I hate gardening. I love flowers and color and the thought of fresh vegetables and herbs BUT I still hate gardening. My friends love it, the books I read act like gardening makes you one step closer to God, BUT I still hate gardening. I can understand, figuratively, the joy of “sinking your hands into the earth,” “being a part of creation starting,” “nurturing a fragile little plant,” “creating something beautiful.” I’VE TRIED! but to me it just feels hot, full of bugs, a tedious everyday need to go take care of SOMETHING ELSE, and even if I do follow all the right steps, everything I do tends to look like this anyway:


That is what greets you on my porch if you drop by our house. It serves as a constant reminder of last spring, just like every spring before, when I’ve gone to Home Depot, listened to Jeremiah make fun of me as I spent hundreds of dollars on plants vowing that THIS year would be different. Well, that was my gigantic prize fern from last year…you can see how well I took care of her.

This year, I said, no more. I am not a gardener. I’ll try to take care of the wispy little plants that have managed to survive in my garden, and I’m not going to waste all that money…even though I do miss those beautiful, overflowing hanging baskets on our porch 🙁 But then this year, God gave me a curious child. For weeks I’ve listened to her tell me every day, “Mommy, can we please plant some seeds?! All we need is dirt and water, and they’ll grow, I promise! PLEASE!” And on and on it went. Who told her that anyway? Did one of you neighbors do it to spite me :)? Do they talk about crap like that on Sesame Street to guilt us non-gardeners into getting out there and doing it anyway?
I don’t know where she heard it, but I couldn’t bear to squelch her anymore. Maybe the child is going to have a green thumb. Heck, maybe I can let her plant my flower beds every year :)? She certainly couldn’t do any worse than I have.

So, I made the dreaded trip to Home Depot, but instead of spending hundreds of dollars, I only spent about five. I let Pace pick our seeds and this is what she chose:

We took down my hanging baskets (that weren’t being used anyway), rounded up a few other planters from various past projects.
And planted to our hearts content. (Mary Aplin nearly gave me a concussion with that rake before the day was over)
Now, a good solid excuse I have for not enjoying gardening is that my yard gets next to no sunshine. There are no fun colorful plants that grow in shade…or at least very few (maybe to get the good ones you have to go spend some real money at a nursery and not Home Depot). To give Pace’s plants a chance at life, I’ve left all these planters in the only spot in our yard that does get sun–THE FRONT YARD. We are lookin’ oh so classy with our half clover/half grass yard and our planters strewn about.

But you know what, I can already say that it’s worth it, because I walked outside with Pace yesterday to check on the progress of her little project and we found this:

They actually grew!! (I honestly had zero faith that it would work) And Pace asks to go outside and check on them about twenty times a day. Bless her heart…it looks nothing like her mother’s in this gardening area.

8 Responses to “Just Trying Not to Squelch Her”

  1. andi says:

    YIPPPPEEE! Love your honesty! 🙂 The title actually spoke to my heart this morning: instead of trying not to squelch her, I am substituting him and asking the Lord to give me patience today to let them be the boys He wants them to be. Funny how things speak to our hearts.

  2. Lauren J. says:

    How precious! It truly is a blessing to spend time like this with little ones. Keep us posted on the little plants 🙂

  3. Taylor says:

    way to go abby, now you have a sweet friend(mrs johnson) and sister across the street who do your yearly trimming and now you have pace to do your gardening- what a life!
    i will see you and the crew soon- maybe pace can come plant in my yard next!!! ha ha

  4. Sarah says:

    i hate hate hate gardening! HATE! lol i feel your pain! yesterday i came home and my mom had put my one and only plant in the middle of my kitchen counter. it was dead. dry. pitiful. she bought another plant in hopes of its survival and need for less water. =)

  5. Kelly says:

    Darn. Reese has been doing the same thing to her non-gardening mother. She has carried around the Sunday insert from Lowe's showing the plants for a week and a half now. I just keep telling her, "Maybe another day." Now, I'm going to have to go get some seed, dirt and planters. Darn it. : )

  6. ashr7406 says:

    How sweet!! She's doing a great job!! LOVE their matching dresses 🙂

  7. Gail says:

    Well….I truly understand. My daughter, Ashley, too…doesn't care for it at all. Lucky for you– that you will move soon to WA. Ashley didn't have to plant one thing while living there. Everything looks so differnt and the dirt just ain't the same as the good OLE' soil of Bama…Just enjoy your girls planting. Seems they have a green thumb! Who knows where it will lead! My grandson loves to plant and he is only four. Soooo good luck and just kick back and let them dig away! LOL….

  8. Robin says:

    I feel you sister..Your mom and Mrs. Pat used to try and get me to like it. I would lay on the ground and say to them.."this is not fun " and why do you think it is so wonderful ? It is hot and I am dirty and I just don't get it ! They would laugh and make me work harder but I still hate it.

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