You wonder as you stand there watering flowers because it is hot and dry and there hasn’t been enough rain, is gardening worth it?
You look at the plants you thought you were taking good care of, and find that once again some of them look crispy around the edges like you’ve never watered them before and others look as limp as a pile of old, green rags. Is gardening worth it?
You go inside after just a few minutes in the garden dripping with sweat, with your arms covered in mosquito bites making you look like a kid who just got home from summer camp. Is gardening worth it?
You practically crawl into the house after lugging bags of mulch around, spreading it around those flowers that can’t seem to get enough water, your back aching and complaining. Is gardening with it?
You avoid looking at some areas of the garden that are more weeds than plants you planted and hope no one sees the mess before you have a chance to weed, again. Is gardening worth it?
And then you see it. A hummingbird is flitting from one flower to the next grabbing all the nectar it can get. You stand still, as still as you can, and watch it for several minutes, not once thinking to reach for your smartphone so you can take a picture or video of it. It’s a moment between just you and the hummingbird and it will stay that way. Yes, you decide, gardening is worth it.
You see all the bees buzzing around, covering themselves with pollen and you know the answer is yes, gardening is worth it.
Then you pick a few leaves of lettuce sown in a container in the shade on the patio and grab a handful of just ripened ‘Juliet’ tomatoes to make a simple salad to go with the zucchini pie you made with some summer squash picked from your own garden. The answer is obvious with every bite. Yes, gardening is worth it.
It’s worth the sweat. It’s worth the aches. It’s worth the weeds. It’s worth a few insect bites. It’s worth the time to water, to plant, to harvest.
Gardening is worth it all.
Agreed.
You go to England, where everything is lush and the foliage is perfect, and the blooms are huge, and you wonder … is gardening worth it? But you come home and imperfect though it may be, it's still YOUR garden … and yes, it's worth it.
It's worth it to me and I wear insect shield long pants and shirts to protect me from ticks and mosquitoes in 90 weather…It's my therapy .
Hell yes.
Amen.
Worth it indeed!
Yep!
Great post – just about sums up a good deal of my current gardening experiences.
Taking that bite of the first ripe tomato, hot and dusty, right there in the garden, with the juice dripping down your chin. Yes. It is all worth it!
Oh' dear!! This is just what I was thinking. I have returned from a short trip to find the weeds are winning the air is hot and humid and the bugs have hatching in full force. My veggies are late in coming so there is only a few radishes left from the spring growth – lettuce gone, spinach gone but – I hold on to the fact that there are lots of green tomatoes on the vine and soon we will have that simple salad. I will watch the the hummingbirds and remind myself It is worth it! Thanks for the post!
Everything you describe … even how you describe it is what I have gone through (except by some miracle I have escaped the mosquitoes thank heavens)
I even manged to compress the femoral nerve in my left leg from hauling bags of stone (to make the garden pretty) one year. So yes .. many garden injuries and a few heartaches, but for those amazing moments when you feel so connected to nature you can hardly breath .. it IS worth it .. that feeling is like no other and I cherish them .. she, mother nature, is "worth far more than rubies" ..
At times, I wonder……
Yes, it's worth it – but this dang heat is driving me crazy!! All I want to do is get things done in the garden but I start melting after only 15 minutes. And once it cools down in the evening…yup, that's when the mosquitoes come out to play. Can't win this year, it seems.
This thought came to me several times …our weather is much more hot with temperature reaching 40 to 45 degree celsius but then serendipidity happened…its definitely worth it