Dirt and Resistance

Dirt!
What can I say? I like the color of it, the smell of it, the look of it newly tilled in the fields, and the feel of well composted friable soil as it dribbles through my fingers. I like to dig in it, draw in it, water and mulch it. But most of all I like to grow stuff in it, stuff to smell, stuff to eat, stuff to cut and put in vases, stuff for remembrance, and stuff to gladden the heart when you rest among it.

What I don't like about dirt, is what happens to it when it's neglected. Like my poor veggie garden above, with last years left over turnips, dill, and onion going to seed and the dreaded orchard grass taking over the front beds. The walk ways are a disaster and weed seeds that never should have been allowed to ripen are germinating everywhere--only a fine stand of early lovage and a small patch of winter savory are worth saving.

My vegetable garden is what happens when procrastination takes over. It's the perfect metaphor for letting everything else take precedence over tasks that are time sensitive (like putting down Preen in the walk ways and spraying the orchard grass). It is today's unhappy visual image of what the result can be when we talk ourselves out of doing the things we want to do the most for whatever bizarre reason.

Bad habit? Could be. Post knee surgery depression and recovery complication? Fibromyalgia? Valid--but nothing that couldn't be worked around. Getting dirty? Nah! Being sun burned and wind blown and deliciously grubby when the task is finished and then taking a long shower followed by a trip to Dairy Queen for a chocolate twist ice cream cone are all part of the rewards of gardening.

Then what?

I thinks it's a resistance developed from earliest memory of waking up every morning to a list of things to do and appearances to be kept (with huge emotional and physical price tags attached) designed especially for me by somebody else whose fixed expectations of what I should accomplish or who I should be had nothing to do with the person I was.

Even though now that the tasks are most often designed by me for me with specific and desirable pay offs I truly want, I resist. After all there are so many reasons not to engage...blogs to be written, phone calls to make, emails to answer, snacks to be eaten--besides it's grey and windy out there and looks like rain.

I know, I'll set myself up for success. I'll by flats of expensive flowers and pots of over-sized veggies that will beg for my attention and insist I plant them before they wilt and die. I'll invite over friends for tea in the garden. Can't have tea in a messy garden. And I'll offer some the new folks in the neighborhood starts from my perennial bed. I'll set up my own round of expectations. There's nothing like company in the back yard to get me moving. Better yet, I'll sponsor a community group with the lofty goal of helping others get their gardens going and invite them over to help me!

Anyone interested?

Watch for garden photo updates coming this way.