Let's Get Going

 Hello All,

    I'm creating this blog as a way to share and inspire, but mostly to keep myself busy, concerning my growing passion for gardens.  

Note: I am not a "trained" gardener, outside of being taught by my mother and yelled at by my grandfather. In fact, I know very little outside of my experiences, readings, and watching of gardening shows.

My interest in gardening, plants, etc. was always low key, I enjoyed a good garden, beautiful flower, well done hedge; but that was about it.  I think a part of this stems from the American idea of what is proper for a male should be interested in.  But it was also just not something that seemed to jump to me.

Then the pandemic hit, stuck in the house with a pregnant wife and a toddler, I needed a way to escape.  So, like many people I found gardening. More to the point, I found Monty Don.  I, for whatever reason, started watching Great Gardens of England on Amazon and I was fascinated. Now, maybe it was true fascination, maybe it was the mini trip to Kentucky I had taken that evening, maybe it was pure escapism? All I know is that I was transfixed.  The colors, the challenge, the passion these normal people spoke with, the beauty of it all.  I tried to find every gardening show I could, eventually finding Gardener's World with Monty Don.  And then it was over.

For those uninitiated and unfamiliar with Monty Don and Gardener's World I will quickly elaborate.  Gardener's World is a television program in England that concerns itself with all things gardening.  The episodes/seasons I've watched are hosted by Monty Don, largely from his own garden, with a cadre of presenters that go out and bring various aspects of gardening and Englishness back to the television.  This show has been running for 50 years or so.  It is a nice, relaxing, informative show with pieces for beginners through advanced gardeners.  The show is remarkable in and of itself, but the piece de resistance is the host, Monty Don.

Monty is an everyday fellow, not a trained gardener (in America we would say horticulturalist or landscape architect).  But he has created, through trial and error, and his own research an amazing garden at his home of Longmeadow.  He hosts and presents the program, he demonstrates various aspects of gardening in his own garden; he makes mistakes and owns to them, but mostly he is just a calming sage.  He is, simply, my hero.

Not that I could ever rise to his level, this blog is a pedestrian attempt at an homage.  I will share my goals, triumphs, and failures.  Gardening can be very rewarding, but it can be heartrendingly frustrating as well.  Plants are living things, as such, they can be just as capricious as the weather in the Midwest, if not more so. (Houseplants especially, but we'll get to that later).

So, whether you are an advanced gardener with your Master Gardener certificate, a novice, a seasoned practitioner, or brand spanking new; I hope that you can learn and enjoy what I write here.

As Monty says, he's a writer that gardens. Along that vein, I guess, I am a teacher that gardens.  Just keep in mind, gardens and gardening is whatever you make of it. If you want to dedicate hours to make a showcase garden, awesome.  If you want to dedicate no more than an hour or so a week, great.  If you just want to keep a few houseplants, splendid.  I'm assuming, that if you are reading this it means you are at least slightly interested in gardening.  That's the biggest step.  There's enough out there that explains how beneficial gardening is to mental health, health in general, the Earth, etc.  It is my personal opinion that everyone should garden, taking care of a plant or plants gives direction, focus, purpose, and humility.  After all, plants are capricious (and have less of a social stigma if you mess up and kill one as opposed to an animal).

So, with this written and the road ahead ready, Auf Geht's!