I was talking with someone today who says she spends about an hour a day weeding her garden after work. I admire her dedication and am a little envious of her free time on the weekends. No doubt even a half an hour a day in this garden would be enough to keep the weeds more or less away but suddenly I can think of alternative uses for my time out there. For instance, on any given weekday evening, I might rather perform tasks that involve consumption of snacks and bevvies and perhaps even a little dozing and drooling if I’m feeling truly ambitious.
There have been days lately, evenings really, after work, when I could feel my garden beckon but I just couldn’t face it. What the hell? What’s the point of having a garden of my own if I avoid spending time in it? I have an evil tendency – call it a Puritan work ethic if you’re feeling particularly generous, an annoying character flaw if not – and it only allows for relaxation when the work is done. People with this particular dis-ease know, of course, that the work is never done. But I decided tonight, in a tectonic attitude shift, that the important thing about “an hour a day” is just that I spend it – doing/not doing something – in the garden.
Do you spend an hour a day in your garden?
kristin green | trench manicure 
Sometimes. If weather permits. Of course the productivity of that hour is largely variable – I find just enjoying my plants improves my day.
Oh, I freaking wish! Not during the summer, with my kid at home and wanting my attention 24/7. The plants are lucky to get a little water every few days, and I pulled out a few armfuls of bindweed yesterday on the way to take the compost out (and that represented the most gardening I had done in a week). I think someone who is spending an hour a day weeding needs more plants!
Not at this time of year. Too hot! Or if so, only submerged to the neck in the pool.
Not really…I do water the containers, but the mosquitoes are so awful…they love me. I see the mess that needs cleaning, but I can’t make myself go out…gail
not even close, but who knows, maybe. I am quite uncertain.
that was about home garden… work garden is another story. Starting June 6th I will average more than an hour a day for 7 weeks, even if you divide the hours a week by 7. 7 is a way cool number by the way.
Um, yes…at the least. the rain lately has made the weeds mad with delight, and they are threatening to take over. Anyway, I like to do a walkaround after I get home (even with bevvy :), but it usually leads to weeding, even pulling just a few. Last night it started with the man and I staking tomatoes (overdue since I hadn’t wanted to walk in the sodding wet beds), and led to pulling the grass from around the veg plot, and then straightup weeding the driveway–with mojito in hand. He just went back inside. It’s good time to think or not think, just breathe and weed.
Oh you’re good. I do the walkaround sometimes too and start pulling weeds because I can’t help myself but then I make piles that I don’t feel like picking up and the whole place looks worse than before and I flee back inside forgetting to breathe. -kris
p.s. mmmmmm mojito!
Wayne, I think I average more than an hour at work too. Maybe that’s why my home garden suffers neglect. And 7 is totally my favorite number. -kris
Gail, I should have said that for me it’ll be an hour a day when the weather is perfect and nothing is biting! -kris
Pam, submerged to the neck sounds like a perfect way to garden in TX! -kris
I agree about the more plants theory – I don’t have nearly enough! The weeds should not see the light of day. -kris
Ann, That’s it right there – sometimes it just doesn’t have to be about “productivity”! -kris
um, let’s don’t talk about the wanton weed piles. can i make you another mojito?