A Gardener's Story...Makes A Guy Tired Just Thinking About It

Ah, the ingenuity and patience it takes to grow a garden. Our oldest daughter gives new meaning to both. She began with a simple trellis alongside the patio that evolved into a small series of artificial ponds surrounded by a large, now well-established perennial garden. (We helped her design, dig and plant it one year for her birthday).  On her own, she and her husband built up a retaining wall and planted a cottage garden out front of her house. AND she created an enormous veggie garden using the "lasagna garden" technique using manure, cardboard and newspaper.  (Which really works when gardening over sod, by the way...no weeds).

Unfortunately, THEN came the critters eating everything in sight. What's a guy to do? A deer fence for starters, including electrifying the upper strands of wire when the fence alone didn’t work. This year the rabbits arrived, rapacious enough to demolish just about everything down to the stumps. Our daughter replanted. She hung nylon stocking bags of blood meal along the fence. She put up chicken wire to reinforce the deer fence and then staked that down with old croquet hoops. She planted marigolds around the perimeter. Result? The veggies are back up and growing. Her broccoli is now about the size of a softball. Her basil is to die for. The tomato plants have buds. Except just last week, some unknown bug has discovered that pepper leaves taste yummy. Sigh.

Two things occur to me—how truly addictive gardening is and the reality that it is NOT for the faint of heart.