It’s been cool and windy here for most of the week. Getting things done outside just hasn’t been in the cards for the last few days. I haven’t written anything in a while, mostly because I haven’t had anything to write about since I can’t really do much outside. While scrolling Instagram and reading comments, I finally found a bit of inspiration that I hope will lead into a series of posts based on a single word. Today’s word is RESOURCES.
I had some other words in mind (no, not bad words) when I was silently conversing with myself after dropping the kids off at school. I’ll probably get to them later this week, but my brain decided that perhaps the most important thing that a gardener can have are resources. They can be both physical and figurative, tangible and intangible. Whether you can touch them or if they are just concepts, all resources are important. And there are alot of them. I could probably write a dissertation length post about all of them, but I’ll spare the readers. I’ll just focus on a few to save everyone (including myself) from the tedious nature of such an endeavor.
Space
We live in a big house on a nice sized piece of property. I don’t think we are going to stay here forever. Once the kids are out of the house, we’re planning on downsizing. My wife knows that my only requirement is that we find some place that has enough space for me to garden. She always jokes about moving into a retirement community. A new one recently opened near us. I’m sure the houses are great, but the backyards are tiny. Which I get. Yards take a lot of work. The folks that move to those places aren’t interested in taking care yards anymore.
There are bunches of folks that would love to garden if they had the space. Community gardens help fill that void, but not every suburban community has that resource (see what I did there?) available. Some folks are clever and utilize every bit of free space that they have, not everyone has free space.
Time
This has the potential to be some sort of sci-fi, Einstein inspired screed . Alas, it isn’t. While space is probably the most important gardening resource, time is sort of it’s twin. We can have the space but not have the time or have the time and not the space. The concept of time is far more metaphorical than the tangible space we have, but it’s important all the same.
I assume that all the folks reading this are gardeners in some shape or form. This isn’t going to be some “how-to” on spending your time more wisely in your garden or anything (or as the kids would call, it a “hack”). Rather, think about the amount of time you spend in your garden. Or on your garden. Most of us spend a considerable amount of time doing things for our garden while not actually being in our garden. It isn’t worth the effort, but I bet if you tracked all of the hours you did something garden related in week it would be more than you realized. Unfortunately, not everyone has the time to start or maintain a garden.
Money
Now, you might say “You can have a wonderful garden without spending a bunch of money.” and you would be correct. Folks that are savvy enough to run a garden on a shoestring budget tend to have the commodity of time (and knowledge) to do so. This isn’t to say that you need alot of money to have a nice garden, but it sure helps to have a little extra.
Think about all the things you’ve purchased for your garden. Building materials. Seeds. Soil. Water (this is a biggie in Southern CA). Fertilizer. Plants from the garden center. Seed starting items. For those of us that are married, we’d probably be in trouble with our spouses if we actually kept a running tally of the amount of money we spend on our garden each year. It’s okay, it will be our secret (I know, you shouldn’t keep secrets from your spouse. It’s a joke!)
Health
As I briefly highlighted in a previous entry, I injured my knee last spring. Luckily, I had my garden planted and up and running before the injury. Before the orthopedist ordered me to be off of it in December and I was still attempting to treat my knee like it wasn’t injured, doing things outside in the yard and garden took forever. I had to take more breaks when the pain was too intense. Sometimes the breaks had to be days long before I could attempt to try again. When the doctor ordered me to be off of it entirely, it halted everything that I was able to do outside. This is the time of year where I really kick into “prep mode” for the spring and I haven’t been able to do very much prepping right now. I have the time, space, and money to garden but my health isn’t allowing me to do it at the time. Granted, the knee is feeling much better and I’ll be back at it within a couple of weeks. I’m still behind, though.
Stay tuned for more posts inspired by a single word in the future. I’m going to apologize in advance because some of the rhetoric may be a little politically charged (not in the sense that this party is bad or that party is bad) based on class structure in society. I try to stay pretty apolitical with this stuff, but I do think that there are few things that aren’t acknowledged in the gardening world.