I didn’t know slow gardening was a new movement.
My problem is I leave to go to my garden and say “back in half an hour”. Two hours later I come home. And no one’s surprised I took longer than I said. I always do.
Its hard to know all the garden chores that need to be done until you are in the garden. Weeds can grow surprisingly fast. Tomatoes all of a sudden need staking or basil flowers need picking. Harvesting and washing a nice big crop takes time. And as the cold comes, arranging the mulch to protect the last greens takes time.
But my real problem is I don’t plan for being awed by the beauty of the next day in the garden. I forget that each day the sunflowers get bigger and the potato foliage more lush. I forget how good the sun (or the rain) feels on my back. I forget how sweet the birds sing in the morning. Skippy sprawls out on the warm soil and I look for a few more weeds to tend to. Sometimes it just takes more time than I planned to soak it all in.
So, yes, that’s me. I’m a slow gardener. I’m glad to hear I’m part of a new movement.
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In the summer I’m a slow gardener. I get distracted by listening to the hum of the bees or just seeing how pretty the chard stems are. But in the winter I tend to be much quicker. The other day I was in and out of the garden as fast as possible. My fingers were still frozen after brushing ice off my lettuce before I picked it. Brr.
I agree. It doesn’t even seem like work or a chore to me. 🙂
Guilty:-)
I think it’s actually an old movement that’s finally found a name! I can’t resist pausing to watch the activity in and around the garden, sometimes to the point of forgetting just why I went out there anyway.
Your dog is so cute! He smiles and everything. 🙂 But more on topic, your post reminded me of this article I dug up on the HGTV website. You might find it interesting.
http://www.whgmag.com/index.php/368-garden-tip-3-the-art-of-slow-gardening
Yes, most of the time it is about the process and not the result. Time to think, contemplate, feel.
Nick
This made me laugh. That is the way I garden. Definitely about the process, not so much the results, though they can be nice, too.
I love ‘puttering’ in my garden, and can spend hours doing so quite happily, too. Nice to be reminded of that while indoors on a grey rainy November day.
Thanks, too, for the link to Felder’s piece about ‘slow gardening’ — excellent!
I actually enjoyed reading through this posting.Many thanks.