots go. You need to water plants in pots daily anyway because the plants canā€™t get water from the ground around them. But by putting them into the shade, thereā€™s going to be less evaporation from the soil and from the leaves throughout the day, which means theyā€™ll have a better chance of survival in this heat. At this point I was planning to share some equipment with you that helps me save time when it comes to watering but my phone had other ideas and overheated so iā€™ll make that the subject of a future live and article! If you want access to the right information when it comes to creating your garden without having to hunt it down in books or online. Meaning thereā€™ll be less chance of you making mistakes and wasting money, then book a Garden Power Hour and we could have one area of your garden sorted by the weekend. Upcoming available dates are: Thursday 28th May at 9.30am Thursday 4th June at 9.30am Monday 8th June at 12.30pm Tuesday 16th June at 9.30am Monday 29th June at 12.30pm Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me live next Tuesday in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adventureswithflowers.substack.com/subscribe

  5. May 20

    3 mistakes I made in my garden this month

    Today iā€™m sharing three mistakes that Iā€™ve made in my garden this month. The reason I wanted to talk about this is because one of the biggest things I see holding my clients back is the fear of making mistakes when it comes to gardening. If youā€™re new here, welcome! My name is Kendall Marie Platt, Iā€™m a horticultural therapist, and I am on a mission to get women off of their phones and into their gardens as the antidote to burnout ā€” because the answer does not lie in the depths of your mobile phone. It absolutely does however lie in getting in nature and letting your emotions flow in the safety of your garden. So welcome, you are so welcome here if you are new, and welcome back if you havenā€™t been here for a while. I do these live episodes of Adventures with Flowers TV every Tuesday at midday so add them as a recurring event to your calendar and come and join us while you eat your lunch or have your morning cuppa. Mistake No.1 ā€“ Allowing Peach Leaf Curl disease to spread through my Nectarine Tree The video above shows my nectarine tree and as you get up close to the leaves, can you see what is going on? The leaves are kind of going all curly and discoloured. This is a disease called peach leaf curl. My nectarine tree is growing against a brick wall in my garden, and what I should have done ā€” and itā€™s been particularly bad this month because itā€™s been so rainy here in the south of England ā€” was to create some kind of frame that comes off of the garage to protect the nectarine tree from the rain. This is because once the disease gets in, it then gets spread to the other leaves of the tree by the rain, which is why now itā€™s not just one bit of my tree thats affected, itā€™s loads of the leaves on the tree. What I need to do now is pick off all of the slightly curly leaves to stop the spread even more, because the disease prevents any fruit from forming. When I planted this tree a few years ago I had the dreamy idea that I would have loads of lovely nectarines growing so we could bite into sweet juicy nectarines straight from the tree. And for a few years we did get a some ā€” and then this disease set in and Iā€™ve been neglecting the tree, if Iā€™m really honest. I want things I grow in my garden to earn their space, so Iā€™m at the stage now where either I need to get rid of the tree completely, or I need to give it half a chance and try to cover it during the rainy season to protect the leaves from this diseas. Watch this space for a little DIY project over the winter ā€” something my husband is going to be delighted that Iā€™m going to ask him to help me with! Mistake No.2 ā€“ Not removing some of my Briza Maxima plants from the border The second mistake is allowing these Briza Maxima to take over the border. They are gorgeous plants. Can you see and hear on the video how theyā€™re moving in the wind? When they knock together they make the most lovely sound ā€” they are one of my favourite things to plant as a sensory plant for sound. Theyā€™re also really lovely for cutting and arranging in bouquets, and I dry a load to use in my Christmas wreath workshops that I host here in my garden workshop. But as you can see, they have literally taken over the border as far as the eye can see ā€” and they are actually now spilling out into the driveway. Each little pod is a seed, and if left in the border they will spread their seeds and make loads of new plants which is what has happened in my garden. So in the next few days I really need to start digging some of those up otherwise they are going to completely take over! The Briza are starting to outcompete some of my other plants, meaning some of the plants are love are struggling to get the nutrients to survive. Every year Iā€™m like, ā€œOh, whereā€™s that plant that I had last year?ā€ ā€” and it hasnā€™t grown, or itā€™s got completely destroyed because the briza has taken up all its space and nutrients. So the mistake wasnā€™t planting it, but not keeping on top of pulling it out and harvesting it before it starts spreading its seed everywhere. Mistake No. 3 ā€“ Not erecting my sweet pea supports properly My third mistake ā€” youā€™re going to die when you see this in the video! I had a few leftover Mangetout Spring Blush pea plants that wouldnā€™t fit round my other sweetpea wigwam. So I decided to create another one in the front garden for them to scramble up. But what I didnā€™t do when I was putting it up was anchor the base of the poles in enough. The ground was a bit hard when I was digging the poles in, it was a hot day, and I was trying to do it in a rush. So I put it up, planted all the plants around it, and then a few days later the weather turned really grim ā€” really windy and really rainy ā€” and the entire thing just completely collapsed. All the plants are completely dead because they were pulled out of the ground when the wind took down the supports. So lesson learnt anchor your plants supports into the ground properly if you want them to withstand the elements! So those are my three mistakes this month. In reality, there will always be mistakes made in the garden ā€” you could have encyclopaedic gardening knowledge and mistakes will still happen. Mother Nature is sure to throw you a curveball too. Right now in the UK itā€™s really cold and raining in the middle of May, and that has caught a lot of people out with frosts and planting things out too soon. What I want you to take from this article is that itā€™s unavoidable to make mistakes when gardening. Allow yourself to make those mistakes, allow yourself to be a beginner, allow yourself to just give it a go. I do understand that can feel terrifying for those of us who grew up in a school system that told us off every time we made a mistake ā€” sometimes it doesnā€™t feel safe for our nervous systems to try a new thing because we might make a mistake. But if youā€™re willing to give it a go, please do get in your garden and embrace the f**k ups! If however, you feel like thereā€™s still something holding you back and you need somebody to give you a bit of a jump start, I have spaces available for a Garden Power Hour with me in the next few weeks. I would love to support you ā€” either in person if youā€™re local to me (just outside of Reading in the South UK), or online where I get in my garden, you get in yours, and I show you how to do the things you need to do and how to do them in a way that calms your nervous system and helps you to feel fabulous. The benefits are confidence, clarity on what you need to do to move your garden forward, and how to do it in a way that doesnā€™t freak your nervous system out. My superpower is holding space ā€” for people, for their emotions, for all the big stuff that comes up when weā€™re in the garden. I know thereā€™s a huge rise around people using AI for gardening advice, and whilst I think thatā€™s great for time saving, itā€™s not always accurate, itā€™s not bespoke to your garden and life situation, and AI canā€™t possibly teach you how to garden in a caring way that wonā€™t set your nervous system alarm bells ringing. Hit reply to find out my latest availability or pay for your power hour below and weā€™ll find a mutually available date to get cracking. Right, Iā€™m off to go and cook a frittata for lunch! Have a gorgeous day, and I hope to speak to you soon. If thereā€™s something in particular youā€™d love for me to talk about in one of these episodes, please do message me ā€” Iā€™m always open to thoughts and ideas. Have a lovely week. Donā€™t forget to ā€˜Get off your phone and get in the gardenā€™. Kendall xx Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adventureswithflowers.substack.com/subscribe

  6. May 12

    The 5 mistakes I made when launching Bloom that youā€™re making in your garden

    I launched my top tier membership option called Bloom in March this year and it was an utter flop. While I was reflecting on it afterwards I realised that I had made some of the mistakes that I see clients making all the time before we work together. So I thought Iā€™d share them with you, incase youā€™re making them too. Not giving it enough time I donā€™t mean spending hours and hours on it- because letā€™s be honest who has that. I mean sticking at it for enough time. Keep going, taking action, keep talking about it and how good it is. I did that classic thing of allowing myself a 2 week window to sell the thing and then stopped talking about it afterwards. Perhaps youā€™ve done the same with your garden. Spent a weekend out there and then when you didnā€™t get the immediate transformation you see on those gardening TV shows, felt utterly despondent and gave up. Anything worth having is worth waiting for. And anything truly wonderful does require some effort from you. Not toiling away for hours every day. 20 minutes is enough. My mentor Sara Dalrymple advocates for spending 30 minutes a day on selling your services much like I advocate for spending 20 minutes in your garden. Perhaps we could both commit to that, me writing emails or creating content to sell my services for 30 minutes a day and you gardening for 20 minutes. Pop it in the comments if youā€™re game. Imagine where weā€™d be in a monthā€™s time! Avoiding it when it wasnā€™t working This is absolutely my pattern. When something doesnā€™t work immediately I tell myself I canā€™t do it and then hide. Iā€™m not sure if itā€™s the RSD (rejection sensitivity dysphoria) linked to my ADHD or just that Iā€™m terrified that if people see me fail publicly then that makes me a terrible person, which Iā€™m pretty sure is a universal experience among women raised in the 80ā€™s and 90ā€™s. The irony being of course that by hiding away I am condemning myself to failure because no one can see me and what I have to offer so they canā€™t buy it and then I fail. Have you done this in your garden? Made a start and then given up before youā€™ve even really got going? Iā€™m gonna be real with you here. Gardens are not a one and done. Plants want to grow and so if you bury your head in the sand when it comes to your garden, before long you will be looking out on a jumanji-esque landscape that will feel utterly overwhelming. Thatā€™s why 20 minutes each day works so well. You chip away at it a little at a time, making small changes here and there and giving your mind a break as you connect with Nature each day. Iā€™m going to share something with you here that I do whenever I feel uncomfortable about something and want to avoid it. I reach for my phone. Itā€™s such a toxic habit that I am desperately trying to wean myself off of. Iā€™m an expert in this, I talk about using the garden to feel your feelings all the damn time and yet there I am reaching for that little box to numb them instead. So next time I launch Bloom and I start to feel the familiar uncomfortable feeling when things arenā€™t working, iā€™m going to head out into the garden and get my hands in the soil. Because I know when I give my brain space it generates a plethora of fabulous ideas that will help me keep showing up and not hiding away. Not enjoying it I adore my business and I adore the services I have to offer you. Each one has been created to help you solve a particular problem in your garden and your life. But Iā€™ve got it stuck in my head that selling my services has to be hard. Perhaps youā€™ve been telling yourself that gardening is hard or a chore or not something that can be enjoyed. The next time I open the doors to Bloom (late May 2026) iā€™ve promised myself that iā€™m going to have fun with selling it. Talking about all the ways it helps you to connect with nature on a daily basis. How it helps you quiet your mind. How it helps you actually find time in your busy life to unwind with your hands in the soil. Iā€™d love for you to reframe how you see gardening. Instead of something that has to be done, how about you view it as something that gets to be fun, enjoyable. Yes, even weeding can be fun. Set a timer on your phone for 20 minutes and have a bet with yourself about how far along the border you can get weeded in the 20 minutes. When your timer goes off and youā€™ve managed more than you thought you would, youā€™ll get that lovely hit of dopamine! Doing it someone elseā€™s way I have joined so many programmes and courses over the years that tell me how to launch and sell my services and do you know what, this launch still flopped. Not a single person joined and I had only a handful of chats with interested people. Yes I could tell myself the internet is noisy, people can just google or chatGPT gardening advice, insert any other excuse here. But if Iā€™m really honest with myself, if I was truly speaking about how life changing my work is with regularity. If I was really owning my point of difference, the fact that Iā€™m a vulnerable, imperfect, busy woman and mother just trying to carve out a bit of time and space for herself to connect with Nature everyday so she doesnā€™t feel like sheā€™s drowning 24/7. Then I would have welcomed people into Bloom. Because I truly believe that, this (along with community and a safe space to land) is what weā€™re all looking for. Have you been doing the same with your garden? Hunting for planting plans on the internet, maybe even going as far as buying the plants it suggests but then struggling to even get them in the ground. Youā€™re telling yourself itā€™s because you donā€™t have time when really its because you feel zero connection to the generic planting plan AI spat out at you. You are a beautifully unique human so itā€™s no wonder that someone elseā€™s ideas donā€™t fill you with joy. My work is all about helping you find the space to connect with your wants, dream and desires so that you can stop following someone elseā€™s script when it comes to your garden. Telling myself I donā€™t know enough As women growing up in a patriarchal capitalist society with a plethora of information at our fingertips we are becoming increasingly disconnected from our intuition. You know that inner knowing that gives you a nudge, or that feeling in your tummy that warns you that something bad is about to happen. This is our bodyā€™s way of keeping us safe. But when you are told constantly that you are wrong, or your opinions arenā€™t valid or that youā€™re too sensitive you start to believe it and instead of trusting in your mind and body you begin to look outside of yourself for answers. This starts from the minute we are born. So is it any wonder that as midlife women we are now far more likely to trust a robot than ourselves? I did this when I launched Bloom back in March. I used someone elseā€™s launch scripts because the thought of just writing to you felt overwhelming and I listened to my conditioning that told me I didnā€™t know enough, instead of trusting my inner knowing. Perhaps youā€™ve found yourself heading to Claude for gardening advice, or consuming endless YouTube videos of some old white guy telling you how to garden instead of trusting in your inner knowing, in generations of ancestors to whom growing things was second nature. Itā€™s this connection I want to restore in you. Connection to your inner knowing and your self- trust and also to Mother Nature and your ancestors. The first step in getting my support with growing this connection is to book a Garden Power Hour. First weā€™ll get you really clear on what you want for your garden and yourself. Then I come to your garden either in person or online and lend you my gardening confidence as we start to take action together to transform your space and your relationship with your garden. Youā€™re paying for the convenience of someone imparting their gardening knowledge, but also that that someone is doing so with the care that AI can never provide. With the understanding that taking time for you to garden as a woman and mother in 2026 is a rebellious act, but one that is much needed for our health and for the health of future generations. Available dates in May 2026 11am BST Thursday 21st May 2026 9.30am BST Tuesday 26th May 2026 9.30am BST Thursday 28th May 2026 p.s. if youā€™re also a small business owner and you want to get better at selling your stuff and hyping yourself then another mentor of mine Lucy Werner has an amazing deal on. Iā€™m in her Hype community because it keeps me putting myself out there even when I want to hide away and I think you should be too. Lucy from Hype Yourself is teaming up with Lex from Revenue Rulebreaker to offer a 2-for-1 discount. Fancy joining us? Check out what they are up to here: www.hypeyourself.com/bundle Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adventureswithflowers.substack.com/subscribe

  7. May 5

    How to keep your Tulips flowering year after year

    Hello and welcome to this episode of Adventures with Flowers TV with me, Kendall Marie Platt. I am a horticultural therapist and space holder for garden curious women, and I am on a mission to get more women gardening as the antidote to burnout. Today Iā€™m going to be talking to you about how to make sure that your tulips ā€” that youā€™ve spent money on and spent ages planting ā€” come back year after year. To get future Adventures with Flowers TV episodes straight to your inbox pop your email address in here. Itā€™s really tempting, isnā€™t it, to go to the supermarket, grab a bag of tulip bulbs, chuck them in your trolley and plant them. Maybe you get a really nice display that first year, but then the second year youā€™re left thinking, ā€œOh well, they havenā€™t come back ā€” I thought bulbs were meant to come back every year.ā€ And in that way that women do, you blame yourself for not being good at gardening. First of all let me say this, not all bulbs are created equal, and iā€™m going to share with you here are a few things that you can do to make sure that your tulips flower year after year. Tip 1: Buy from a Reputable Supplier The first thing is to buy your bulbs from a reputable supplier. The supplier that I love are called Peter Nyssen. They are really, really good ā€” the bulbs are great quality, and if Iā€™ve ever had any issues, their customer service team get it sorted it out quickly and efficiently. So please, if you want to get those tulip bulbs coming back every year, I would recommend buying from a proper bulb supplier as opposed to doing that supermarket trolley dash while your picking up your groceries. Tip 2: Choose perennial varieties The second thing you can do in order to give yourself a better chance of having your tulips come back every year is to choose the right bulbs. There are varieties of tulips that are perennial ā€” meaning they come back every year ā€” and some that are not perennial. Here are some of my favourite perennial tulips: Pinks and Purples * Pink Impression ā€” a really lovely bright pink * Mistress Mystic ā€” a really lovely pink * Negrita ā€” a purple variety Peach Tones * Mystic Van Eijk ā€” a peachy colour * Artist ā€” another gorgeous peachy one, with slightly flouncy leaves; not quite a parrot tulip but more bougie than a traditional shape Pink and White * Marilyn ā€” a lily-shaped tulip, mainly white with hot pink stripes; looks gorgeous in bouquets too Orange * Ballerina ā€” a lily tulip in a bright orange colour with beautiful pointed tips on the petals Green and White * Spring Green ā€” white and green striped; adds a nice contrast amongst brighter colours Deep Purple * Queen of the Night ā€” a really deep, almost black-purple with a lovely rounded shape. Even my husband, who is not into gardening at all, comments on these every year! Bear in mind that the fancier varieties will likely sell out sooner rather than later, so get your bulb order in as soon as they start selling them ā€” usually around the end of summer for a September/October delivery. Tip 3: Leave two leaves on the plant when cutting If, like me, you love to cut your tulips for the house, make sure that when you are cutting them you leave two leaves on the plant. These leaves are what will feed the bulb for next year ā€” if you chop them all off, the bulb wonā€™t have enough energy to flower again. In order to be able to do this youā€™ll want to grow very tall tulips. To maximise the height of your tulip stems, plant the bulbs closer together in the ground. This encourages them to grow nice, tall, straight stems, so you can still leave those two leaves on the plant and cut a lovely long stem for a vase. Tip 4: Remove the seed pods Once your tulips have finished flowering the petals will fall off and they will start to form a seed pod ā€” youā€™ll notice it looks a bit fat at the top. You want to take that seed pod off either using secateurs or simply pull it off by hand. You donā€™t want the plant putting energy into making seeds; you want all that energy going back down into the bulb to feed it for next year. You can just go along and take the seed pods off ā€” itā€™s a five-minute activity, great for when you are short on time but you want something grounding to connect you with nature. Compost the seed pods, and by removing them youā€™ll be encouraging the plant to put all of its energy back into the bulb. If youā€™re new here, welcome. I come live every Tuesday at midday sharing gardening tips, horticultural therapy tips, and advice on how to incorporate gardening into your life ā€” because we are all busy and struggling to find the time but we know that more time is Nature is the answer to lowering our stress levels and avoiding burnout. I have a membership community here on Substack where you can come and garden along with us. We hold bi-monthly garden-along sessions where we all log on online together and garden as a community. If youā€™re thinking ā€œI quite like the idea of gardening but Iā€™m not really sure what I should be doing or when,ā€ then joining The Seed is the perfect way to start. You get weekly activities so you can look at the activity of the week and go and do it in your garden, no overthinking just action. If you would love to get into gardening and do it in community with other women who are juggling life, work, motherhood, or caring for elderly parents ā€” while still trying to take a little bit of time for themselves to connect with nature ā€” we would love to have you join us. Thatā€™s all from me for today. Iā€™ll be back next Tuesday. Have a great week ā€” happy gardening, bye! Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adventureswithflowers.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Apr 28

    From frozen to flourishing: a woodland garden transformation

    In todayā€™s episode Iā€™m sharing a case study with you. My client Carly knows how healing nature is, but sheā€™s a busy working mum with two kids and she wasnā€™t finding the time to create the woodland garden border in her garden that she was craving. Hi, if youā€™re new here, Iā€™m Kendall Marie Platt ā€” Horticultural Therapist and space holder for garden-curious women who are burned out from holding it all and ready to find a place to exhale. Welcome to Adventures with Flowers TV, the show for garden-curious mid-life women who want a garden that doesnā€™t just look beautiful. It restores them daily. The challenge My client Carly had a woodland area under the most beautiful lime green acer that was full of potential but fear was holding her back. She was terrified of accidentally removing something vital or destroying existing plants; she had defaulted to a ā€œleave it and hopeā€ approach. The result was a space that wasnā€™t growing into anything intentional, just existing and actually being taken over by self seeded sedge grass. The turning point Us working together in a garden power hour changed everything for her. Through my hands-on guidance, she gained the knowledge to identify what was worth keeping and what was ready to go ā€” and crucially, the confidence to act on it. The fear of ā€œgetting it wrongā€ was replaced with a clear plan and the tools to execute it. I showed her how to use a mattock to remove the tough sedge grass clumps that were popping up everywhere and how to use it to loosen the tough soil underneath so she could plant into it. The transformation Armed with know-how and a new sense of authority over her own garden, Carly went from passive observer to active creator. The ā€œwait and seeā€ mindset gave way to decisive action ā€” digging out what wasnā€™t serving the vision (the bloody sedge grass) and making room for what would. See the picture below for everything she dug out! We found a lovely skimmia that was looking a bit sad in a pot at the bottom of the garden and she added that in, alongside a stunning deep purple hellebore that sheā€™d saved from near death at the local supermarket. Life now The woodland area is well and truly on its way. Carly is no longer guessing ā€” sheā€™s shaping a space that reflects exactly what she wants it to be, with the skills and confidence to keep it growing in the right direction. Sheā€™s got plans to add in some heucheras that have been living in containers that I pointed out would love a spot in the shade. ā€œThank you SO much! I wouldnā€™t have had a clue! Now having the know-how and confidence to dig that sedge grass up and make the border what I want, my woodland area is well and truly on its way.ā€ ā€” Carly And do you know what the best bit about our session was? I also spent time showing her how to cut back and clear the old wood from a 30 year old clematis that had never been pruned and had stopped flowering. We made good progress but this is something she will continue with in 20 minute blocks of time. I also showed her how and where to prune some of the trees that were growing into areas of her garden that she doesnā€™t want them to. All of that in just 60 minutes! She now has an action plan she can follow to keep taking steps towards the garden she wants and sheā€™s inspired to keep going because she can see the impact her efforts are making. I have 3 spaces for Garden Power hours in May, that can take place in person in your garden or online if youā€™re not based near me. Available dates: 11am BST Thursday 21st May 2026 9.30am BST Tuesday 26th May 2026 9.30am BST Thursday 28th May 2026 So if you are adopting the ā€˜leave it and hopeā€™ approach like Carly but you know that what you really need is someone to support and guide you to take action then book your power hour now. Because we both know itā€™s not going to sort itself out by keeping your fingers crossed and hoping. If you enjoyed this episode let me know by hitting reply or dropping your thoughts in the comments. To get new episodes of Adventures with Flowers TV delivered straight to your inbox pop your email in here. Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! For the full Adventures with Flowers TV experience download the Substack app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adventureswithflowers.substack.com/subscribe

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Because your garden should be a source of strength, not stress. Take small meaningful actions to grow your garden sanctuary, quiet your mind and reduce overwhelm- one plant at a time. adventureswithflowers.substack.com

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