Thoughts About Gardening in a Box...

Small rant...One of the speakers across from our booth at the Home and Garden Show said that gardening used to be very popular, but then it started to decline. The gardening industry panicked and began offering "gardening in a box." Our ears perked up since that is what we offer. After listening to him...and going online when I got home to try to clarify for myself his line of thinking... I concluded that he was talking about flower gardening. 

Quote from the article ..."It’s such an exquisite example of the pandering, avarice-driven, disrespectful motives espoused by portions of the American gardening industry. “Our exclusive garden in a box makes it simple” sums up their true opinion of today’s American gardener: You’re too busy, too lazy, and way too stupid to learn about garden design, so send us $125 and we’ll ship you your next garden via UPS. Plunk it in according to the diagram, and boy, won’t you be proud.

“BUY IT, PLANT IT, WATCH IT GROW!” Do you sense what they’re NOT saying? Don’t learn, don’t investigate, don’t experiment, don’t decide which perennials you love, or those you hate. Don’t worry about your soil, don’t think about disease, don’t even water the thing, for that matter … just buy it, plant it, and watch it grow." (Yikes!) 

I think what he does not realize is that not everyone fancies themselves a gardener. Some people need help. Some people want easy. That does not mean that they are lazy or stupid. It just means that they look for another way to solve a problem. 

Even though I "think" he was talking about flowers (it does not matter), his words still resonated with me. We offer an easier way to garden. It is folly to insinuate that a person is not a true gardener just because they don't want to spend laborious hours in the garden trying to figure it out. 

I realize that there are some people who are gifted that way. My mother was. She would spend hours in her flower garden. She knew the Latin names of the plants. She had so many different colors and kinds of flowers. Her garden was beautiful. Planning, planting and design gave her joy.  I did not get that gift. I did not have the "gardening gene."  I did not have joy in the garden. 

As I got older and got married, I wanted to have a garden...not flowers, but vegetables...but I discovered that I did not have green thumbs. In fact, I did not have much success at all. I did the work, but still my plants did not thrive. My husband and I would work really hard in the spring, tilling, weeding, making straight rows, planting seeds. By July, it was hot and weedy and I had very little harvest to show for my work.  I was done...for the year...until the next year with renewed hope, I would try again...with similar results.

It got to be too hard to try again. I was older and did not want to work so hard for so little to show for my efforts. That's when we started gardening in boxes.  

With Garden Anywhere Box, I have success. I do not consider myself either lazy or stupid for wanting an easier way to garden. If it is a garden in a box, so be it. It works. Some people love to garden in the ground. They love the process. I do not begrudge them that at all. I think it's amazing to see beautiful gardens, flower or vegetable, that are thriving and huge, but I know the work that goes into making them beautiful. I am not that person.
I have found a way to grow and harvest vegetables without tilling the ground. weeding or investment of "sweat-equity" in the garden. I do not apologize for that. I revel in it. I want to shout it from the roof-tops. I have found joy in the garden. To those of you who were not born with green thumbs, who have given up on ever having success in the garden or who have never tried... Garden Anywhere Box works. You CAN be a successful gardener.

And the part about being "too stupid about learning garden design"...your education is just beginning. Once you realize that you can be successful in the garden, it's time to start really learning. What do you want to grow? What is companion planting? What herbs repel bugs? How can I attract bees to my garden?  What does it mean to grow organic and why should I care? What are GMO's? "Oh, the place's you'll go"...in your quest for gardening knowledge.

You CAN garden in a box 

You can garden in your socks. 

You can garden here...or there. 

You can GARDEN ANYWHERE.

I discovered a quote by Alice Walker a couple of years ago. It says, "In search of my mother's garden, I found my own." That is how I feel. I didn't arrive at my destination the same way as others, but I did arrive.