Top Ten Things about Solitary Gardening

I like gardening with others. My husband is happy to help, my kids can be coerced, and I think my new puppy will love it. I love the community of gardening with others, too. One of the great things about being in a garden club is that I get to spend time and learn things with others, and, unlike my own garden, it’s not entirely my responsibility.

For the past several weeks, I have been self quarantined in Vermont and I have started a garden. It made me realize that gardening by myself offers some unique advantages.

1. Physical Labor On My Own Terms

   I like working hard, sometimes. I don’t have to worry about making others feeling compelled to work to hard or feeling I’m not working hard enough - I don’t get paid enough for that (in fact, I don’t get paid at all.)

2. Accept the Dirt

   Gardening is dirty work. When I am gardening on my own, I do not care how dirty I get, but it’s hard to not self conscious about it when you are with others - especially if you are in public. When I’m by myself, I couldn’t care less if I have dirt on my face or if there are twigs stuck in my hair.

3. The Hard Way

   When I start or refresh a bed, I usually do it the hard way. I dig as deeply as I can, I move a lot of soil, I comb out every weed root, and I remove a lot of matter and I add a lot of amendments (preferably my own compost.) It has paid off for me, but I am aware that others think I’m being a masochist. In my own garden, I spend hours pruning every shrub so it’s just so even though everyone else thinks I need to move on.

4. The Easy Way

   I like a border of perfectly tidy equidistant plants with an evenly thick coat of mulch. I’m not doing it. In my own garden, my idiosyncrasies and obvious shortcuts are part of my gardening style.

5. Experiment

   Gardening is an art and a science, and both require experiments. On my own, I can see if a fertilizer really helps, cut back plants at different times to see the overall effect, try out a single plant, find out just how shade tolerant a sun lover is, and try weird color combinations. I can also rip them out whenever I decide it failed. By the way, sedum are much more shade tolerant than the labels suggest, and there is a huge difference between “shade” and “bright shade” (like the shade beneath a high tree canopy.)

6. Facts v. Opinions

   I don’t care if you read it in a book - it’s just an opinion. Or an old wives’ tale. Or a marketing ploy. On my own, I never have to decide between picking a fight and suppressing an eye-roll.

7. My Own Pace

   I can get distracted and switch jobs. I can take long breaks. I can not finish something. I can leave my stuff lying around for weeks. I can divide plants in August and fertilize in November. I can do whatever whenever and I can do it any way I please.

8. Quit Early

   Sometimes cocktail hour comes early.

9. Quit Late

   Sometimes I’d rather garden than eat dinner.

10. My Opinion…

    …is the only one that matters - this needs no explanation.