Why I Really Garden

Some people deal with anxiety by breathing, others with meds, but I chose to deal with my anxiety attack today by attacking the grape vines that grow on the fence bordering our garden space.  To each her own, I guess.

I had looked up grape vine pruning info online this morning over my second cup of coffee and half way through reading about it, I decided that I would just follow my gut.  This is generally what happens when I feel as though master gardeners are explaining things in a way I can't understand.  Generally speaking following my gardening intuitions works out about 50-75% of the time.  I might be a little biased about this statistic.


How I ended up in the garden pulling grape vines out of trees with giant clippers isn't the point.  What is important is that I think I did a pretty good job.  Once I was done with that I also pruned three of the neighbors trees.  So far they haven't complained, but their dog did stare at me suspiciously the entire time.  I don't think she bought my whole "your parents are going to thank me for this later" line I tried on her. 

After all that I felt much better and went inside to work and make phone calls.  Not too long after that Ericka came home and started working on cleaning out the back garage.  I figured it was the perfect time, since it was cooling off to plant the strawberries and transplant some of the peas.

My grandparents also have a garden across town.  Their strawberries were out of control so they gave me a bunch of the babies that had jumped ship from their raised beds. I planted them in the border of the garden alongside several different peas.

Ericka and I planted sugar snap peas and pole beans a few weeks ago.  I'm not complaining, but whoever planted the sugar snap peas (ahem Ericka) basically dumped them in a piled and called it good.  Well, they were all growing in one giant clumped circle.  It wasn't going to work, so I dug them up today, gently, and transplanted them with some good rich soil into a space farther back.  I hope they are able to survive the transplant and make it, cause I really love sugar snap peas straight off the vine.  I eat them as a reward to myself for weeding and watering.  So I guess if I'm being honest I planted this entire area as food I will eat while I tend to the rest of the garden.

So I guess the moral of this blog today is that I really garden to deal with my anxiety and as a way to bribe myself.  Gardening as a way to combat neurosis, this is what they should be really teaching in school.  I mean who really uses geometry anyway?