Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Gardening in a Fishbowl

I live on a corner, and all of my gardens are visible to and from the sidewalks. This means that a lot of people see the gardens on a daily basis. Some people walk by and pay no attention to the gardens. Some walk by just to see what’s new or changed. If I’m out, people will stop and chat. They’ll ask about particular flowers, tell me what they’ve noticed, or ask me if I can show them around the whole place.

This means that I don’t always make as much progress in the garden as I plan to. And, that’s okay with me. I enjoy talking with people about the gardens and hearing about how they enjoy what I’m doing. But, it makes some visitors cranky! “Why haven’t you gotten to this section, yet?” they’ll ask. Or, they’ll point out that a pot has been sitting there for a few days and ask when I plan to get around to planting it. Or, they’ll point out the weeds in a particular garden. “You aren’t really going to dig up ANOTHER patch of grass, are you?!” exclaimed one visitor a week or so ago. His eyes almost came out of his head when I told him that was exactly my plan.

Days like that – where there are more critical comments than appreciative ones – make me wish I had a walled or secret garden, rather than the “fishbowl” gardens I do have. But, those days are few, thank goodness. And, when I come home from a walk and find someone taking a photo of one of the gardens, I think I wouldn’t trade my fishbowl garden for anything.

3 comments:

Marguerite said...

Don't know whether to laugh or cry at this post! People amaze me. I used to live on a corner where everyone stopped to admire the garden and after awhile I realized they felt like it was their garden too. Funny how gardens have that effect. Yet I never had anyone admonish me for not getting to the weeds fast enough!

Amy said...

Enjoyed your post!

GardenGoddess said...

Marguerite; You're exactly right! People DO feel like it's their garden, too! And, "admonish" is a good word. I did feel rather punished after his comment.

Amy; Thank you!

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