May 5, 2008

why do you garden?

A GREAT QUESTION WAS RAISED over the weekend on the Urgent Garden Question Forums: Why do you garden? Not being able to control myself, I replied with a flip one-liner. But new member Elizabeth took the question posed by Kenn seriously, and shared a more truthful reason. Why do you garden?

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29 Responses to “why do you garden?”

nhnursery on May 5th, 2008 7:48 am

Because I enjoy being outside and working the soil.
kclily on May 5th, 2008 6:20 pm

I garden because it keeps me fit, thin and young.
margaret on May 5th, 2008 6:32 pm

Welcome NH Nursery and Kclily, and thanks for your thoughts. I couldn’t be more enthusiastic when I say, “me, too” on all counts.
Margaret
susan on May 5th, 2008 7:00 pm

To sooth my soul, I remember my grandparents and parents love of the soil and I have it in my blood. This year I am planting a garden from scratch. So exciting.
nichole on May 5th, 2008 8:17 pm

It keeps me sane, There is something very peaceful about digging, planting and weeding until my body aches! It always pays off in the end even if things don’t go as planned!
margaret on May 5th, 2008 8:23 pm

Welcome, Susan, and I wish you a wonderful season of gardening from scratch. Nothing quite like it…and the first experiences are unforgettable. Keep us posted!
_____
Nichole, I am glad to say hello to you, too, and to see you here on A Way to Garden. You hit on something very important: the part about “even if things don’t go as planned.” Maybe that’s the best part–the way the garden, and nature, seem to be forces bigger than us.
M.
ChrisND on May 5th, 2008 11:13 pm

I grew up with gardening (parents, grandparents, country living, farms) so gardening makes me comforted. I also like nature and exploration both of which are very much a part of my garden practice. No matter the size of the garden or plant I am happy with my own place to relax and contemplate.

(Oh and thanks for the visit!)
margaret on May 6th, 2008 5:46 am

Welcome, Chris. Love the words “comforted” and “exploration”–just exactly right. And yes, it is a practice, isn’t it?
Thanks so much.
Margaret
margaret on May 6th, 2008 6:20 am

By the way, a number of other great answers to the question are on the Forums, at this url.
M.
Janet on May 9th, 2008 12:42 pm

Dorothy Parker said “I hate writing but I love having written.” I feel that way about gardening. Getting out there and doing it is difficult but once it’s “done” (never done, of course) I like looking at results. I am only two generations removed from midwestern farm stock, so something stirs in me in April and out I go to smell the damp earth and plan the season. 20+ years ago I bit off more than I can chew, or till, but still I keep at it, here in “Sissinghurst West.”

Margaret, I saw a wonderful geranium (perennial) in your garden, something about a mourning woman, or widow? dark edged foliage, dark burgundy flower? Can you give me the proper name? Thanks.
margaret on May 9th, 2008 1:03 pm

Welcome, Janet. That Dorothy, what a smart girlie she was. And you are right, sometimes (like peak spring) I really hate the endlessness of it, but the after-effects…yum.
The Geranium is G. phaeum ‘Samobor.’ I think Lazy S’s has it by mail, or more and more local nurseries do, too, these days. It is everywhere in the garden I see after so many years…seeding around, having fun. If you were here this moment we could just pop one out on this rainy day, great for transplanting.
Karen T on May 16th, 2008 11:15 am

I am only two generations removed from midwestern farm stock

This is me, too, and I do think there’s something to that.

I garden because I can’t seem to help myself. It’s the most addictive experience I’ve ever had. Is it endorphins or seratonin? I don’t know which, but when I stand in my garden and look around, I can feel every fiber of myself relaxing, and a feeling calm settling in. I do realize how ridiculous that sounds, but it’s a true fact!

My husband and I are just on our second garden. The first was a rental house in Napa, which made a great place to practice. I’d been gardening in my mind for at least 15 years — watching the old Martha show religiously, reading magazines, amassing pages and pages of great gardens (including yours, Margaret, which is fabulous). And yet when I started, I still had no idea how to actually DO it. People thought it was weird that we made a garden at a house that wasn’t ours, but now that we’re making one at a house that IS ours, we’re doing it knowing what we’re doing.

You may notice I’ve gone from “I” to “we” — that’s because my husband is now every bit as addicted as I am. We take little tours together, seeing what’s developed, and we look at each other and say “plants are the coolest things.” We’ve worked ourselves silly getting this garden started and it’s been one of the best things we’ve ever done together.

I can’t imagine life without a garden. And I’m very happy to have stumbled across this site. Sure to be another new addiction.
margaret on May 16th, 2008 11:27 am

Hello to Karen T. Welcome. Yours is a beautiful story…first to I, then to We, infused with the spirit and practice of gardening. Teh practice connecting you two, each of you to it, all three of you (I think of the garden and gardener as one organism, so hey, I’m a believer!).
Karen T on May 19th, 2008 11:36 pm

Well, it’s a living, breathing thing, right? I’m with you.
Amanda on June 22nd, 2008 9:38 am

Okay, I’m in. I say keep it. After all, you made it grow from just a baby cutting. Move it if it doesn’t work with what you are trying to accomplish in your new project, but keep it. If you lived closer to me, I’d want cuttings myself…
Simon on June 24th, 2008 8:19 am

I love gardening, growing vegetables from seed to table. To see the the garden change colour as the year goes. The best hobby.
joyce on July 14th, 2008 8:18 pm

When I was a kid we lived in the city and had a strip of dirt in the back against a tall fence. There my dad taught me to plant beans and radishes, and my life was changed forever.

Gardening is so like painting and sculpture, with design, color, and spacial considerations, that it is my favorite art form.
Linley on September 12th, 2008 10:06 am

I garden because it tells me so much about the biology of the area I live in. I’ve gardened each place I have lived: Maryland, Colorado, Florida, Kenya, and Guam.

Each garden has had unique challenges. In Guam it was so hot and humid that I could make soil so quickly by composting… and you had to because there was only limestone rock to begin with.

In Kenya, much to my dismay I couldn’t garden barefoot because the acacia thorns would pierce right through my feet! Now that I’m back in MD I can garden barefoot again because I left the fire ants behind in Florida.

There’s no quicker way to learn about an area by gardening… recognizing the weeds that pop up, the insects that visit, the diseases, the plants that thrive and those that struggle. You never really know an area until you’ve gardened there.
margaret on September 12th, 2008 5:11 pm

Welcome, Linley (what a familiar name, tee hee). Sounds like you have gardened in some amazing spots, against all odds. So nice to see you here!
starr cunningham on September 12th, 2008 6:54 pm

mine is a flower garden. im thrilled by the beauty and how the garden surprises me. i ry to atrract wildlife so to quote you “i like plants that earn their keep”. im all about the wildlife, they make me laugh. watching a stem of veronica disappear down the throat of a rabbitt or the sparrows rolling in the garden dirt in the spring or the chipmonk sitting on top of the sunflower with both cheeks ready to pop and both fists full of seeds. its fantastic and so are you. so glad the post did that article.
margaret on September 12th, 2008 8:43 pm

Welcome, Starr. Yes, mostly wildlife makes me laugh, too…except those times that they make me shout and stomp my feet and fists and act crazy (like when a mama skunk decided that under my back porch was a good place to raise a family, or woodchucks tunneled under an ancient lilac and uprooted it…you get the idea). I am so glad we have met, thanks to the Post, and hope to see you again very soon.
Gloria Manitta on September 17th, 2008 10:16 am

I started gardening about 30 years ago when we bought a house with a very large back yard. I wanted my children,6, to learn where food came from,learn what fun it is to go out into your yard and pick your food and how delicious it is to have REALLY fresh food. At some point I decided not to ask for their help and accept help from those who wanted to be in the garden with me. After all, it was my project, not theirs. Now, at age 71, I have a very small plot but I still love to be out there, getting my hands( and feet) into the soil and picking herbs and tomatoes as needed. I still love it! Gloria
Elaine on September 17th, 2008 11:09 am

I saw you on Martha this morning and was so glad to see a blog for gardening. I think I will enjoy this.

I like to garden to relieve stress. There is just something about getting outside and weeding, planting or just mowing the lawn. My son does not understand why I would rather mow than clean house. Gardening is not a chore, it is just good therapy.
margaret on September 17th, 2008 1:37 pm

Welcome, Elaine, who gets that it’s therapy and not mere chores out there. You are in good company and we all hope to see you again.

Welcome also to Gloria Manitta, with 30 years of gardening under her belt. Me, too! I am so glad to hear how much you continue to love our craft/passion/hobby/whatever. Thanks for sharing.
Beverly Poag on September 17th, 2008 2:30 pm

Hello Margaret, Caught you on Martha this afternoon and looked up your blog….really, really great.. feel like I’ve known you all my life….soul to soul…gardeners are like that you know! We just moved to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in North GA from North Fl….gardening is a whole new experience here…clay vs sand..but I’m learning..my husband and grandson built me a 16X20 (4′ porch to boot!) Potting Shed with loft (I’ll send you a pic, if that’s ok)…so now he says I’ve got to get real serious about this gardening thing..thought I was already…now that I’ve retired, maybe I can continue to do what I really love best…get dirty!! Take care!
Marge W on September 17th, 2008 2:49 pm

I’m not ususally home when Martha is on but catch her when I can. Margaret, what a wonderful surprise you were. When you were done I went to your website! I’ve been reading and looking at pictures and must soon go do other things, but THANK you for a wonderful easy place to find info about gardening!
margaret on September 17th, 2008 4:54 pm

Welcome, Beverly. When your husband has some free time, send him north a ways. These frogboys don’t do much in the way of home improvements. :)

Welcome, Marge. Do let us be a regular distraction, or at least a little escape when there is time. Look forward to seeing you again soon.
Jennifer on September 17th, 2008 8:48 pm

I used to watch endless hours of tv. After suffering a stroke with some vision loss on New Years Eve and being away from home for 7 months, I started gardening. I can no longer stand the noise of the tv or the constant motion. Being outside has help keep me sane while getting used to my new reality I’ve got a food garden started and 2 new flowerbeds in my back yard. I may not mow straight rows and I run into something I can’t see but I’m out there, in my space, doing my thing. No frog boys here I do have squirrels and yesterday saw my first rabbit. I can’t wait until spring. Can someone tell santa to put some seeds in my stocking?
margaret on September 17th, 2008 9:00 pm

Welcome, Jennifer. So nice to hear your story. We are here, and happy “talk” anytime. Watch out for those rabbits…can be pesky, hungry boys. My frogs just eat bugs, but bunnies…well, they are herbivores, meaning they eat your garden!

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Who's Gardening Here?

from martha to just margaret
I was so blessed to visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as its garden editor and then as editorial director for the company. The list of places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home a few years back. Take a tour of how it looked then. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June in The New York Times, calling A Way to Garden “the best (garden blog) I’d ever seen.”
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Why Do You Garden?

One of the most popular questions at A Way to Garden: Why do you garden? A bunch of us answered in a stream of comments, and there's great other stuff on the Forums. Just in case you'd like to tell us why, too (or have a good read about what makes the rest of us tick).
October Garden Chores

All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.

FALL IS HEATING UP, at least visually, even as temperatures begin to trend downward. Cleanup is (hopefully) under way in earnest, with time out to cook up the last bits from the vegetable garden into a batch of ‘Tomato Junk’ or soup, or local apples into applesauce. With such delicious reminders of summer and fall in the freezer, and the right plants in the garden, there’s no “end” to fear. Some of us even feel happy about the coming riches: berries, bark, new birds. Peak planting time for bulbs and for many woody things is through month’s end or so; make that work include some focus on the addition of fall and winter plants to the landscape.

TREES & SHRUBS

CLEAR TURF OR WEEDS from the area right around the trunks of fruit trees and ornamentals to reduce winter damage by rodents. Hardware cloth collars should be in place year-round as well.

BE EXTRA-VIGILANT cleaning up under fruit trees, as fallen fruit and foliage allowed to overwinter invites added troubles next season.

BE SURE TO WATER trees now through hard frost if conditions are dry, so that they enter dormancy in a well-hydrated state. Evergreens (needled ones and broadleaf types like rhododendron, too) are particularly vulnerable to desiccation and winterburn otherwise.

DON’T PANIC IF EVERGREENS continue to show some browning or yellowing of needles this month and next. The oldest, innermost needles typically shed after a few years on the tree.

ALWAYS BE on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. This is especially important before winter arrives with its harsher weather, where weaknesses left in place invite tearing and unnecessary extra damage. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too.

VEGETABLE, FRUIT & HERBS

PREPARE A SEEDBED NOW for peas and spinach for next spring, to get a headstart on such early crops. Spinach can even be sown now through Thanksgiving, for super-early spring harvest; not the peas, of course.

AS VEGETABLE PLANTS (and annual flowers) fade, pull them to get a start on garden cleanup. Before composting the remains, cut them up a bit with a pruning shears or shred, to speed decomposition.

PARSLEY AND CHIVES can be potted up and brought indoors for offseason use. A few garlic cloves in a pot will yield a supply of chive-like (but spicier) garlic greens all winter for garnish. Determined types with really sunny windowsills can sow seeds of bush basil in a pot, too. I rely on frozen pesto cubes instead.

IF NEXT YEAR’S GARDEN plans include a patch of strawberries or asparagus, do the tilling and soil preparation now so the bare-root plants ordered over the winter can be planted extra early come spring.

AS AREAS COME EMPTY from harvest, build vegetable-garden soil by sowing cover crops: winter rye can be sown through mid-fall. These “green manures” will be turned under later to improve soil tilth and fertility.

REPLANT YOUR BIGGEST CLOVES from heads of harvested garlic for best yield, or hurry and order a supply and plant now (about a month before frost is in the ground). Prepare a sunny spot, and plant each clove 1-2 inches deep and 6 inches apart in the row, with about 12 inches between rows. Green growth will happen this fall, which is great; don’t panic. It’s a hardy thing.

FLOWER GARDEN

PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION to areas around peonies, roses, irises and other flowers that are prone to fungal diseases. Cut down iris foliage and rake well under roses.

CANNAS, DAHLIAS AND OTHER tender bulb-like things including elephant ears need to be dug carefully for indoor storage. There are many methods, but the basics: Once frost blackens the foliage, cut back the tops to 6 inches and dig carefully, then brush or wash off soil and let dry for two weeks or so to cure. Stash in a dry spot like unheated basement or crawl space around 40-50 degrees, in boxes or pots filled with bark chips or peat moss. Details, here.

DON'T DEADHEAD FADED perennials, biennials and annuals if you want to collect seed (non-hybrids only) or will let them self-sow. Nicotiana, poppies, larkspur, clary sage and many others fall into this leave-alone group. So do plants with showy or bird-friendly seedheads, like coneflowers.

LAST CALL FOR BULB ORDERS (see Sources), and plant as they arrive (lilies most urgently). Remember our “early, middle, late” mantra when ordering. And think drifts, not onesies and threesies.

PREPARE NEW beds for future planting by smothering grass or weeds with layers of recycled corrugated cardboard or thick layers of newspaper, then put mulch on top.

HOUSEPLANTS

START A POT OF PAPERWHITES in potting soil or pebbles and water, and stagger forcing more every couple of weeks for a winterlong display.

REST AMARYLLIS BULBS by putting them in a dry, dark place where they will have no water at all for a couple of months. I put mine in a little-used closet.

IF HOUSEPLANTS NEED repotting, do it as they come inside (less messy than in the house!). Don’t step up more than an inch (on small pots) or a couple (on large ones). Most plants don’t like to swim in their containers.

LAWNS

KEEP MOWING TILL THE GRASS stops growing, and make the last cut a short one. Let clippings lie on the lawn to return Nitrogen to the soil.

COMPOST HEAP & MULCH

START A LEAVES-ONLY PILE alongside your other heap as a future source of soil-improving leaf mold, or when partly rotted for use as mulch.

ORDER A SUPPLY of bulk mulch, which is cheaper than the packaged kind and also eliminates the waste of all those heavyweight plastic bags. Many local nurseries deliver. Top up mulch in all garden beds as they get cleaned up gradually in fall.
Brief but Juicy

new-fashioned recipe swap
OUR SUMMER-LONG SERIES of Thursday Food Fests, a cross-blog joint venture with our friends at the Dinner Tonight blog, has been a big hit. For those of you currently awash in a sea of cuke or zukes, take heart: still time for a batch of refrigerator pickles or squash parmigiana. Up to your whatever in basil? Maybe you missed our pesto fest. We’ve talked tomatoes (red or green) and green beans (from dilly to dally), ways to savor or stash fresh corn, and ideas for the fruit harvest, too. You can find them all under the Category “Edibles” in the right sidebar on every page, or by scrolling down through the posts at will.

ultimate garden no-no’s
WHEN SOMEONE ASKED in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no).

lose anything lately?
THE SAYING GOES THAT a thing of beauty is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count in July, or at least half of it did, and I had already seen the death knell for a couple of my 10 crabapples. Jeez.

true love, really
LOOK, I HAVE A THING for frogs. Call it my little fetish. An issue. Whatever. My general obsession notwithstanding, I’ve finally met THE ONE FOR ME.

hail the stewartia
I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?

more, more, more clematis
WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis in late spring-into-summer, I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, but in lots of other places where things look a little dull. I’ve got a penchant for growing vines up and over otherwise-dull shrubbery, you see.

can-do pruning
REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.

the ‘other’ peonies
JUNE WAS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting did its subtler, wonderful thing.

which lilac to plant?
SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.

non-blooming peonies?
Did your peonies not cooperate—was there not a good crop of flower buds, and you don’t know why? This came up on the Forums, and here’s the dish.

twist-off ticks
I AM COMING IN everyday with at least a tick or two on me; not embedded, thankfully, so far, but it's only a matter of time. But I am prepared. Are you?

anything but forsythia
I guess I have a thing against forsythia…even though I have several specimens of it along the fringes of my property. But there are better choices for spring color among shrubs.

surprise (avian) visitors
If you make a garden for birds, or even plant a crabapple or two (or ten), you never know who’ll show up.

magnolias to love
THEY’RE MEMORIES NOW but I couldn't garden without magnolias. Want to know more about the queen of the spring-blooming trees?

order in the garden
I AM LABELING my plants, I am. As memory fades, out comes the label machine, just in the nick. Saved by the Dymo. You can be, too.
Buried Treasure

I NOTICE THAT BLOGGING results in some rich but buried treasure: great stuff in a comment thread you may not see; interesting topics on the forums that perhaps you haven't visited.

Subjects ranging from feeding and pruning Hydrangeas and pruning clematis, to entertaining (read: ranting) lists and lists of garden no-no’s (not just mine!).

Pick a click, and enjoy. Better yet, CHIME IN yourself. Up in the nav bar…that's right, GO FOR IT: our Q&A FORUMS.