Welcome To Gardening

I might have mentioned this in previous posts around this time of year, but I love Earth Day. This year I was in New York City and, though I didn't participate, I did get to witness the March for Science. There were a lot of creative signs. It was fun to see, but I much prefer to spend Earth Day out of the city.

Governor's Palace Gardens in Winter - Colonial Williamsburg VA

Since I was busy last weekend, this weekend I volunteered to help plant a butter fly garden at the New Jersey State Botanical Garden at Skylands Ringwood. It was my first visit to the Botanical Garden and it was beautiful. The flowers were all in bloom and it smells wonderful right now.

If you don't know about the New Jersey State Botanical Garden, it's a large outdoor state park in Ringwood New Jersey. The grounds are huge with plenty of gardens to walk through. They also host events that occur throughout the year and can include bird watching, hiking, and tours. You can click here to visit their website. I look forward to going back and exploring the grounds more.

The actual planting part of my trip was a ton of fun. A lot of people had shown up and we had everything planted in about a just under two hours. I think we even recruited a few of the visitors to help with the planting. I left dirty, sweaty, and excited to come back and see how the garden is doing.

There's something about digging in the dirt that brings out my inner six year old. There's a lot of exploring to do when digging. Earthworms were squirming in the ground (I made sure to gently move it over to the side). Occasionally, I would find a large, odd looking rock. Bumblebees lazily flew by to see what's going on, but thankfully didn't get too close.

I used to do a lot of gardening when I lived with my parents. We had a small vegetable and herb garden on the side of our house that I would work on in the summer. I think my favorite vegetable to grow was green beans, despite the fact that I hate eating them. They were really easy to grow and harvest. Every once and a while I would neglect them for a week or so and find several large green beans, longer than the length of my hand, ready to be eaten.

Gardening is probably the thing I miss most about living in a house. Apartments are nice, but I haven't had a lawn or space for a garden in years. Sure apartment gardens are an option, but it can be hard to get the right lighting and space.

I wish I had grown these myself, but I brought them at the farmer's market.

I also don't have as much time as I used to. When I was in high school, it was easy to maintain a garden during the summer. I had plenty of time to weed and water the plants. Now, I don't know if I would have the time to make sure the plants will be well taken care of, though my Christmas Cactus is somehow still living.

Gardening can be a great hobby if you enjoy getting dirty and being outside. You can have beautiful flowers for any occasion. Herbs are a great addition to any meal. You can watch butterflies and bumblebees dance in the breeze (technically I'm dead scared of bees, but they are important for every ecosystem on land).

Maybe I'm romanticizing. I tend to do that with fond memories. But getting my hands dirty every once and a while was fun, especially when I would come back inside looking like I had just crawled through the mud (mom wasn't as happy with me).

If you are interested in gardening, but don't have the space for one, there are a lot of great resources to help people find the option that's right for them. Community gardens have become popular in recent years, especially in urban areas (I've seen several in New York and Detroit). Some groups on Meetup.com have also specialized in volunteering and outdoors activities which can include gardening. If you find an opportunity and are interested, I definitely recommend gardening.

I'm looking forward to helping out at the Botanical Gardens again. Just because the plants have been planted, there's still work that needs to be done. Weeding is important so that the plants don't choke and die. I want to see what kinds of butterflies visit.

I hope to see some of you guys there too.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week!