What is a Garden?
The answer: A garden is where you grow things and where people grow. It is a space as individual as the person or persons creating it. Floral gardens beautify our surroundings, uplift our spirits and possibly make us aesthetically superior to our neighbors. Produce, herbal gardens and orchards fuel our culinary creativity and provide healthy vegetation for our family, visitors and the animals we care for. Apothecary gardens provide an array of fresh, age old herbal plants that we can use for health and wellness preparations and alternative remedies not readily available at our local drug stores. And finally, our gardens are our portal to commune with Mother Nature and help her as she strives to provide nectar for the pollinators of the world.
Why do we gardeners do it?
Because we are sadist who love hard work. We relish the disappointment of failed seeds, transplants or whole crops. We crave all the financial dismay these failures thrust upon us. We especially love the agonizing anticipation of waiting for a "hard drenching rain" that will soak through to the roots of our thirsty babies.
And... how much fun are those occasional joust with the whims of
Mother Nature:
- Watering the crops by hand for days, because of an unrelenting draught
- Watching that unexpected, hard drenching rain come hours after you have planted seeds or young plants which are being violently upheaved and strewn about...instead of just - having their thirst quenched!
- Altering all household plans and reservations to divert flash flood waters or to deal with unexpected frosts and early freezes, all in one planting season!
- Most of all we love the exhilaration of fighting off slugs, hungry little buggies and all of the warm blooded invaders who delight in dine upon the tender vegetation in our sacred space. All while remaining environmentally vigilant, cruelty free members of this spectacular planet.
- These adrenalin rushes of fun are all part of our beloved garden.
Most likely this garden quote was born of experience!
What a man needs in gardening is
a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.
But really... Why do we do it?
For the shear joy of it!
- The joy of brightly colored flowers, shrubs or trees that greet us each time we look out or step out into our outside living space.
- There's a fulfillment and joy in nurturing our young plants to adulthood.
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For the taste of fresh, convenient, healthy eating right outside our door step.
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For the exercise that does not feel like exercise until we come in from our hidden workout of digging, pulling, lifting, bending. dragging and walking back and forth to find mislaid tools.
- The heart warming endorphin rush we get from connecting with the soil and watching our earth babies spring forth, mature and grow into edible adults.
- We do it because we feel gleeful as we stroll through the produce department at the grocery store and think $1.49 each, I have 20 of them on the vine right now and more on the way!!!!
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Then there's that "the end of civilization as we know it" thing and knowing your family will be prepared with a stock pile of food and the knowledge and ability to make more.
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Having quality control over the edibles your family consumes is a reward that keeps on giving.
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We do it because it satisfies our culinary and visual design creativity as well as our mad scientist curiosity.
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Our gardens stroke our sense of accomplishment, while giving us a peaceful place to think, relax and become one with the earth,
Whether your garden is an acer, a small gardening patch, a balcony garden or a window sill garden it is all about the many forms of joy you derive from the process. I could go on and on, but there is one thing that is true:
- Whether you are hobbyist or a serious homesteader...
- Whether you grow your flowers as edibles, for fresh arrangements, for drying, for pressing or just to watch grow...
- Whether you sell your produce...
- Whether you enjoy fresh produce, preserve it by freezing, dehydrating, canning, or fermenting, or craft apothecary creations for personal use or to sell...
It is all a labor of love.
Yes! I said it. No matter the use or how big or how small... We love our gardens and we want nothing but the very best for them. Our gardens are a surreptitious part of our family, dare I say ~ of our very being. I am a mix of all of the above when it comes to gardening. Whether seed or plant I know how exciting as well as challenging new additions to the garden can be. I also know the feeling of pride in our labors and how rewarding the successful growth of a plant makes one feel.
Because I can relate. And, I care about you and your plant.
As a fellow gardener I have experienced all of the energy output, the emotional ups and downs and the financial investments that we gardeners put into our gardens. So, when a plant leaves my loving hands to find it's way to it's new home, in your loving hands, my job is not over. I want it to be a wonderful experience for you and your plant. Yes, I said your plant. My plants are my babies and I would like each one to have a long and beautiful life wherever it goes.
The more you know about the plant you are receiving the easier it will be to achieve this goal of gardening nirvana. Once the plant reaches your hands it is my desire to pass on as much information as I can to help you nurture and grow your new ward. In the case of dried plants I want you to know about them as well. Dried plants are an extension of the living plant and their background and knowledge of their use is very important. That is why I decided to start Ms. J's Garden Customer Care Center ~ Plant Care and Information. I hope to impart a bit of fun as well as knowledge as we cruise this gardening road together.
Large or small. Edible or inedible, Un the end, a garden makes us happy.
Yes, at times it may stress us. Gardening can make us anxious or angry. The loss of a promising plant or crop makes us sad and may effect our pocketbook....
But that is all part of the gardening game and the price we pay to get to HAPPY!
Enjoy!
Written by: Ms. J
Garden Pondering
August 18, 2025
© Jelani K. Asantewa
