VEGs (Very Eccentric Gardeners ) Unite!

I have long shared one ambition with Gay Klok, our Tasmanian Garden Journal editor. When we grow up we want to be eccentric gardeners, like those crusty and indomitable characters one reads about in books - the ones that most people may whisper about - except that those in the know realize that they are not only harmless but also have hearts of gold.

We will dress funny, with absolutely no regard for what may constitute appropriate gardening attire for the rest of the world, because it works for us. And we will grow whatever we want whether it is "in" that year or terribly, terribly "out." We may even grow things that they tell us are not hardy in our zones - because if everyone believed that we wouldn't have half the wonderful choices we have now thanks to some previous eccentric gardener who dared to defy the zones. And we will try out odd color combinations just to see if they work.

In short, we will enjoy our gardens the way we ought to enjoy life - on our own terms without bowing to the whims of fashion or the dictates of others. We will not care what others think - because these are our gardens. And these are our lives.

While we may have many gardens, each of us has only one life. If nowhere else, why not live it to its fullest in the garden?

Take "proper garden attire."
I rarely wear it. Not because I am consciously trying to flout the rules but because I am absent-minded. I thrust my feet into whatever pair of shoes I see first and if they turn out to be "good" ones I simply tell myself that I will change before I go outdoors. Except that, walking by the window I see a spot of color where none existed the day before. So I charge out to inspect - and on the way spot a weed too bothersome to ignore. And before you know it, there I am in my nightgown and a pair of good shoes crawling in the dirt, happily weeding away.

But which is more important - a bit of mud on my suede loafers? Or that warmth and contentment that comes from tending my garden and freeing it from threatening weeds? Weeding is a bit like meditating - it frees the mind to wander where it will - so it is then that I solve problems and work off tension. I figure that if I needed to do that so badly that I forgot to worry about those silly shoes then I needed it. And I have other shoes.

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic