Just What Is A Weekend Garden?

To answer today's question seems important to me. How, after all, does this concept differ from other gardens, anyway?

Simply stated, it's about time. Time that you spend tending your garden. Even though the demands of your contemporary lifestyle may make great demands on you, this doesn't mean you can't also have this delightful pastime of gardening.

You want your garden to bring pleasure and satisfaction, --- not provoke anxiety because there just isn't enough time to plant the petunias, tie up the tomatoes or prune the privet before sundown.

If you're trying to 'beat the clock' you will find yourself stressed and incapable of enjoying the wonderful world of gardening. It's all about healthful relaxation and when the time you have to devote to your garden slams against your everyday demands---that spells trouble.

Believe me, you can have a garden and enjoy it too. You need not be a slave to even a large garden. When carefully designed and filled with trouble free plants, you will discover the time to b-r-e-a-t-h-e in the beauty; you can let this kind of garden practically take care of itself.

Don't get me wrong, gardening can be a lot of work; there's no question about that! But most gardeners I know find the physical activity to be much better than the kind found in a closeted gymnasium or achieved during a workout with an in-home treadmill. As a gardener, not only are you becoming fit, you're doing it with nature, in the fresh air and there are real manifestations of your achievements, too.

In other words, you get to see the results of your toil in the soil.

The key is making sure the tasks aren't overly strenuous or time consuming. Good weekend gardening can be the perfect antidote to the stress all around us in this new mellinium. When you plan a low-maintenance garden you'll discover that you actually have time to enjoy some old-fashioned relaxation in your weekend. Once you've created the remarkable vista we have planned for you in my book, it's important to remember, in the end, you'll be able to admire your handiwork. Whether it's sitting in a comfortable lawn chair, lying peacefully in the palm of a hammock, or spreading a checkered table cloth out in the backyard for a picnic- your garden is your little corner of sanctuary in the world.