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Gardening Project
My first paid job was working at a plant store, but I never took to gardening after that. I wasn’t drawn to sticking my hands in dirt. That’s why it’s a surprise to be in charge of transforming my condo building’s parkway (the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street) into a drought tolerant lawn. It’s a small patch, less than 200 square feet, but it’s become a passion. The Condo Board (of which I am the President) instructed our professional gardener to plant dymondia in the parkway. My job is to keep it watered and weeded in between his visits. Given the scorching temps here, and the plant’s fragile roots, it requires daily care. Dymondia is incredibly slow growing, so I water and weed, but barely see a change. I grumbled about the task at first, having to drag out the heavy hose, reel it back in, and take time out of my day with no visible results. But now, I enjoy the effort. It’s meditative. For a city girl, I’m finding it very earthy.
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I am impressed with this, Wendy. I’m good about watering my plants (really, mostly herbs), but I haven’t gotten the gardening bug yet. That said, I did some weeding a few times this summer that felt meditative, too. I love the idea of growing my own food (perhaps a nod to my childhood days of reading Little House on the Prairie!) I just need to meditate myself into loving gardening (although I am now successfully growing rhubarb–crossed fingers that it comes up again next year so that I can harvest it!)
BTW, is there anything you DON’T do? Coaching, daily blogging, Condo board president, and now gardening maintenance for your condo association. I feel like a slacker! Very impressed with you!
Petra, you are one of the least slacking people I can imagine… Watering and weeding a very small patch of lawn is my gardening limit. And once the roots take hold, I won’t have to do much of either.