Twelve Slightly Useless Lessons from the Garden

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There are snakes out there. Don't kill the snakes, People! They are good and helpful creatures. R took this photo on his hike up the hill last weekend.

Here are a few other things I've learned while trying to become one with the earth:

1. One person's weed is another person's flower.

2. Beautiful things can grow in really bad soil and a lot of rocks.

3. Some plants really do return after the snow melts, but not all of them.

4. Those little plastic six packs are meant to be torn open, otherwise
one might end up beheading the flowers before they're planted.

6. Rooty veggies should be planted during a waning moon
and above-ground veggies during a waxing moon. I don't know why.

7. Frost happens.

8. Pressure treated wood is evil.

9. While nasturiums grow like weeds in California, not so much in Massachusetts
(see #3)-- plus, all that rain = more leaves, fewer flowers.

10. One's fingernails may fill with dirt even when wearing gardening gloves.

11. That weed prevention cloth may be handy, but digging through it is a bitch.

12. Marigolds smell like being four years old and may bring tears to one's eyes--
Ok, maybe that's just me. What's your nostalgic scent?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I love your list! I experienced the dirt in the nails even while wearing gloves just last week-Acutally I love getting my hands dirty - I loved the smell of Sweet Williams in Grandma Irene's garden just outside the garage door past the dyer to your left. Also, Honeysuckle is a scent from my Grandmother VanZandt's house just outside her bedroom window - :) Love, Mom
May 21, 2010 at 12:55 PM
Suzanne said…
I am obsessed with the smell of tomato vines. I know we grew them for a year or two when I was very small, but my passion for the scent seems much stronger than that. Perhaps I was an Italian farmer in a past life.

I didn't know the waxing and waning bit, but I am very curious about it now. Thank you! And thanks for making me think of a Cowboy Junkies song -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajtnaiLaJNQ
May 24, 2010 at 6:37 PM
Anonymous said…
Yes, tomatoes. Their sharp green smell always makes me think of summer.

That picture of Buckaroo is just about the cutest thing ever.


(word ver: expla Nothing like leaving a gal hanging...)
May 24, 2010 at 9:54 PM
Laura Grodrian said…
Clematis with the white flowers smell sweet and creamy and herald my June birthday. Instead of weed cloth try plating your veggies, putting several sheets of newspaper down around them, then cover the paper with mulch (Chris gets us mango mulch). Don't know if it'll work in Mass, but digging the weeds our of the garden was a breeze this year (and the paper decomposes).
May 28, 2010 at 2:09 PM
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