My Favorite Part of Gardening

This afternoon, I braved the snow and wind and ventured outside to get my mail. I thought about it for awhile, and wondered if it was worth that much effort and getting that cold just to pick up what would most likely be junk mail. I was excited to find the Park and Seed Co. seed catalog, for planning your garden for the following year.

This is the part of gardening I’m good at. Let’s face it, I’m not a very good gardener. I haven’t been able to stay on top of the weeds, and harvests rot on the stem as I don’t always get to them, and I will openly agree to the fact that I routinely have no clue what I’m doing.

This is incredibly embarrassing as a farmer’s wife. (Almost as embarrassing as not knowing how to spell “yolks” as an english major…on a farm.) I’m not sure if it’s more embarrassing to me or Knut. I mean, his garden is thousands of acres and it’s gorgeous. I just have this little plot. In my defense, I don’t have machinery that costs more than our house, and I try to do as much as I can without sprays, as my crop is for human consumption.

Still, as trucks drive by our house on the way to the grain leg, I can’t help but feel embarrassed that a farmer’s wife can’t keep a garden very neat and tidy. I mean, I’m not very neat and tidy inside my house, but in my garden there is no hiding it.

I am told it will get easier as the kids get older.

I hope so.

This last year gave me some hope, as I was able to get the kids to weed for at least 5 minutes before they shut down and it ended in weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then there’s the dealing with a toddler, as I will next summer. (You know toddler hood: the inability to stay in one place and of course eating dirt and anything else that looks interesting.)

Then of course, there’s just the busy-ness of summer! This last summer we were gone for almost 2 weeks! Do you know how many weeds add up in 2 weeks? Before then, I had non-stop company, and then there’s Silje’s birthday party in the summer. I did try to encourage my company to help with the gardening, which they kindly did. However, no-offense, but people from Arizona have no clue what to do in a garden. I’m pretty much proof of that. We’re just shocked that the dirt is naturally black and stuff grows in it.

I am fascinated by great gardens, though, and love to research. I’ve googled for hours, and this last summer, I toured Knut’s uncle’s amazing garden on our road trip, and got lots of tips. I’m determined that each year I’m going to get a little better. I’m going to try something new. I’ll try to push my “burned out from gardening” date further back each year.

You see, going through seed catalogs…this is the part I’m good at. Drawing garden maps, and planning what goes where. Dreaming and researching–that’s me! I can make early winter gardening resolutions with the best of them. I’m trying to convince myself that wanting to be a half way decent gardener is almost as good as actually being a half way decent gardener. At least I’m on the right path. Right?

We shall see.