Learning to Garden

Until recently, my husband and I lived in a downtown condo in the core of Toronto and as much as I loved the pulse of the city and all the opportunities it had to offer me, I often dreamt of a future in which I lived my life in a totally different way. In this dream life, I grow my own tomatoes and somehow harvest ripe pears from trees in my own backyard without using a ladder (yes, I am terrified of heights). I imagine all those days I could spend harvesting fruit and making pie, jarring jam… perfect crust, perfect ribbons… I think about how lovely it would be to have the opportunity to nurture the very soil and plants that would feed me and would help me feed my family. Indeed, when I am trying to choose the least grotesquely enlarged apple from my local grocery store or squeeze my way past people and flies to get to the giant cardboard box of onions, I crave a life in which I walk outside my house and find everything I need, in a garden that relies solely on sunlight, earth, water, and love. So, naturally, when my husband and I decided to buy a house in the suburbs, I looked for a house with a yard that could give me just that, a garden of my very own. I am happy to say we found one and, as you can see in the pictures below, it most certainly came with a garden.

We recently took ownership of the property and I have become increasingly more aware of how much work it takes to actually grow things! So, although I dreamed of this day and although I thought I would just jump right into gardening, I, admittedly, have been more of a garden-worrier lately than a garden- warrior.  Over the past few weeks, I have managed to cut the grass and figure out the sprinkler system but avoided anything else because I had absolutely no idea where to start. So, today I decided that, in the interest of building a beautiful life and eating future yummy salads, I would challenge my anxiety and tend to my garden. Also, my mother informed me that apparently one has to prepare the garden for the winter?! Who knew? I thought, “I can do this”, walked outside, empowered and determined, with my chin up and my eyes focused, and surveyed the garden….and then it hit me...”Oh my goodness gracious me, how many bushes can one woman be expected to trim?!”

As many of you already know, gardening takes a long time and because I know that I cannot do it all in one day, I have committed today to raking the leaves, trimming the perennials, and learning about how to care for my roses, lilacs, and peonies throughout the winter months.

I started with raking the leaves…easiest to figure out how to do… It turns out it’s not as easy as it looks...in fact, it’s exhausting! Endless lunges to rake the leaves and a billion squats (this is only a slight exaggeration) to pick up the leaves and put them in the bag have me fearing my butt will be perma-cramped after this…ouch!

Time for a cup of tea…

My mom told me that I need to trim my perennials down almost to the ground so that they can grow stronger in the Spring. She said I have to cut the Hostas, Hydrangeas, and some other bushes we don’t know the names of down to about 3 inches. Being the obedient daughter I have always been, I did as I was told…

It seems so harsh...

Once I had trimmed the plants, I had done everything I knew how to do and decided to spend the rest of the day researching how to care for the roses, lilacs, and peonies, as well as the rest of the garden over the winter. Time for another cup of tea…

As expected, my research proved that I will need to learn A LOT about my garden before I can sufficiently care for it. I think I will start with calling my local garden centre and asking someone to come to the house and help me understand the individual needs of each plant. I sometimes feel myself becoming overwhelmed when I think about how much I need to learn and do in order to maintain the garden but I try to remind myself of what it means to me and what it means to my life to literally get my hands dirty in the soil.

This garden is not just a random arbitrary assortment of plants and trees. This garden is an opportunity for me to spend some quality time with Mom and an opportunity for her to share her knowledge with a younger generation.  It helps me express thanks and show gratitude by allowing me to care for something that cares for me.  This garden provides a lesson in self-care because caring for it now so that it can help me live a more beautiful life in the future is a lesson that applies to many areas of my life and is a lesson to live by. And, perhaps most importantly, this garden provides me with an opportunity to acquire new knowledge, knowledge that I, too, may pass on to future generations and in turn, it reminds me that I am...that we all are...part of something beautiful, something bigger, something meaningful… something whole.   

Take good care...

Lisa