Tyro's Corner, Adventures of a Beginning Gardener

by Eileen Novak

As gardeners, we have many things to be thankful for:  the fresh air, the sunshine, the rain, the earthworms, and the timing of New Years’ Resolutions.  Think about it.  My husband has seen folks
at the gym every January that he hadn’t ever noticed before.  Then by March those new folks are gone, for the most part.  When gardeners make New Years’ resolutions, we don’t BEGIN to break them until well after that.

For example:

• I resolve to plan out my garden more fully.  Won’t be breaking that in January because I don’t normally plan it till end of February.
• I resolve to start my seeds on time.  Last frost date is around the 20th of April so I have until mid-March to miss that one too.
• I resolve to water more often.  Dry days don’t start until June most years so that’s covered for almost 5 months.
• I resolve to weed more often.  Hmmm, I’m using the weeds in every garden now as “green manure”. I just have to remember to till them in before they go to seed.
• I resolve to inventory my seeds and not buy more than I need for the year.  Ummmmm here we’re getting a little sticky.  Does the inventory I did last year count? I didn’t plant that many seeds since I bought plants at most of the big and little box stores.  And do the seeds I bought last week count because I only bought them to get the order up to the “free shipping” level?  Must get a ruling on that one.

See what I mean?  Gardening gives us a minimum 2 month guilt-free zone to help us lower our collective stress.  What a good thing!