My Past Gardening Mistakes

When I started gardening, I had just moved into a new house. I had a blank canvas. All my life I had hoped for just that. I envied other people and their gardens and landscapes. I knew I had to go big or go home. I forgot about grass and ground cover. I went for multiple plants, from trees to shrubs, from flowers to vines. I even did hardscape. I dug, planted, raked, planted, hoed, planted. I worked on every square inch of my lot. It started out fun. Oh how I loved taking care of it.

Showing off the best landscaped house on the block was a terrific feeling. However, I forgot one thing. Not only would my interests change, but my body. I got interested in other things. Things away from home, things at home. The house needed painting. Things needed to be fixed. Family matters. Back to my body. Sure I am only 15 years older. But going from 39 to 54 is quite a change. I just don't feel up to taking care of it all. The pruning, cutting, weeding, mowing, mulching, fertilizing,...it began to take its toll. It was not fun anymore. I thought I would never say that: Gardening is not fun.

As I said above, I went out and bought lots and lots of plants. I did not care what the plant was, I just went to the local big garden center, browsed around, and bought anything and everything I liked. I had no idea how to plant it, what it liked, or where it should go. I spent lots of weekends buying plants, then finding a space for them. Eventually, this led me to realize the work it takes to maintain a garden with so many plants. You become a full time gardener for your property. Funny thing. when I had friends over, they would joke as to us having a full time gardener. Yeah. It was me. Eventually the joke was on me.

Speaking of going overboard buying plants, this also led to another obsession. Buy garden art, statues, thinga-ma-jigs, stepping stones, lights, bird baths, anything and everything that goes into a garden. See I was not satisfied with just plants. I wanted to add whimsy, fun, extra color. I did not realize that would be adding to my extra work. All of this garden paraphenalia soo got in the way. I had to weed around them. Step over and on them to prune and cut. Hose them down when they got too dirty. I found myself moving the around almost weekly as well. Why? Change of scenery. I swore that elf looked better over by the begonias...My garden statues led to over population.

Let's face it. I had reached gardening over-load.

I don't know quite when it hit me. But it was quite a revelation. Probably during a time I had to prune roses, trumpet vine, and bougainvillea. On the same day I needed to mow the lawn and edge it. I knew I had now bitten off more garden than I could chew. I started downsizing.

I took out several plants that needed regular upkeep. I eliminated almost all garden art. The big fake rocks had to go. I left just the amount of plants that I could take care of in my (*gasp) spare time. Any plant that needed more than once a month attention, was gone.

Strange thing. The garden and yard actually looked better! It looked well-manicured. I had not realized it, but before, it looked like a jumbled mismatched mess.

I'll make another confession. We are getting ready to retire, and of course thinking about selling the house in a couple of years. I recently read an article that a big turnoff to homebuyers is too much yard art, and, a yard that looks like you need an army of gardeners to maintain it.

Ahhhhh. Peace. Spending more time with the wife.

My advice to you is simple. Start very small when it comes to gardening and fight the urge to buy anything and everything.

The simple things are indeed best!

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This is a video I shot in my backyard of a couple of lizards that appear to be playing around. Perhaps one is trying to bully the other, or, even mate!