Joy of Gardening:

Joy of Gardening

by Nick Rogers

"Kiss of the sun for pardon.
Song of the birds for mirth.
You're closer to God's heart in a garden
than any place else on earth."
-- Dorothy Frances Gurney

Ms. Gurney captured the way that most people feel about their gardens in the verse above. It is in the garden where we feel the touch of a Higher Power more than anywhere else, many believe. The world over, gardening has enraptured countless men and women, sometimes inspiring them to change their careers to work outside.

Obviously, there is a lot more to gardening than what's laid out in a verse of poetry. All sentimentality aside, gardening is a very healthy hobby and you reap numerous benefits from your work (exercise, sunshine, fresh air, enjoyment of watching things grow, and best of all, consuming what grows from your garden!).

However, the true gardener’s garden is never finished because it is a work in progress throughout its life. No matter how beautiful or simple the garden may be, it never has a sterile "landscaped" feel to it as one can sense the changing of the season from day to day. Gardens simply grow as you do, changing to reflect your favorite colors, the plant arrangements and decor that make you feel comfortable, and whatever brings you peace and comfort this month or this year.

That being said, take the rest of this with a hit or two of salt, and adjust it to your own tastes and pleasures. These are ingredients that go into making the perfect garden for me, Nick Rogers. Your taste may vary, so take a portion here, leave some there. The important thing is to design a garden around how you want to see it.

Water – The sound of running water is like a sedative to a worried mind. I've always wanted to build a backyard pond, but I've yet to do so. If you have one, salud! But for the rest of us, there are garden hoses and sprinklers to provide water, and there's no reason you can't disguise your hose line or sprinkler -- there is no rule that says they have to be unsightly.

Rocks – They may border a path, line a walkway, or form the basis for a rock or Zen garden; regardless of what they're placed for, rocks and stones are an integral part of the earth. The flipside of this coin is that most gardeners consider them undesirable, and they will root out every last pebble in the interests of having good soil. In the Nicky Rogers school of thought, a garden cannot be a garden without rocks. I employ them to build raised beds, plant shade-loving ground covers beneath the overhang of large boulders, and embed them in the earth to form pathways between rows of flowers and shrubs.

A bench or outdoor chair – Enjoying your garden is the reward for your time and labor. Whether your bench is a large smooth rock, a worn log, or your back porch, you won't fully appreciate your garden until you sit back and bask in your accomplishments.