The wasteland that is my backyard taught me three important lessons about gardening.
1) Knowing is not the same as doing.
2) Trying to do too much will lead to not doing.
3) I am not a gardener.
Too much too soon
I come from a family of scholars. Naturally, I think the best way to learn about something is to read. Better yet, learn from a master. So when we bought a house with a beautiful yard over three years ago, I took a gardening class at City College, read a gazillion books on gardening, got the feed from the hip gardening blog You Grow Girl, and even subscribed to Fine Gardening magazine. At one point, I was growing strawberries, snow peas, lettuce, blueberries, potatoes, and a variety of herbs.
The crash
Now the garden is in utter disarray. Weeds are overgrown. All the new plants are dead. Even some of the original ones—the jasmine flowers, the reeds—have died. I can't even bear to look at the garden without being filled with remorse, guilt and shame.
What did I do to arrive at this disaster? Nothing. I did nothing. I got tired; I got impatient; I lost interest. I'm just not passionate about gardening enough to want to dedicate all my free time to it. I want to make films, to draw, to do yoga, to read, to do so many other things! When my bubble of initial excitement burst, I crashed so fast and so hard that I simply stepped away. I had no exit strategy. I just stopped doing anything. Not even watering the plants.
What next?
But the garden is still there. In the backyard. Looking more miserable day by day. I guess I have to do something. Maybe just a couple of hours every weekend. Nothing big—just weeding, watering, and clearing the dead stuff. That's it. This time, I'm going to start small. Do a little. And then let's see how that goes.
1 comment:
Again, maybe this was in our dna... I happened to be the same. Not on gardening though, but on crafts... I like to buy this hand craft books and kits, and eventually, lots of them are just half way done... xx
Nowadays, just too much information is running around. And humans just have the curiosity in all things. We want to try this and want to do that. But we just don't have enough time for doing nothing. We need to relax so as to focus. I think this is why we are always half away in doing new things.
As you say, don't start too much. A little by little, when it comes to be a habit. It's just a piece of cake and you will be more efficient in the coming one. Practice makes perfect, lets focus on one or two first!!
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