When I first started gardening I began container gardening way before it was in vogue, simply out of necessity; I lived in an apartment. 

Since then, I am lucky enough to own a house complete with garden space for annual veggies along with a walnut tree, multi-grafted apple and pear, a wall of raspberries, a giant Bing cherry, herbs galore and so much more. 

My Evolving Lifestyle

So in the intervening years, my gardening style has changed along with the space I occupied at that particular time. The larger the garden space the more and varied I’ve tried to grow. 

This year is different. I have come to realize that no matter how much I cajole, beg, or pester, my significant other thinks of vegetables as the devil’s province and refuses to touch them. I make a chicken stir-fry with veggies and he eats the rice and chicken, miraculously nary a veggie touches his lips. 

So this year, I’m not too interested in growing lots of vegetables. My partner’s disdain for all things green and the fact that there are only two of us means we always have more than we can use; which also means that I end up doing a lot of freezing, making sauces, canning, etc and giving produce away to the local food bank. 

It’s a lot of work and I’m getting old. I’ve said it. This year, I’ve decided to focus on my perennial flowers. So I built new beds (with river rocks I found on our property!) and filled them with a profusion of new perennials mixed with some I had divided. 

This year I am going to have flowers outside as well as in every room of the house. And, yes, I am still growing some vegetables but only a few. Enough for me to eat and process a bit but not so much that I am overwhelmed. This year I’m going to read more books surrounded by the sweet aroma of blooms languishing in the heat and the pleasant hum of busy bees. This year I’m going to be a lazy gardener.