Embrace “why not” for a happier life in your garden Why not? Make your garden bigger and bolder this year! Why not? Buy that plant you’ve always wanted. Dig up some of that turf and plant some vegetables. Make that flower border a little longer and a little wider. Why not? Hire a garden designer and just let her design a garden for you. Don’t put constraints or limits on her and see what she (or he) comes up with. Why not? Make your travel plans and meet other garden … [Read more...] about Embrace “Why Not” For A Happier Life
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Embrace Composting For A Happier Life
Some gardeners have a dirty little secret that they don’t want anyone to know about. They think they are hiding it well, but one look around their garden and it is obvious.They aren’t composting!They don’t have compost bins or any means to compost the refuse from their garden. I don’t know what they do with all their plant clippings and leaves and apple cores and leftover jack-o-lanterns, and I’m too polite to ask. But I won’t judge them, either, because each gardener has their own circumstances … [Read more...] about Embrace Composting For A Happier Life
Embrace Annuals For a Happier Life
If you want to boost your confidence as a gardener, embrace annuals!Botanically, annuals complete their lifecycle in one growing season. They sprout from seed, grow like mad, flower as much as they can to produce seeds, and then die off, usually with the first hard frost. Sometimes we also grow tender perennials as annuals because they will also flower the first year from seed and are killed off by the first freeze.But it’s not that important to know if a plant is botanically an annual versus a … [Read more...] about Embrace Annuals For a Happier Life
Embrace Looking Goofy for a Happier Life
My careful observation of gardeners has shown me that there are times when they look a little bit goofy. (Goofy like this coneflower that looks like it just opened up and forgot to comb its petals out nice and neat.)For example, I have noticed that a gardener might be standing there holding a hose and watering a plant when she sees something pretty out of the corner of her eye, maybe a new bloom. She turns to look to see what it is and the next thing she knows, she has just watered her shoes and … [Read more...] about Embrace Looking Goofy for a Happier Life
Embrace Patience For A Happier Life
What is the most important ingredient for creating a garden?Is it the sunlight necessary for plants to grow or the plants themselves?Is it the water needed for all life or is it the soil?Or is it patience?Patience? Yes, that’s it! I believe the most important ingredient for creating a garden is patience.It takes patience to wait through the winter for spring to arrive and bring the garden back to life,… to sow a seed and wait for it to germinate,… to watch a bloom become a ripe, sun-warmed … [Read more...] about Embrace Patience For A Happier Life
Embrace List Making in the Garden for a Happier Life
I’ve noticed that some gardeners get a little stressed in the spring. It’s no wonder. When we put down our seed catalogs and head outside, it seems like we accelerate from standing still to 60 mph in one day.After all, spring flowers are blooming, and some have already come and gone! Seeds have to be sown, seedlings have to be thinned, beds need to be raked out, ‘winter interest’ needs to be cut down, and already it seems too late to prune apple trees and goodness, the compost bins need to be … [Read more...] about Embrace List Making in the Garden for a Happier Life
