I feel a strong need to mix things up a bit this upcoming gardening season. I’m ready for a break from the norm.
A personal challenge, if you will.
I’ve bounced a few ideas around in my head for a while now and figured what the hell, why not share them with you and solicit your feedback. By making the challenge known, I’m hoping it will keep me on course with the pressure of failing publicly being the driving force.
So take a read through the options below and let me know which one you would find to be the most interesting or compelling or even humorous. After tallying up all of the votes, I will choose one and put an action plan in place immediately.
Let’s do this!
Option 1 – “Do nothing” – That’s right. I won’t purchase a single plant this year, reshape any beds, create any new gardens, etc. Simply relax. What if I tried to simply enjoy the garden for a year without the pressure of improving/changing it. This one scares me to death.
Option 2 – “Buy nothing” – A more relaxed version of the first option. No new plants added at all this year. The focus becomes properly maintaining what exists and “adding” through the division of existing plants. Trips to the nursery at lunch would make me cry, but the savings in cash would be nice.
Option 3 – “Strict budget” – I’ll pick a limited budget amount and carefully document each purchase along the way. No unnecessary splurges. A lot of lessons to be learned here and it isn’t as restrictive as options 1 and 2.
Option 4 – “Operation get kids involved” – Not as tough on me as the first three but it would be a time commitment with not a lot of excess time available. I’m imagining providing each with a mini plot and then leaving it all up to them as to what they want to plant. Sibling rivalry would be fun to watch. And I could say I personally inspired two future gardeners.
Option 5 – “All in” – The opposite of option 1 above. I’m thinking of setting a goal of eliminating 25% of my lawn with plants that are low maintenance and with low watering requirements. The manual labor would be tough but I could take advantage of early mornings once the weather warms up. I’d be sure to video my exhausting struggles.
Option 6 – “No more meat” – I’d commit to going vegetarian which would in turn make me focus on growing my own vegetables and enjoying them more. It would be tough but I’ve always thought about taking the leap.
My future is in your hands.
Option 5! All in! Getting rid of more lawn and making new garden beds always makes for a happy gardener. Plus, your title would not apply anymore. An obsessive neurotic gardener must opt for all in!
#5! because….
I seriously doubt that you could just sit there all year and NOT TOUCH A THING. The stress would kill you.
You could actually keep the cash outlay low!
When I moved from Atlanta, Ga., to DC suburbs of Maryland, I was stymied! All the local nurseries seemed to just want to sell me the most expensive item, or whatever they had too much of. I went from a climate where anything will grow lushly, to killing expensive plants.
…and that’s when I developed my “theory of plant acquisition”. Simply put, if it will grow in the median of a 4-lane highway or on the side of the road, I probably won’t be able to kill it. I found “free” flowers, creeping groundcovers, flowering shrubs of all sizes and evergreens. This was stuff I drove past day after day, thinking, ‘wow, that’s pretty’, or ‘wow, I can’t believe that’s still blooming/green/alive in this heat/cold/wind’.
And, as an added bonus, I kinda felt like I was pulling a college prank, or “beating The Man”. Lots of odd looks as I carefully extracted ‘wild’ flora & fauna on the side of the road. I found lots of cool rocks, too, to work into the landscape.
Number 2 AND number 4. Why make them either/or?
You will HAVE to do something, now is a great time for them to learn from you!.
#6 only makes sense. I doubt #1 is doable for any gardener. We are 80% vegetarian now and loving it. If we never had company, there would be no meat. I’m interested to see which one it actually is, my guess is a bit of all of them except #1. Keep us posted.
Definitely #5! Reading about 25% of your lawn disappearing in favor of beautiful NEW plants will be amazing!!
#4 and #6. I try to incorporate as much edible landscaping as possible in my own (tiny) yard, I’d love to see your take on it!
oh John, I double dog dare you to try one, two OR three. After planting tons of stuff over the first couple years I was going to ‘coast’ for a year –hahahahahah not likely. Think I went a month without buying a plant.
#2! Think how you could inspire other gardeners! (Okay, #3 would be fine if the budget was really strict.)
#5 and #6, only because I do both of those and love it. Veggies are awesome and so is not spending all day mowing the lawn.
Definitely Option #5 because us gardening folks that only have postage size yards are super, super jealous of all of the space you have for more and more plants … and we want to watch that video of you sweating in the heat of the summer….
I’ve tried 1,2 and 3 and I have never lasted but a few weeks. As someone who personally lives and breathes gardening, I can only wish 5 for you with a little bit of 4 mixed in. The kids represent some free muscle to help get rid of all that lawn and their reward is to lay claim to some of the new space for a chance to express their own gardening chops.
Set your goal for Option 5 and hopefully lets see if the kiddos will
help you.
Oh gosh, this is a tough one. I laughed out loud with the first one, and then with each additional option I thought they got harder. I seriously doubt any of us could do #1 for an entire year. Any of the others would be fascinating to follow! Good luck!
#5, of course! What’s the fun of gardening if you don’t try out new plants? That’s what we all love to read about. Besides, you know you wanna….
You can throw in a bit of #6 if you like, though I find vegetables too demanding and (even worse) very boring as plants (even if they are sometimes delicious as food)
If you manage #4 you’re a better man than I am. I’d never let the kids mess around in my little plot of heaven. Not that they’d care to.
4, kid veg. garden, sunflower and sweet pea teepee (Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots book) and a blend of 2, 3 and 5… divide and expand; then trade or sell extras at a local Master Gardener or Garden Club sale; donate extras to Nature Center plant sale; AND purchase only food sources for fauna or family; you could buy only plant orphans or plants you’ve coveted for the past several years…or plan a fam vacation and take off during heat of the summer for fun with the family. Whatever you choose to do have fun doing it and keep us posted!
Funny how all of us have an opinion about what you should do. You started all this on your own, you can do the next part on your own too. In reality, none of us are you!
John, clear a whole new bed, plan a design, plant it out and then TELL us all about it. We will be happy to share in the fun. Are there any new plants for you to get excited about? Will the deer so limit your plant list, that you have already ‘done it all’? How about a bog garden?
What’s with the all or nothing thinking here? You want to enjoy the coming gardening season don’t you? Just say no to #1, 2. I don’t think it’s possible that someone who identifies as an obsessive and compulsive gardener could stick with either of those. I know I couldn’t do it! Why set yourself up for failure? I’d say if your kids are up for it, join in to help them grow whatever they, and your Wife who would probably also be eating the goodies, think would be cool to try while setting up a new garden bed to try it in. If you need boundaries, set a budget to stick within for the project and you can help them learn more than gardening alone. Guess that’s parts of 3, 4, and 5. If what they want to grow is veggies – Great! You can do that without going total vegetarian and still count as part of 6. Life and Nature are Big – enjoy all of it!