Purpose for the garden

[897tgigvib]

What is the purpose for your garden?

Mine as far as most folks know, is for 3 things.
Beauty
Production
Enjoyment

But most folks, those who happen to see it in person as they are doing their own things, do not know the deeper underlying purposes of my garden.

My garden is the filling of a dream. Neural network turned into living plants sequenced and ordered.

It is also the small growing of a bigger dream that will of course never happen. My greater dreams never happen. They don't. I dream of having a seed company. Even the mission statement formulates in my mind. Making money at the levels others make money is not in my dream mission statement. But heck, if money needs to be made for a tractor or another 2 acres, that'd be reality.

I do have Bean varieties that nobody else anywhere has. Indian Woman Yellow Pole, Ojo de Cabra Dark, Reverse Cranberry, Large Chocolate Tepary, Orange Speckled Tepary, Brick Red Tepary, Greenstring Creaseback, Hidatsa Shield Dark, and others that very few have. I have varieties of Tomato I created, mostly storing seeds, that nobody has. Wapsitiger, Teddy, Amy Sue.

At heart, I am a plant breeder. My urge is to make new varieties the old fashioned way.

 

[so lucky]

So, if you grew a little extra of those very rare beans and advertized them and sold them......that would be a seed business, right? You don't necessarily have to start big. There is no telling what that could lead into. In these days of internet and e-bay, almost anything IS possible.

 

[catjac1975]

I can't quite figure you out Marshall. Sometimes when you write you are a good ol boy. When you share knowledge, I think you are secretly a college professor. Now I see you are a deeply contemplative philosopher. You are quite the original character and I enjoy your posts.
Cathy

What is the purpose for your garden?

Mine as far as most folks know, is for 3 things.
Beauty
Production
Enjoyment

But most folks, those who happen to see it in person as they are doing their own things, do not know the deeper underlying purposes of my garden.

My garden is the filling of a dream. Neural network turned into living plants sequenced and ordered.

It is also the small growing of a bigger dream that will of course never happen. My greater dreams never happen. They don't. I dream of having a seed company. Even the mission statement formulates in my mind. Making money at the levels others make money is not in my dream mission statement. But heck, if money needs to be made for a tractor or another 2 acres, that'd be reality.

I do have Bean varieties that nobody else anywhere has. Indian Woman Yellow Pole, Ojo de Cabra Dark, Reverse Cranberry, Large Chocolate Tepary, Orange Speckled Tepary, Brick Red Tepary, Greenstring Creaseback, Hidatsa Shield Dark, and others that very few have. I have varieties of Tomato I created, mostly storing seeds, that nobody has. Wapsitiger, Teddy, Amy Sue.

At heart, I am a plant breeder. My urge is to make new varieties the old fashioned way.

 

[nachoqtpie]

Marshall... I would love to buy some of those 'mater seeds from you!

 

[digitS']

Marshall has been drinking from the same spring as Luther Burbank for a long while.

For over 40 years I've driven down the same road often, a couple times a week. There was a guy with a garden off the side of the road. Not just any garden, a big garden. Old guy . . . or, after awhile, he was an old guy. I'd sometimes see him out for a walk but many times, I'd see him working in his garden.

After awhile and across the side road, I realized that another big garden had sprung up. Oh, it looked real good . Across the main road, another big garden began to grow. That person seemed to have overdone it a bit and put quite a few square feet into flowers . Just a little further, another neighbor put in a big garden - did a real good job keeping it looking nice.
:rainbow-sun

I don't know that I'm gardening for the neighbors (or for my internet neighbors). It is really MY garden - an environment where the paths are beaten by my feet. Where every square foot is marked by my activities and interests.

The old fellow has been gone now for about 10 years and the new resident has just turned the space into lawn. Still, there are 3 gardens nearby where once, there had just been one old guy's garden.

Steve

 

[The Mama Chicken]

I garden because groceries are so darn expensive, and because nothing in the world tasted better than a ripe, juicy tomato freshly picked and eaten in the garden. I also garden because I feel accomplished when I have pulled all of the weeds in a bed and everything is neat and tidy. That saying, "Gardening is cheaper than therapy...and you get tomatoes" about sums it up for me.

 

[digitS']

That's right TMC!

I realized after I wrote all that above -- I said nothing about GOOD food!

Good food - I'm going for it!!

Steve

 

[so lucky]

Gardening makes me feel like I am creating my own world. (with help from the Big Guy.) I decide which plants live or die, and where they should live. I decide what color of tomato will be growing here, and what I will be eating this winter. The garden paths become old friends to me, and the stump I have in there to sit on gets more comfortable with passing time. The surrounding fence is like a wall to keep the rest of the world out. I can decorate it with flowers, or let it be useful and hold up some peas. The bird bath in there is a beacon to the bluebirds and mockingbird to come eat the bugs and rest a while. All the senses are alert to the smell of straw, pine needles, compost, rosemary, tomato vines; the sound of the birds twittering and the traffic in the background; the feel of the sun on my back and the tool I am using in my hand; the taste of that strawberry I pulled off with a snap a minute ago. Add to all this the satisfaction I get when I look and see the ordered rows, neat but a little haphazard. I know that I have rid my world of crabgrass and dandelions for the moment. When it starts to rain, my first thoughts are "This will be so good for the garden."
Is it any wonder that we love to garden? It makes us feel like GODS, in our own playground.

 

[seedcorn]

Why I garden?

I love to eat straight out of my garden. The vegetables are so much better than you can buy. Plus I introduced my children to growing, cooking, and eating out of the garden.

Relaxation from the stresses of the day.

It takes me back to the days of gardening with my folks and g'ma. While they are dead, they are still with me.

And of course, my ego as I look at the finished project and realize I did that. Along with the joy of sharing with others which strokes my ego as well.

 

[momofdrew]

Why??
My Dad taught me how to plant a seed 65 years ago...I fell in love with growing something beautiful...it is a humbling task...Mother Nature is a harsh taskmaster...and it gets me on my knees keeps me there long enoough to thank my creator for all the blessings and gifts he has given me over the years...