Happy Spring! I took this picture because I loved the contrast of the colors, and was so excited to actually be planting something in the garden I’ve worked so hard to dig. But you can tell I’m a newbie gardener because within a few hours my nails looked like this.
When I picked gardening as one of my New Year’s resolutions, I had no idea it was going to fortuitously be one of the only hobbies still legal by spring.
It’s supposed to be relaxing, but is instead stressing me out. I couldn’t buy plants because I’m not independently wealthy, which leads me to my first question. For those out there who are sewers as well as growers, is gardening like sewing? You know, where it costs you twice as much money to buy fabric, own a machine and buy basting tape and buttons than it would to just buy a dress from the store (but you do it anyway for the love of sewing and the fact that you can’t just waltz into Target and buy a Daenerys Targaryen costume?)
I carefully researched which vegetables and herbs grow in partial shade because our urban-ish backyard backs up against a towering apartment complex that blows out Marijuana smoke like a forge of Mordor. Add an out of control elm tree of some kind and a straggly pepper tree, and it’s clear our backyard is just perfect for gardening. I’m not in over my head at all.
All of the seed packets say “full sun” even though the internet very clearly tells me “partial sun”. I’m sure this makes sense to real gardeners, but to me it feels like there is some sort of secret cabal going on where everything can be blamed on Apollo.
And what in the world do the watering instructions mean? Does “two inches” of water mean the width, length and volume is optional? There are too many variables! I watched several YouTube videos to figure it out and that did nothing but convince me gardeners really love their plants and they sound like they’re speaking a foreign language. I need a cheat sheet for dummies.
.... Or flash cards because I’m going all Hermione Granger on gardening when it probably takes more of a Luna Lovegood touch.