THE BRIGHT SIDE OF GARDENING

A lot of dirt has been kicked up by  Garden Rant's  recent guest post titled The Dark Side of Grocery Gardening  by Robin Ripley of the Bumblebee Blog. I doubt that it was Robin's intention to discourage newbie gardeners with her critique of unkempt veggie gardens,  but it prompted a large number of comments, both pro and con.

Movie , literature  and art critics are free to critique  and we use their assessments but if a garden designer rants against what she sees as veggie- gardens- gone- bad then she's accused of discouraging new gardeners.  I don't think so.

There's way too much instant gratification in our society.   It seems that no one makes mistakes and if they do get caught , don't take responsibility for them.   I hear ad nauseum "  good job " from mothers whose kids have done nothing more than  what they should have.  What kind of job will they do when they grow up and their "helicopter " mom's not around to praise them ?  Anything like the sense of entitlement that many of our young have today ?  We need to allow for mistakes, otherwise we'll think we're perfect.   What ever happened to  " you only learn from your mistakes? "

I was green before green was ever cool.  Veggie gardening used to be the "stepchild " of the gardening world, now its trendy.  We raised cash crops of cotton, corn and peanuts and grew all  our own vegetables and meat on our farm.   Planting was always precise - too little and you went without, too much and you weren't able to take care of it.  

Never plant a garden too big for your wife or husband to tend to is an old Southern saying.  When my 3 kids were young and I had a full-time job it was all I could manage so I had a low-maintenance landscape that required little of my attention.   When the kids got older I returned to gardening but kept it to just what I could manage as a weekend warrior.

As renown garden writer  Elizabeth Lawrence proclaimed   :   "Every garden demands as much of its maker as it has to give.  But I do not need to tell you if you are a gardener, that not any undertaking will give as great a return as what we put in it . "

I don't have OCD but I dislike clutter and chaos in my home or garden.  I find a big difference between a lovely meadow and an overgrown patch of weeds/flowers.  I've critiqued some landscapes on my blog before that were unkempt and gaudy and have gotten comments asking " What's wrong with that. ?"  "  Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are " -Alfred Austin, English writer.

As Emile Zola said " The artist is nothing without the gift - and the gift is nothing without work. "  
As an artist and garden designer I work hard at my craft and I like to think that my home and garden reflect that.   I am by no means perfect but as Aristotle said We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. 

I want everyone to know the joy of gardening as I do.  A garden is a delight to the eye and a solace for the soul according to an ancient Persian.  And so it should be. 

I

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful -
Trees and Shrub in Sweet Garden Chicago

Long Shots of the 2009  Makeover

at Sweet Garden Chicago

Written by Carolyngail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago

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