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I am a home gardener who firmly believes that almost anyone can and should garden at home. There are dozens of compelling reasons that home gardening is a worthy undertaking, and I am excited about sharing them with you--along with gardening tips, tricks, trials and triumphs. However, before we go any further, I'm going to try to talk you out of home gardening. Sounds crazy, right? Trust me, there is a method to my madness.
As you consider taking the plunge into home gardening, you should ask yourself a few questions. Be honest with your answers, please; no one is judging you. All that's important here is that you make your decision to garden--or not--based on some basic truths about gardening and a sincere assessment of yourself.
Points to Ponder
- Do you hate dirt?
No, I'm not kidding. Plants grow in soil, which means you, through the act of gardening, must also encounter soil. Sand, loam, composted manure and potting soil will get under your nails, on your skin and clothing and even, on occasion, in your hair, eyes, ears or mouth (yes, really). These things may get tracked into your house. You may willingly bring them into your house in order to start seeds. Soil also clings to your freshly harvested produce, which means you will deal with dirt at least twice more: while washing your vegetables and again while washing your sink.
- Can you stand getting wet?
As with dirt, there is no escaping water. Most vegetable plants have to receive one inch of the stuff per week. If Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, watering becomes the gardener's job. And here, regardless of method--can or hose--there is a roughly 99% chance that water will end up on the human handling it.
- Are you into exercise?
Depending on the size and scope of your gardening plans, you may end up spending a great deal of time standing, kneeling, crouching, lifting, pushing, pulling, hoeing and digging. None of these activities are too tiring in and of themselves, but the cumulative results can surprise you.
- Where do you prefer to spend your time?
This is being written inside a house at a computer. A comfortable chair is involved and a desk fan is running. Why? Because it's a wilting 90-degrees right now. Out in the garden all of that lovely dark soil is bouncing sunlight back like the surface of Mercury. To my thinking, there's no contest between wiping sweat out of my eyes or sitting in front of a fan at this moment. Point being: when you garden, there will be hot, humid, muddy stretches of time when the charm of being outside wears awfully thin.
- How do you feel about insects in general?
I am asking you about this because I, personally, do not enjoy close encounters of the entomological kind. In fact, a fair amount of squealing goes on my garden, and it's not typically the "Gee! This is fun!" type. (More likely, something is scampering up my pant leg, or I've stuck my hand into a spider web.) If you cannot work your way around being unnerved by small crawling, hopping and/or flying multi-legged beings, gardening may not be an option.
- Is grocery shopping an enjoyable outlet for you?
Seriously, going to the grocery store is fun for many people. (Not for me but, again, no judging.) When you start growing your own food, though, you will begin to depend on your local market a bit less. Great news for your wallet, sure, but you'll have fewer reasons to linger in that nice, cool, fragrant produce section.
So there you have a few truths about home gardening. It is lovely, messy, wonderful, rewarding work, and I wouldn't trade it for anything else, but we're talking about you. Are you honestly up for a little dirt, sweat and getting wet? If not, we're still friends (though I'll probably be forever envious of your manicure). If so, we've got lots more things to talk about, holes to dig and people to feed. Let's have some fun!
Tags: Home gardening should you try gardening dirt insects water hot weather humidity exercise grocery shopping |
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