Garden Day: The Hard Parts of Gardening

​Sometimes gardening can be tough. Jarad shares his thoughts on the less pleasant chores in the garden 

---

I love plants; I really do, but there are parts of gardening I don’t enjoy. Weeding isn’t fun, and neither is pruning particularly, but removing sod is probably the worst chore I’ve encountered so far. Firstly, grass is heavy. Very heavy. A couple of days ago, I removed grass for my little vegetable garden this summer. It took 6 hours one day and four the next. I was covered in mud, hands were full of blisters, and I’m sore in places I didn’t even know existed. Grass is now my least favorite plant! But it’s worth it so I can grow a few vegetables and herbs, plant garlic in the fall, and at least I won’t have to repeat the process next year. Still, there were moments when I questioned why in the hell I was doing this ridiculous thing, can’t I grow corn in a pot, and watermelons can grow in pots as well right?  You know, really, really big pots? This is what I was thinking as I removed all that grass. And while I’m sure they could, but I wouldn’t have been happy with just that. 

​I’m removing grass in other parts of the yard as well, but none of the areas are so big as the vegetable patch. Not to mention that everything has to be in the ground by Sunday if I am to see the finished product, so there’s no rush, right? It would’ve been easier if I had actual plants, but I’m working with a lot of seeds here, so that doubles the sense of urgency around my project. Of course, I’ll probably get more plants, but the seeds have to be planted immediately. 

However, while there are hard and difficult to gardening, it’ll be worth it when I can harvest corn and tomatoes in a few months, if I can keep the pests away from them. I’ll probably forget all about the pain of lifting sod when I’m eating that first tomato, or maybe it will add a little spice to the flavor I’m a little limited in what I can grow, since I return to school at the end of August, but I’ll do what I can. If it takes ten hours of wrestling stubborn grass out of the ground, I’ll do it.

​​

Bio
Jarad is the co-administrator and writer for Sacred Chickens, attends college at MTSU, loves tea and coffee, and tries to spend every spare second reading. He recently developed an interest (some might say obsession) with gardening. Jarad is an English major with a concentration in literature.  Bless his heart!  Let's all light a candle for him and send him happy thoughts!

---