Many of you were wondering about why I’m not planting a garden this spring. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have a garden unless it was when we had just moved into a new home or were moving away in the summer. When we left Missouri, Vince left on May 1 and I stayed til mid-August but I didn’t have a garden that year.
You know I often say I’m going to or not going to do something and that isn’t what always happens but here’s my thinking on the garden.
First, Vince is not a gardener. He doesn’t enjoy doing any of it, especially after working all day. For me, even when I worked, coming home and working in the garden was therapeutic. It relieved stress, gave me something to look forward to and gave me a sense of accomplishment. But, Vince just doesn’t feel that way about it and I don’t blame him. If it’s something you’re not interested in doing, then it’s another chore. Chad once said to me, about the garden I think . . why is it that your hobbies always seem to cause work for everyone else? And that’s true. I cannot garden without Vince’s help. He never minds tilling the garden for me to plant but I have to keep asking and asking and then I feel like I’m nagging. I need his help with getting the irrigation lines in and again, I end up to the point of nagging to get it done. I can do all the planting and weeding until the produce starts coming in but once I’m picking beans and tomatoes and cucumbers, and snapping/shelling beans, canning tomatoes and beans, making pickles . . I cannot be out weeding 10 hours a day. Everything outside has to be done before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. because otherwise, it’s too hot. Once the produce starts coming in, and I’m not out there hours and hours each day, the weeds take over. The grass burrs get worse every year. This year, just as the tomatoes and okra began producing, the grass burrs were waist high and it’s truly painful to try to work out there.
Again, I’m not blaming Vince. If he had a hobby that I had no interest in, and I was constantly being asked to help him, I’d get frustrated too.
Second, Vince will probably retire sometime between the middle of 2018 and the middle of 2019. We may stay here or we may go ahead and move. It’s a whole lot easier to move with empty jars and than with full jars so from now til we decide what we’re going to do, I’m cooking food from the freezer and from my jars, as much as possible. Instead of filling jars next spring, I need to be emptying jars.
Vince knows how much gardening means to me and once he retires, he may have more of an interest in gardening and we may try again. Central Texas is not an easy place to garden. Bugs, lack of water, limey soil/water, grass burrs, snakes.
Giving up the garden is something I’ve thought about for a couple of years and this year, the grass burrs totally took over way earlier than before. I had hurt my knee, probably from too much stooping/bending in the garden, and wasn’t able to stop down and harvest any of the pumpkins or winter squash that were on the ground and heavy. They all sat out and rotted. By the time the okra got to producing a lot, I couldn’t even get to the okra patch for the grass burrs. Seeing the okra and the pumpkins, and not being able to get them . . I said . . I give up . . and I knew it was time to really give it up.
I am sad about it but I know it’s the best decision and . . it gives me more knitting time! 🙂
Ruth says
Yesterday I was reading on ourfrenchoasis.com and she mentioned the “no-dig” garden a man in the UK is talking about. Sounded interesting – no digging, lots of compost. Don’t know if it would handle the grass burrs. It does sound like you are ready to have a break from gardening!
April R says
I don’t like the pressure to continue hobbies when I don’t get the same enjoyment out of them anymore. At times it is self inflicted and i have to remind myself to let the guilt go as it is a hobby and there is no rule I have to continue it for the rest of my life. Some I even want the memory that I can do something to be erased from everyone else’s mind. As I am writing this, my ex texted me that my son’s karate pants needs hemmed. Yes I can sew but I hate hemming pants, especially those with the fancy hem. I’m going to pay someone to do this instead of torturing myself with a task I hate. Cue the guilt!! lol
Anne says
You are an amazing gardener! To me, a couple of tomato plants is my limit. My Dad would have loved your gardens, he was like you, an amazing gardener and he should probably have been a farmer. I think it’s so great that there are folks like you. I hope that when you hubby retires that you’ll be able to garden again because you do it so well!
JudyL says
I love gardening so long as I can stay on top of it. Once the weeds take over, especially the grass burrs because they hurt so badly, I give up. With the green beans being ready to early this year, I ended up canning about 80 pints so while I was doing all that, the weeds took over and I lost the garden so early, it was really discouraging. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe even if Vince doesn’t take an interest, if we move some place where gardening isn’t so hard, I can do it by myself again some day.
Joyce says
I waffle over whether or not to keep the garden going. I haven’t had a good tomato crop in several years, and the only thing I really want to can is tomatoes. Last year I bought a box of tomatoes from the farmers market to can, and I have enough left, that I didn’t really need to can any this year. I have a small garden, but I’m thinking about reducing it by half next year. I’ll plant a couple of cherry tomatoes, skip the regular tomatoes and continue with the things that do well, like okra and carrots. Maybe I can actually get turnips and beets to grow for once! I just can’t quite imagine my life without any garden at all. There has always been one…at both grandparents and at my parents. It’s just in my blood!
Tee says
I struggle with a decision to have a garden nearly every year. It is work, but like you, I find my peace and relaxation out in the garden. I enjoy the satisfaction of growing food for myself and family. It astounds me that I can put a few small seeds in the soil and come up with a table full of food. I gave up on weeding years ago, so now I use heavy mulch. I am fortunate to have a ready source for straw mulch and I put it down heavily between rows. I use a fabric mulch for plants like cucumbers or tomatoes. I used to spend hours out in the garden weeding. This year my garden is doing OK, but not great. I am going to try a keyhole garden next year and if that is successful, I will put a few more in the following year.
Tee says
Continued post (as my post grew, the Post Comment button disappeared):
I am giving up on cucumbers for canning. I bought a bushel of beautiful cucumbers from the farmer’s market and got my pickles all done in an afternoon, rather than here and there with gathering enough cucumbers for a few jars from plants that take up too much room in the garden. Tomatoes are the same. You can get beautiful tomatoes from the market and such great varieties that you couldn’t all get into a home garden. I have cut back my amounts considerably over the years. I have learned how much to put in for fresh eating and canning. I used to give bushels of vegetables away, but not any more. I grow just what I can take care of and what we can eat. Its a good decision of yours to eat what you have now so you do not have to move it, if you move. Find satisfaction in a shelf full of empty jars, knowing they were all filled with your hard work and now your bodies have been fed and cared for by the food you grew.
Becky T says
I understand the breakdown of your pleasures and his. But I do wonder how things worked out with the keyhole garden? Have any pros and cons to share?
dezertsuz says
I really understand this decision. I did less and less every year until this year, I grew nothing. For several years, though, I DID have cherry tomatoes and banana peppers in pots on the deck. That’s easy to do, and takes very little work. Now I don’t even do that much. =) I get things from a lot of people at church during the summer, though.
cassews says
When comes the time to say when .. best heed it or reap the consequences of it. One day Vince may say no more or like my husband every time I say I am not gonna garden, But honey -the tomatoes are so much better than the store, The pickles are more delicious than the store. I just love the applesauce. I am glad he now helps me with the garden as it was a chore the more I did the more was expected of me to can, but now he helps even with the canning.
We did agree that if we get a fifth wheel toy hauler next year the garden is out for the year and we will just add fresh nutrients to the soil and amend it. Keep the weeds out of it and go camping alot (with our side by side as well), of course our fur kid. Farmers market here we come !
Then the following year we will have a garden,,,