I'm lazy and I know it.

I've lost my enthusiasm

Plants I mostly killed

This is the time of year my enthusiasm for gardening starts to wane. You can tell this by looking at the number of shriveled up plants in pots that one month ago I thought were so great, but never got around to planting. I even have a few plants that have been in pots since last year, and some aronia starts from 2009. They've been living in vermiculite ever since and have done pretty well, one even flowered this year. I'm not sure why I still have them. It just seems wrong to throw them away. Or maybe it's some kind of strange science experiment to see how long these poor things can survive with the worst care ever.

Don't get me wrong, I love sitting outside and looking at my garden. Even reaching down and pulling a weed or two. But I know now that my good plants are winning the battle against the bad plants, and so I don't worry as much about them.

And that is what separates the cottage gardener from the landscaper. My goal is to make sure my plants look good and are healthy, and shade out the weeds adequately so they are weakened. That way my plants will always be healthy, thrive, and be better next year. As a whole, my garden looks pretty good! As long as you don't look too close.

That doesn't mean you can't be an OCD cottage gardener. But I want you to know when we visited Giverny last summer, I saw a weed or two, and those made me feel—not just happy—but vindicated. 

Landscapers are more concerned that their garden as a whole looks pristine, weed-free, with plants placed just the right distance apart. They are the ones that use stuff like casoron. I suppose you could also be a slob of a landscaper. But you'd be setting yourself up for a lot of ridicule. Your comrades are not tolerant of slackers.

In any case, those are my reasons for being lazy this time of year; I'd love to hear about yours! Maybe I'll borrow them next year.