I can remember as a child that my mom worked in the yard and vegetable garden and provided a bounty for our table; one of the benefits of living on a farm. She was also a school teacher which provided her the luxury of the entire summer to garden. She didn’t spend much time with the few flower gardens. She said she would much rather spend time in the vegetable garden which produced something worthwhile.
Looking back I remember I see that without realizing it that I formed an opinion that it was way too much work. Jokingly I used to comment, “That is why God created Del Monte”.
I have never grown a vegetable of any kind, that I remember. I have however spent at least a part of every summer attempting to grow flowers. I am sure there is a lesson here on parental rebellion, but I won’t venture there at this point.
My current garden is one that any magazine would be proud to publish. Thankfully the previous owners spent much time and money long before I ever took over. This is my second summer here and I have spent a considerable amount of time and money myself.
Today as I was out planting even more, it occurred to me that people who see my garden assume that I have a ‘green thumb’. That thought sent me on a tumble of thoughts regarding what a ‘green thumb’ really is.
In my 20’s the thought of a garden was overwhelming. I didn’t know where to start or what to plant. My finances were limited as well so many times I just gave up. I knew I couldn’t have the full lush garden that I wanted because I couldn’t afford it. It never occurred to me that I needed to develop a plan or a goal of how I wanted it to look and start out taking it a step at a time. Instead of spending years with nothing, I would have seen a progressive garden until after the eight years of living in that house and still not having the flower garden of my dreams, I would have had a garden with eight years of additions and growth.
Many times we do that in our personal lives as well. We feel that the goal is so overwhelming that we don’t even attempt it because we can’t have it all right now. So, we do nothing until many years down the road we look back and see that if we had just moved forward, we would have been done by now. One analogy is going to college. When you are 18 the thought of 4 additional years of going to school, seems like such a long time. When my daughter was 23 she looked back one day and said, “If I had only stayed in school, I would be finished by now.”
The few attempts I did make when I was in my 20’s to plant things met with marginal results. Some things grew. Some things did not. It was frustrating. I would loose interest. If they grew, they grew. If they didn’t, they didn’t.
As I got older, in my 30’s, I put much more effort toward my gardening. I would walk miles of aisles in the garden centers and picked what I thought would be pretty. I would take them home and plant them. Again I was met with marginal results. Some grew, a lot did not. But each year I would try again.
Finally I really wanted to know why my plants were not growing. So, I began to read the package instructions and books. I began to consider the planting conditions where I was planting them. In the arrogance of youth I just planted them and assumed they would grow, that they should grow without effort from me.
Once I realized more attention and determination from me was warranted, I still was arrogant enough to believe that I could plant whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted and that it would grow.
Once I found that if I followed the rules and tended them regularly, my success rate in gardening was miraculous. I was never one to follow the rules in anything when I was young. I suppose we have a choice to follow the rules or not, but will we receive the outcome that we desire? Do you want a garden that others exclaim, “What a green thumb you have,” then you must follow the rules and you must put forth the work that the garden requires.
My garden gives me back far more than I ever put into it. Yes, I do work for hours on end, pulling weeds, planting, watering, feeding, pruning and just tending it. But the joy and peace of the tranquil setting that it provides, money and time cannot buy.
Do I have a green thumb? Well all I know is that I work hard and follow the rules, but make sure I enjoy it all along the way.
Nancy Jackson, daydreamer extraordinaire
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