The Lazy Gardener
So much to do outside. So little motivation to do it.
I have a confession to make. It’s May in California, and I haven’t planted my garden yet this year. I feel extremely guilty about it but something is keeping me from wanting to spend much time out there right now. Perhaps it has been the very welcome intermittent rain that continues to surprise us every other week or so. Or perhaps it is simply that now that life is beginning to ramp up again, with numerous activities filling our weekly calendar, I am overwhelmed by how much there is to do in the garden. Although it remains a welcome respite, beckoning gently to me from just beyond the borders of what I can feasibly accomplish in twenty-four hours, I just cannot get there right now. And I have to forgive myself for that, because I am only one person and there is so very much to do out there. And I am wondering if maybe gardening just isn’t my personality?
When we moved into the house seven years ago, the couple who had owned house before us had loved the property and clearly dedicated the majority of their time to the landscaping. They built raised beds and laid irrigation. As they were downsizing, they left numerous gardening tools and supplies for our use or disposal. Knowing that I would be the one spending more of my time at home, one of the ladies even wrote me a five-page, single-spaced document detailing every single plant on the property and how she cared for it. I still have that document filed with my other important household documents and I refer to it from time to time. For many years the system they had laid in place worked very well. I continue to use five of the six raised beds in the backyard, although we converted one into sandbox with a roof that is now used as a two-story playhouse. But now that is has been seven years, two whole years longer than the initial five-year-plan I had when I moved in, not only does it finally feel like our home rather than theirs, it is time to make some changes.
First and foremost is the task I am dreading: replacing the irrigation. I have no idea why this task is making me procrastinate so hard. I have most of the materials. I know how to do it. Sort of. Or, at least I am confident in my ability to figure it out. But every day I wake up and find hundreds of excuses as to why I cannot bring myself to spend several hours of my day fixing the thing in my yard that needs to be fixed in order to relieve an infinite amount of my own stress. And believe me, I can always find plenty of things to fill my to-do list without adding landscaping to the list. But any time I walk outside and see how dry the earth is around my plants, my mind goes into spiral about drought, and how much water it will take to truly moisten the soil, and how long that will take me to get it to that point. Setting up irrigation is the key to this puzzle, as it will allow me to regularly water the backyard without wasting water, energy, or time. And I’m sure I will get to it. Eventually.
So far this year the only crops I have growing are garlic and shallots. And that’s only because I put them in last fall, just before it started to rain and everything got soggy. Shallots are probably my favorite thing to grow because I want to eat them with absolutely everything. That hardest part of harvesting them is saving the fifteen best shallots for planting next year. It certainly ensures the best crop but it is always hard to resist eating the biggest, most beautiful produce you have grown yourself. Honestly though, one of the most challenging parts of growing my own produce is using it all before it goes to waste, so it all works out and I really can’t be greedy. I have the intention of planting a long list of things. I purchased seeds and considered what beds to plant things in this year. I do my best to draw a diagram of the garden each year just make sure I am properly rotating my crops, but I have yet to begin even that. I need to get started soon, because I like to have enough basics, like tomatoes, basil, and zucchini to use myself and to give away.
We try to share whatever we can from our garden with our neighbors and other people we know and love, but there is always extra. I have trained the grapevine to climb along the fence along one side of our house so that people can walk up and pick the grapes. One day the neighbor walked over while I was working in the yard and warned me that people were, “stealing my grapes.” I had to hide my amusement while I reassured him that it was perfectly OK and he was welcome to them, too! He thanked me, but he looked at me so suspiciously that it still makes me laugh. I still wonder how he expected me to react.
Another time, when I was home alone with a sleeping little one, watching true crime documentaries, there was a knock at my door. Overly cautious due to my chosen entertainment, I opened the door just a crack to find a smiling blonde couple standing there in Birkenstock sandals. With what I guessed was some type of Scandinavian accent, they explained they were travelling through California, only eating what they could find and would I be so kind as to let them pick figs from my tree? I assured they were welcome to all the figs they wanted and shut the door, still suspicious. Everyone is a suspect when you’re watching true crime. I even sent a text to Adam, letting him know not to be alarmed by the people climbing in our fig tree when he got home from work that day. As it turned out, they were overwhelmingly grateful and left us a very sweet note on a piece of torn cardboard. To my knowledge, no criminal activity took place, although one can never exercise too much caution. Just because we have never heard of the Fruitarian Hippie Burglars doesn’t mean they don’t exist. It just means they haven’t been caught.
All this to say, I am going to spend the rest of the day (before I pick up the kids) outside. I have beds to turn over and plan, seeds to start. My mother, whose personality definitely LOVES all things gardening already has a flourishing garden so I can always take the kids over there to enjoy her abundance (thanks, Mom!). Luckily for me, it rained yesterday so I do not need to water the garden today, but there is still plenty to do. I could even take a look at the irrigation. Unless I can find something else to do. And possibly a true crime podcast to listen to while I do it. In which case I might just have to get that done first. Because let’s face it, as this point in my life, chores and true crime stories are most definitely my personality. And I’m OK with that.