Crazy Sexy Life

On this Meatless Monday, CSL welcomes the knowledge of blogger and gardener, Katie Hobson. Learn how easy it is to start your own veggie garden and find out about the community of gardeners ready to help you along the way!

From Left to Right: Katie, Jake, Chris

In 2006, I was a 20-something homeowner with a freshly acquired home and garden. I was ready, at long last, to get my hands into the dirt in my “forever” home. Yet I felt so very alone. None of my friends saw their yards the same way I did—as a canvas to create, a place to play and putter. Their yards were just the opposite: “too much work” “a burden.” My unbridled enthusiasm was met with confusion: they couldn’t understand how I could possibly enjoy the prospect of yard work.

Gardening had been a part of my life since I was small. I remember planting marigolds and picking cherries in my backyard with my family. I gardened in an old shipping crate at a rental house in college. At the time, I didn’t know anyone else who gardened. Now, I had a piece of land that was mine for the shaping. But I was alone, with only my memories to help me get going.

So I started a blog.

At first, I blogged in a vacuum, writing only for myself about the happenings in my yard. The blog was a place for me to note important gardening milestones throughout the year. Slowly, though, I began to get comments from other people – other bloggers who actually took the time to read what I had considered a simple garden journal. Over time we began to share tips, ideas, trials, and tribulations. We experimented. We documented. These people became my gardening friends; they had a unique appreciation of the vicissitudes of gardening life that I’d previously thought was mine alone: we shared the joys of competing for the first ripe tomato (or smallest tomato), and leveraged each other’s knowledge to identify the crazy-looking insects we’d find in a pre- Twitter-saturated world. Reading their blogs gave me gardening perspective from across the country, and introduced me to a diverse group of people I would never have crossed paths with otherwise.

I remember those early gardening days as some of my favorite. I absorbed information like a sponge and made constant exciting discoveries. I had many “aha!” moments. I became more confident. That period shaped me as a gardener, and I loved how “organic” the process was. Pun intended.

I could wax philosophical about how to start a garden, but thanks to the resurgent interest in gardening during the last few years, there is a proliferation of good advice out there already. So I’d be taking the discovery process away from you! The reality is that more people garden than you might think; it’s just a matter of finding them. I like using the garden blogs of others to find interesting information as well as read comments left by others. A popular blog will be like six degrees of separation to find other excellent blogs! A couple of my favorite places to start which are non-intimidating to those gardeners just getting started are:

Blotanical

The Casual Gardener

The $25 Victory Garden

And here are a few pieces of “real” gardening advice:

-You do not need expensive gardening equipment to start gardening. Your hands and a pair of gloves will go a long way. A sturdy spoon is in my arsenal of tools, as is a big stick. Whatever works.
-Experiment. There is no such thing as a perfect garden. A failure this time around only means that you know what to do better next time.
-You will kill plants. It happens. Learning opportunities abound!
-Conversely, relish in your successes. Just like Ellen, who dances on her show, I dance in the garden with each new discovery and exciting milestone.
-Graciously accept gifts of plants from other gardeners. There’s lots of plant love to go around.
-Plant what you like. Don’t let gardeners with attitude about “generic plants” influence what you like. Some plants are ubiquitous for good reason – they’re easy to grow and look great for a long time. You can always change something you don’t like or have “outgrown” at a later date.
-If you have a gardening question, ask a gardener. The best research-based answers will come from your local Master Gardener resource, usually through your County’s Cooperative Extension.
-Along those lines, your favorite search engine is your friend. The library is your best friend (isn’t that what winter is for – flipping through gardening books and dreaming of warmer days?)
-Come to terms with what our society considers gardening pests. Mama raccoon has a family to feed too, you know. Insect predators come along after you seem to be overwhelmed with “bad” bugs. A lassiez-faire attitude and good deal of patience in gardening will keep you sane.
-Most importantly: A garden needn’t be perfect to be appreciated. My garden and yard will never be magazine worthy, and I’m ok with that. (I think the term “wabi sabi” applies here.)

I have to say the best part of gardening is the community it’s created for me, a former self-professed “people hater.” I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Chicago last spring and finally meet those bloggers who shaped my gardening world in the last few years. When I arrived home after the trip, I began to cultivate local relationships with gardeners in my area and now consider them among my growing network of friends.

Gardening isn’t just a hobby to me – it’s my church, meditation, childlike wonder, friend, confidant, natural connection, people connection, heart, breath, life.

To those of you interested in gardening, good luck and best wishes. It’ll change your life if you let it.

Katie is a 20-something suburbanite, gardening in Northern California with her husband + dog, and sometimes raccoons.

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