Gardening passion

[primsong]

The gardening community at LJ, aptly named simply "gardening" recently had a query asking why gardening is a passion, and also what is hated most about it. I really had to think about it -

I really love tending plants, they're such responsive and delightful living things that they tempt me to anthropomorphize them. It is immensely satisfying to see a plant thrive under my care, it gives accomplishment, a sense of being a good steward of the blessings I've been given, a sense of doing something right in the world. The scents of fresh soil, softened from a rain or a good sprinkling, the feel of cool, soft greenery brushing against me as I am up to my elbows in beach strawberries or peppermint or columbine, the delight of having the furry golden bees sipping the lavender beside me, lifting soft-leaved grapevines and peering into the green dappled shadows for grapes - how can it not lift the heart and soul?

I have several mature fruit trees, flowering shrubs and a good grape arbor and I from them I also gain a deep sense of carrying on loving something that someone else many years before me also loved. I tend their plant-children when they no longer can and wonder at the memories they must have had of these gnarled trees when they were light saplings. I rejoice over the first little plums from my baby greengage sapling and we mourn together after the squirrels steal them away. I use or give away all of the fruit, hating to see anything edible go to waste, and I love being able to both feed my family and feed others in need as well. Gardening is a passion that makes me eager to share what I have and to divide and multiply it until it overflows, which is a very fulfilling.

But what do I "hate" about it? There are certainly negatives - It is very hard work, and there are times when the digging and hauling is at the very edge of my physical strength. Dirt is so darn heavy! There are times when I have unpleasant chores like going out in the cold wind of February to cut back my grape vines, or hauling a hose up and down for hours at a time in August. Weeds are forever coming up and if I even pause in my ambling rounds that pull them up every time I go outside, they overwhelm their softer and shyer companions. Even so, I am hard pressed to think of anything strongly disliked enough to deserve the word "hate"... perhaps stinging nettles and clearing blackberry brambles...that's about it. Even then, it's worth it in the end.

Do you garden? Why do you and what are your loves and what do you put up with in spite of it?

Comments

[ex_bel786]

Years ago when I had a house with a yard, I gardened and enjoyed it for many of the same reasons you do- the sense of accomplishment and enjoyment of my own produce, as well as the sensory aspects you describe- the scents, the feel (I love the feel of earth in my hands), seeing those fuzzy bees (I love them too), watching everything blossom and thrive.

Some day, I hope again to have some gardening space of my own. Until then, I have my house plants that I tend. My rosemary, which I rooted from supermarket sprigs, is lush and full and covered with little purple flowers this year. It provides me with wonderful flavors for my roasts and soups in the winter, and cuttings to give away to others throughout the year. As well as copious amounts of fragrant oil from its leaves- all I need to do is run my hands lightly over the plant and I have a wonderful scent.

I also have a giant Aloe Vera which I found dried up and abandoned on a fire escape over 10 years ago. I cut its withered self back to the soil level, and it didn't take long for it to regenerate into the huge green thing that it is now.

Then there is the Schefflera which was this tiny little sprig in a tabletop gift planter assortment 2 1/2 years ago, and is now approaching about 4 feet tall in a floor pot. A couple of other plants from that assortment are also in their own pots, each much bigger than the original planter, and are becoming quite large.

Things like to grow for me. :) I'm not sure if there's anything I could say I don't like about the whole thing, but then again my "garden" isn't even a little bit as much work as yours.

[primsong]

Back in my apartment days I must have filled every window with little starts in pots, I was forever picking up pieces or seeds and seeing what would root. I remember my parents laughing at me for having a little flat of maple trees growing when I hadn't anywhere to plant even one tree much less thirty - I'd been so fascinated with the maple spinners I had to try putting a few in the soil, lol... It sounds like you've some well-loved little green children, I miss the scheffelera I used to have, we would doodle a string of Christmas lights over it each winter. Yours sounds lucky to have you for a 'mom'.

[ex_bel786]

I have a string of tiny metallic Christmas "lights" on a thread (they don't really light up), which I drape over my rosemary every Christmas season. It's meant to be a necklace, but I think it looks so wonderfully festive on the plant that I only ever put it there. I'll try to get a picture of it this year. :)