Toiling a Garden

I have a tendency at times to embrace a project or task and pursue it with such fervency and dedication without first grasping a collective knowledge and awareness of what I’m actually stepping into. I exert an over-confident spirit which overrules any questions or inhibitions my lack of skill or experience may inspire. As a result… disaster strikes

I took my hand at gardening last year. It was in the heat of summer which is not the most ideal time to take up gardening, nor is it particularly conducive to planting seedlings and hoping they’ll grow. Nevertheless that fateful Saturday I woke up and felt inspired to create a garden. I went first to Bunnings to acquire the necessary tools (not that I really knew what they were) I simply picked up a few miscellaneous gardening objects and was sure I would be able to put them to use in some fashion.

Armed with mini spades and garden implements, I left Bunnings and headed for the nursery. Again my common sense did not avail in asking someone for advice. No indeed, for I was a seasoned gardener who knew exactly what I was doing… Growing climate and conditions, environmental factors, sizes and life expectancy of the plants or flowers bore no relevance in the plant selection process. Rather the key criteria was ‘how beautiful it looks’ or ‘perfect colours for the flower mix’. I came out of the store with a mix of vibrant looking plants that I thought would just look stunning in my new “garden bed”. And so I drove home, put on some old clothes and got straight to work.

In retrospect I would have to say it was one of the most calamitous events in the history of my life for I was so naïve and blonde in approaching the task that I overlooked every sensible argument, every green rule ever invented in the art of gardening. It was a hot Queensland day, high humid temperatures and clear skies providing no protection from the sun. I planted pansies in 35° temperature in the most exposed spot on the small garden bed (they were dead and wilted within an hour), I planted a green leafy plant (not realising that it grew up to be a huge tree) in a 1 foot square area and an indoor plant which flourished beautifully in the greenery at the nursery but lasted all of 2 hours in my (outdoor) garden. In addition to these, I planted numerous other plants of varying size, which required varying conditions some of which lasted miraculously and others which survived between 1 hour to 2 days. I think the only sensible choice in the morning’s purchases was a stone statuette which still survives to this day – the only survivor of that fateful Saturday.

I’ve realised, firstly that I do not have a green thumb and secondly that it’s not bad sometimes to stoop down from our platform of prideful confidence and ask someone for help. It is such a small admission to say ‘I need some assistance’ yet I am always so quick to think of every other way in the world to solve the problem myself before resorting to this admission of incompetence or inadequacy. I could never have made a true gardener of myself that day but should I have had wisdom enough to ask a few simple questions, I may today have a garden that is still alive and flourishing.