Re: Is gardening too complicated?

**J* L* <h*@yahoo.com>**

Ryan,
I think that casual gardeners or people who just want their yards to look nice get discouraged when their plants die. It's easy for Tim to say, Get over it, because, after all the company sells another plant (just as the garden writer hopes to sell a copy of his or her book). But often people give up on gardening because their plants don't live. And that's bad for all of us. 

Most of the questions I get about gardening from people who think of themselves as nongardeners are about "what went wrong." And unless they ask someone who knows,they don't learn from the experience. 

Often the reason the plants don't live is that the homeowner didn't learn the right place to plant it (sun, shade, moist soil? hardy in this Zone?) and what the plant needs so they can care for it. Are those things complicated? I think not. They're basics that homeowners have never understood as essential.

I'm all for making gardening as easy -- and as much fun -- as possible but raising your own veggies or planting a tree for the next generation can require a bit more than "You just have to dig a hole and put a plant in it and water it a bit."

That's my experience at least.

Judy Lowe

http://twitter.com/JudyDigginit
http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Gardening

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:09:56 -0500
> From: "Ryan McGrath" <ryan@springmeadownursery.com>
> Subject: [GWL] Is gardening too complicated?
> To: <gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID:
>     <6EEA745D62EF4FA5B1D188F2E6D73E59@springmeadownursery.local>
> Content-Type: text/plain;   
> charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Tim Wood recently posted this on the Plant Hunter blog...
> 
> "The big problem, in my opinion, is that there are way too
> many expert
> horticulturists out there telling you how complicated it is
> to garden. They
> would have you believe you need to match your flower colors
> using a color
> wheel. They say you have to sequence the bloom time of your
> flowers and to
> use grey as a foil between red and orange. They'll tell you
> to double dig
> your flower beds, do a soil test and to adjust your pH.
> (I've never done any
> of these things). And of course they'll tell you to "buy my
> book" to know
> how to garden.
> 
> This is all phooey.
> 
> You do not need the help of garden experts to garden. You
> just have to dig a
> hole and put a plant in it and water it a bit. Get over the
> idea that every
> plant you plant has to live 100 years. Plants are living by
> definition so of
> course they die. Just plant it - and don't take it so
> personally if it dies.
> I've got a master degree in horticulture and I've killed
> hundreds of plants.
> I'm ok with that. That's how you learn!"
> 
> (See more here:
> http://plant-quest.blogspot.com/2010/03/felder-rushing-simple-dirt-gardener.
> html) 
> 
> Thoughts on these ideas? 
> 
> At your service, 
> 
> Ryan McGrath
> Marketing & PR Specialist
> Spring Meadow Nursery, Inc. 
> 12601 120th Ave, Grand Haven, MI 49417
> 616.223.3368
> www.springmeadownursery.com 

_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
&quot;Gardenwriters on Gardening&quot; &lt;gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org&gt;

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters