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For the Love of Gardening
I love gardening... it fills me with such joy and hopefully it does for you. Small or large gardens, it feels good to get your hands in the soil.... to grow something and eat it or enjoy its colour... after all, what could be better?
Studying to be a Master Gardener taught me some basics about what works, what doesn't and why. I'm not sure the "title" makes me a better gardener, because I still have to learn, and grow... yup, pun intended. Being a MG really just means I know where and how to find answers: I can reach out to a vast network of other so-called "masters" of gardening, all over the world.
I love that.
Having lush gardens lets us share our passion with (and learn from) other gardeners. It's about what we love to grow, our hope things do, the experiments we try and our successes and even failures.
...perhaps this is why you're here.
I hope you find some answers or ideas and if not, let me know.
I'll do my best to help - send me a note ...
Of course I have my own story and when you have time and a lovely drink, it's at the bottom of the page.
Otherwise, head to the links that interest you and go from there.
Life is always challenging: our world is dealing with illnesses, politics, wars, threats, anger and angst. But there is goodness and kindness out there, so share what you can - your kindness, a smile while looking out for each other.
I hope you find a Love of Gardening in your own garden - or perhaps even in someone else's.
No matter what else is cancelled,
gardening is not.
Plan and play in your garden; plant some seeds and keep dreaming. The sun always rises - spring always comes and we always feel better in the garden.
Whatever is wrong in the world, the love of gardening always makes things better.
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If you have a moment,
here's why I love gardening..
I confess I still don't like getting my hands dirty so assumed I wasn't really a gardener. My idea of "Garden Design" was re-arranging flower pots on the deck.
Then life threw me a few curves and I discovered digging in the dirt was a great therapy for patching up a broken heart and a tattered soul - but I was still just moving those flower pots around the deck.
Then the gardening bug bit me hard and now, here I am. I started digging a few ditsy little flower beds and made a bunch of blunders.
But there were also a few successes and I fell head over heels in love with gardening and I still do.
Why do I Love Gardening?
Gardening proves hope and faith are still alive. When you plant a dry little seed in a handful of dirt, you just KNOW it will grow and bloom into something divine.
Of course we do - because we keep doing it.
"They" say gardening is good for us.
It's not why I started, but once I did, I was intoxicated by that elixir of dirt, water and sun. It is like a love-magic for me and I always want more.
As a single working mom with two (fabulous) children, there was never enough time for digging and planting flowers, so our spring outings consisted of racing off to the greenhouse, piling pretty annuals into my convertible and hauling them home.
All I had to do was plop them into pots, arrange them on the deck or walkway and
...Voila - an instant garden.
I still hate getting dirt under my nails...So each Spring I treat myself to a few pairs of gloves in delicious colours, like lavender, blue or peach. With rubber-like palms and fingers and a nice cool mesh on the upper...they are thin enough to pick up a tiny seedling, or protect me from sharp thorns.
I wash them often.Who wants to put on wet, dirty or gritty gloves? And if an offer of a little help comes along, I can offer a clean pair of gloves...But I digress.
One crazy day, the wind blew a big old tree onto my sad little yard and when it was all cleared away, there was a huge stump. The cost to remove it would buy a lot of plants so I stuck a pot on top; threw some soil around it and planted some flowers. Behold a "garden". Oh yes, it was love...but little did I know what was to come.
It turns out, gardening is a pretty (and healthy) way to deal with life problems and I fell in love again.... with gardening, that is.
I dug some curvy beds along the fence and filled them with wild daisies and phlox I dug from the side of the road and along the railroad track behind the house. I haunted yard and plant sales, farmers' markets and asked a lot of questions.
...then, I thought... a Rose Garden would be nice.
But that's a whole other story here..ROSES
I kept buying plants and made bigger beds: less grass and more garden. I poured my heart and soul along with many dollars into that space. And, I started calling it my garden-
Then, I got a bit cocky.
My 3rd summer, my garden friend Mary twisted my arm to enter our city's "Communities in Bloom" Garden contest...
I came in third... well, goodie for me.
By then, I was totally addicted to gardening and before the next competition, I hired some muscle and we dug up the patchy grass under the Maple tree in the front yard and planted whatever I could find.
See how that went here: Grass-to Garden
Soon I was gardening like a madwoman,wanting even more plants. Each spring, it was a giddy challenge to choose colours when the greenhouses were full of 50 shades of the same colour.
Colour can be fun.... see how here: colour.
Life was settling down and my sad little yard was a garden.
The following year I entered the competition again...
and WON FIRST...ooh la la.
so... Keep reading and I'll share what worked or didn't along with some shortcuts, successes and some dismal failures of course.
If you want to grow veggies instead of flowers,
look here: (stevenbiggs.ca)
Steve and Emma Biggs have it covered. Young Emma grows BIG tomatoes and they will show you how.
