Gardening on the Backburner

Published by Hanna | Filed Under: My Life
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Do a happy dance. Pumpkin Patch is over. Not that any of you care (thanks if you do), but much of my free time for the past month has been taken up by the annual festival at my kids’ school, which is called the Pumpkin Patch Festival. It was this past Saturday and was very successful, but the python that it was has been lifted from my life and I can get back to the important things like mailing seeds (sorry if I owe them to you), posting on my blog and gardening.

I have heard more than a few times that gardening is dying out. At one point in time, I believed that. But now I know the truth. Gardening is not dying out, is a luxery afforded by those with spare time (i.e. you lack small offspring at home and/or you don’t have a demanding job).

The rest of us snatch spare moments. Spare moments and spare time are like pennies and dollars. Sure, one adds up to the other but one doesn’t buy nearly as much as the other.

Then what do you do when your spare moments get stolen? Are you really suppose to tell the teacher no? The boss no? The bill collector no? Just because you want to pull a few weeds?

Don’t get me wrong. I do say that sometimes. I feel really guilty, but my garden looks better for it. I have turned down 2 playdates, one husband date and 3 dates with friends so that next weekend is mine, mine, mine. The weeds have won and I have to muster the forces or else this spring will see my garden buried so far I will never dig it out.

Gardening should not have to take a backseat to the rest of my life or maybe it should, but it seems really damn unfair if that is the case.

Published by Hanna on October 15th, 2007
Filed Under My Life | Permalink

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gus Says:
October 15th, 2007 at 9:28 pm

For those with small children, Klutz Books has a book called “Kid’s Gardening (A Guide To Messing Around In The Dirt). It has seeds and a small trowel. My son had one when he was little. I’m looking for one for our grandson for next spring.

kate Says:
October 15th, 2007 at 11:39 pm

It’s always a struggle to find time to garden or do things that you enjoy when you are juggling the demands of work and being a mum.

trey Says:
October 16th, 2007 at 12:21 am

When you get down to it most all of our basic needs are met. The one thing we will never have enough of is time, and how we spend is is what makes us who we are. Gardening is a luxury, a wonderful luxury like a home cooked meal, a good book on a rainy day, or a weekend to your self. Another luxury is being able to find the time to read stuff like “the python that it was has been lifted from my life” or “Spare moments and spare time are like pennies and dollars. Sure, one adds up to the other but one doesn’t buy nearly as much as the other.” Classic!

Robin (Bumblebee) Says:
October 16th, 2007 at 7:13 am

I completely sympathize. I am trying to slow down myself so that gardening is not a “luxury” but something else that I have time to do.

How to slow down is the big problem. As you have aptly pointed out, saying “no” isn’t always an option. But sometimes, just sometimes it is.

–Robin (Bumblebee)

mss @ Zanthan Gardens Says:
October 16th, 2007 at 7:55 am

Time is one factor; having a house and garden to work in another. How many 20-somethings can afford a house these days? None that I know where I live. I was 37 before I was able to buy a house with a yard.

Yet, I was encouraged last week when I met three of my readers during a plant giveaway–all of them young and newly enthusiastic about gardening. I didn’t get the impression that gardening was dead at all, nor the sole province of retirees.

Cathy Says:
October 16th, 2007 at 3:48 pm

That’s why I’m homeschooling. One of our weekly projects is going to be gardening. Mandatory! My little guy likes to help in the garden. He picks tomatoes, which he doesn’t like, and offers them to me to eat and says “mmmmmm”. So cute!