Gardening

In my younger and more energetic days, I went through a long period of trying to live off of the land as much as possible. I knitted all of my own sweaters, socks and mittens. I made a lot of my own clothes. And every spring I would have a large patch of the back yard rototilled and I planted a vegetable garden.

While I was a student, the vegetable garden was a literal life saver as most of the food I ate came from there. Lettuce sandwiches anyone?

Post-student years, I continued the garden out of habit, but soon realized that I was spending most of my summers weeding, trimming, and fussing trying to have the most perfect garden and then I ending up with more vegetables than I could consume, freeze or otherwise preserve. I longed to take weekend jaunts to the Berkshires and visit museums and listen to concerts on the lawn.

As luck would have it, I moved into a condominium and discovered container gardening. Quick! Easy! Minimal time and effort! As for fresh vegetables, I live in an are where there's a farm stand about every 10 feet. Why should I sweat and hurt my back when, for a few dollars I can buy exactly what I need for the next day or two and then head for the nearest tag sale or flea market? After all, I'm not a poor graduate student any more but a gainfully employed professional (semi-retired). And why not contribute to those who have vegetable gardens and excess vegetables?

So now, after some purchases and a few weeks of dividing, repotting and rooting,  I have lovely, colorful begonias, petunias, impatiens, and geraniums on the decks, patios and along the walkways. I no longer live in a condominium, but I much prefer container gardening. On the screened-in porch off of the kitchen, I have ceramic pots of basil, parsley and rosemary.

What do I look for at those tag sales and flea markets? Why more pots, of course!