Archive Tip of the Week
TIP OF THE MONTH
June 2010
On the face of it, that sounds like a really stupid tip from someone who loves to garden as much as I do. But it’s perhaps the single most important bit of advice I have to offer. Here’s why.
There’s no getting around the fact that gardening requires some amount of work, whether it’s digging a hole for a new tree, laying stone, weeding a bed, thinning vegetable seedlings, or pruning a prickly rose. And for most of us, the sense of satisfaction we get from completing such tasks is part of our motivation for doing them in the first place.
But if all you ever do in the garden is work, then gardening has the potential to become, well, work. Or drudgery. Or something devoid of joy.
So the next time you head out into the garden, leave the tools behind. Instead, grab your favorite beverage and do nothing more than stroll through your garden, observing all that you can in new and different ways.
Instead of always looking at the top of the leaves on your squash plants, check out the undersides, where you might find the eggs of squash bugs (go ahead and crush them – that’s not really work). Rather than stare at your favorite hydrangea from the usual, ground-level vantage point, stick your head into its center to see it from the inside looking out. And instead of always admiring your garden from one particular vantage point such as your patio, walk to farthest corner of your property and look back toward the patio. A simple change in your point of view will enable you to see things in your garden you’ve never noticed before.
Spending time in the garden without actually gardening will help you develop a kinship with all the living things that call your garden home, both flora and fauna. And that makes all the work we do worthwhile.
Spend Less Time Gardening
What did I just say?
