The "n'er do well" philosophy to gardening

11 years ago

I find, strangely, that gardening is being like a teenager again. I remember being 17 and reckless once but living it to the full. Her I am, all grown up and approaching retirement, but behaving just like I did when I was 17, as far as gardening is concerned.

Here are some parallels:

1. It's a "do first and think later" approach to life - which explains why I never fail to bring home new plants from every nursery visit, without any thought of where I would ever squeeze any more in.
2. It's acting without thinking of the consequences. For example, growing black bamboo by the public roadside. What was I thinking. Oh, I just remembered - I wasn't thinking at all.
3. And I should mention that Rosa "Kiftsgate" that almost killed our majestic cedar by smothering it.
4. It's about not learning from past mistakes. After I battled with the Kiftsgate, and won, I clearly had forgotten the lesson learnt, and went ahead and planted Clematis armandii to climb up same tree - with predictable results. And at the same time, discovering that climbing Treasure Trove has certainly smothered one of my Asian pear trees.
6. Stubbornness is another characteristics - insisting on growing tomatoes every year, in spite of the reliable predictable results of devastating blight attacks; growing cabbage in a shady area (again: what was I thinking?)

I won't bore you with any more of these, but you see the similarities.

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Comments (12)

prairiemoon2 z6b MA
11 years ago
Joe, that is very humorous...lol. I had never thought of that comparison to the teen years. I think we all enjoy 'growing things' but taming a garden is a lot more work isn't it? Mistakes that many gardeners make at any age. I bet you've had plenty of fun and success, too.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
fantastic ...

though i think of it even younger.. digging holes.. and playing in dirt ... and mom bringing us lunch out in the sand pit ... so as to not lose a moment of time on a glorious summer afternoon ...

it was the lesson of digging holes.. that lead to the realization.. some years later.. that i could stick things in the holes ... lol ..

thx for triggering the memories ...

ken
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calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
11 years ago
Yes it was funny, especially number 5. Al
molie
11 years ago
Number 1 --- that's me!
garden_crazy
11 years ago
Ah Ken, sounds like good times and I bet it didn't involve hand sanitizer and something out of a microwave!
GC
rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
11 years ago
ditto for #1
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
i like 5 also ... lol

microwave??? .. no ..... food of the god's.. PBJ for sure ... 365 year round.. lol ...

we ate the dirt.. to fill out our diet.. healthiest kids on the block ... micro nutrients and all .. lol

ken
mnwsgal
11 years ago
There are way too many times that my memory is like #5. The others sound about right, too.

Ken, we ate more than our share of dirt as well. When I pull a carrot out of the ground to nibble on I remind myself and any kiddies around that a little dirt helps one grow.
rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
11 years ago
we ate the dirt.. to fill out our diet.. healthiest kids on the block ... micro nutrients and all ..

I remember taking our first toddler to the doctor, all concerned that he was eating too much dirt while in the sandbox. And this very experienced doctor rolled his eyes at these first time parents and explained that it was probably a good idea to ingest dirt...building one's immune system. He attributed the huge jump in childhood allergies to kids *not* experiencing 'yucky stuff' while at a young age.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Tue, Mar 5, 13 at 17:56
gyr_falcon
11 years ago
Obviously, #5 got yanked to make room for #6. I tend to bring many plants home from nursery visits (#1), and occasionally resort to yanking (mythical #5) as a result.
Not following #2, #3 and #6 allows me the time to thoroughly explore all the options of #1 on a regular basis. :)

[My Rav has $60 worth of plants sitting in it from today's treks as I write...]
sophies
11 years ago
You described me exactly. I always say I am going to change but it hasn't happened yet.
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
11 years ago
So true...and very funny/clever. :)