This past spring was a bit of a challenge for any gardener. With the temperatures rising and falling within a day in Michigan, the flooding in Texas and the midwest, the drought in California and now in Washington State, it’s a wonder why we even try to grow a garden. But to have a garden is to have hope. And for some of us, to surround oneself with nature’s beauty is necessary, so, try and try again.
If you are a new gardener, you may think that it’s your fault your plants died – or, you could blame the store where you got the plants, that’s always easier, isn’t it? “I should have been more careful.” “I shouldn’t have bought those plants.” “I should have sheltered them before the temperature dropped.” “I should have…” Please don’t “should” yourself. Learning to do anything is a journey, and gardening is a journey too, not an end result.
The Learning Curve Definition: The rate of a person’s progress in gaining experience or new skills.
I love to hate learning curves.
I love them because I know that if I try something new, I will fail, mess it up or at least have to do it over at some point before I learn to do it well enough. If I expect that dip in the curve, I won’t get so down on myself and throw it out the window – literally. Steve still teases me about that one day I spent the afternoon trying to make miniature dress for one of our greeting card ideas. (It’s how we stumbled upon the idea of miniature gardening.) I finally finished the dress, whipped it out of the sewing machine, cut the threads and then tossed the dress out the open window in complete frustration. Lol!
And I hate learning curves because of that same reason. Who has the time to do it over? What about the price of trying again? But why can I do anything I want perfectly the first time?
Gardening is a journey, not a destination.
Repeat with me:
Gardening is a journey, not a destination.
So remember the learning curve and give yourself a huge break. Now go get some more plants and try again because they don’t grow on trees, they ARE trees.
If you like everything miniature garden, join us to receive your free Mini Garden Gazette newsletter here delivered to your inbox almost every week.
