I was accepted into the Master Gardener program offered by the LSU AgCenter.
Volunteering with them is one of the things on my retirement bucket list. Even though I grew up in a nursery and my mother was a landscaper and avid gardener, I was surprised at the number of things I still had to learn. My sons and I are constantly practicing with trial and error in our gardens and flowerbeds. Louisiana soil is some of the best, but we still must constantly contend with Mother Nature.
I have picked up a ton of tricks I am excited to pass along. For instance, if you are picking produce from your garden, it is best to pick it early in the morning so the shelf life of the vegetables will be much longer. They are at their maximum hydration at this time, so they last longer in your refrigerator.
If your house plants are not flowering, they are lacking nutrients to hinder the complete cycle of the plant's energy production. And if you are planting climbing vegetation requiring a trellis it is best to put it at the northern part of your garden to prevent shading. That is just a few.
I have only completed one month out of the three and a half, so I cannot imagine how much more knowledge I will be able to acquire by the time we are done. And in my overzealous pride and determination I charged straight into my front flower beds to weed, trim, and reorganize based on things I had learned. While taming my overgrown beds I somehow stumbled across my arch enemy, Poison Ivy. Didn't know about this until a few days later. It started with one little spot and soon began to spread.
With all of the new knowledge I was sure there was some quick cure for what continues to spread at a rapid speed. Questioning my fellow 29 students and hitting Google there was nothing. It did not matter what I applied, took, smeared or soaked in the reaction would have to run its course of two to three weeks. When meddling in nature, humility is never far from sight.
There are no gloves thick enough to avoid thorns when cutting back roses. There are no potions to ward off nosey critters who root and dig. In fact, the more lush and fruitful your property becomes with the many hours of sweat and work, the more enticing your little garden becomes. Weeds like fertile soil as much as pretty things. Frogs and lizards enjoy the moisture of well-watered plants, and snakes love happy frogs living near well-watered plants.
That pretty ivy that climbs among your pots that does not give off an infectious oil is just as happy to grow along with the other climbing irritants that send me running to the pharmacy. The collected rainwater which is much more nutritious than what comes from the hose is the perfect wading pool for mosquitoes and other insects. That is correct. It is in the Bible. "For those who are given much, much will be expected."
A yard of sand and rocks with no vegetation will not have any stickers, snakes, varmints, or poisonous vines. A drought will not matter, and neither will a solid week of rain. There will be no falling leaves, or limbs to pick up after a storm. No deep rutted mud puddles with swimming tadpoles or bubbled up veins of soil webbing through your grass. No moles, no snakes, no shade, no sound of rustling leaves in the wind. No juicy tomatoes, or spicy peppers. No pops of color or pets scratching their backs in the lawn while a bee circles its ears, and the stirred-up grass makes it sneeze.
I cannot explain why gardening is such a passion for me and so many others. Or why we dread stumbling on a venomous creature or plant but carry on anyway with a slight second glance. Most people love spending time in a garden, but some enjoy the battle with Mother Nature and the wink of her eye with the garden blooms and we relish the tiny wins.
