While I’m in the mood, I’ll write another blog about gardening, a summer activity I’ve done fairly regularly for about 55 years. That’s long enough to learn a thing or two not only about plants but also about energy. Not the kind provided by good soil and appropriate rains, but the kind that the gardener contributes to the success of the season.
Years ago I didn’t know much about what plants were annuals or perennials, which ones like sun and which prefer shade, which need deadheading and which don’t. (The latter make life easier.) But through trial and error, and a good gardener friend named M, I learned a lot. M could make anything grow with the greatest of ease. He knew more than I did about such things, and I could have just hired him to work for me. Instead, I often worked alongside him and learned about potassium in the soil, remedies for invasive bugs, and how to trim a shrub.
A couple decades ago, M and I could work for hours planting, fertilizing, and watering. But time has caught up with us. I’m good for about an hour at a time, M a little more if I have a cold Coke®, the original, or two for him to drink.
Which means we have to adjust the way we garden to conserve energy – ours, that is. This fall, for instance, instead of taking a day or two back to back to remove all the annuals, the patio furniture, and the hoses, we’re doing it in smaller increments. We’re taking a Coke® break as a standard part of the project instead of gulping one as we rake.
I’m not sure what the next season will bring, but I am already beginning to think about how to streamline this activity we enjoy together. Maybe it’s fewer plants in the gardens or additional help or less attention to weeds.
One thing is certain, however. Neither M nor I will ever agree to plastic flowers for the sake of conserving energy.
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