Gardening V.s Horticulture

Day 160: It might surprise you to learn that I have not always enjoyed gardening. Although I was driven each year by the human compulsion to grub in the soil each spring like a mole, it was not a process in which I took much pleasure and because of that fact, the results were what one might expect, i.e., partial or complete failure. My flower beds never bloomed. How could they, beneath the weeds which grew faster than the seedlings? And vegetables? Have you ever met a person who flunked both zucchini and radishes? Now you have. It always seemed to me that after I had weeded once, weeding should have been done for the year, and once I had stuck a plant in the ground, it required no further care than occasional watering. Suffice to say that it was not a formula for success, although ornamentals like this black Hellebore fared better than edibles and inspired me to take better care of my flower beds. I began fertilizing, adding soil amendments, choosing plants for specific problem areas, and I began to see results. Whether by accident or not, one year saw a bumper crop from the cherry tomatoes I planted in sunken containers, and I proudly shared the bounty with my friends. Now I had come to understand that there was more to gardening than planting. A few more years passed, and the riotous hodge-podge of random colours in the flower beds and harvests of tomatoes, blueberries and raspberries encouraged me to expand the garden and my labours. That said, it was not until horticulture crept into the equation before I could say that I enjoyed my work. Once I began hand-pollinating vines and layering shoots, I was hooked. Now each year, I look forward to playing Luther Burbank, paintbrush in hand to tease pollen from one Akebia vine for transfer to another. And then I wait anxiously for signs of success, checking almost daily to see if pods are beginning to develop. It's science, people, and the garden is my laboratory. I won't say that's made weeding fun, but it makes it worthwhile.