Note: For those in a reader, sorry for re-posting. It’s amazing, I’ve been reading several posts by bloggers I follow this morning, and a few of them are going through some stuff that sounds strikingly familiar, both with regards to gardening and blogging. First of all, I have noticed that not very many people post about their failures, which is understandable, and it applies to this blog as well as my family blog that the focus should be positive. It’s easy to forget that failures can result in positive experiences, and that is what I try to blog about when I write about struggles. I want people to know that I make mistakes, and that I don’t know everything about gardening -or about anything for that matter- but that I’m learning, which is fun- and human. I hope to have human interaction through this, avoiding all superhumans, because they make me feel nervous and inadequate. I deeply appreciate it when someone does write that they had a hard time with something, or they didn’t have some vital information, or they just pulled a knucklehead move. Because I’ve done all of the above.
Second, about the undue pressure to post. As I’ve said, I have a family blog, and I don’t post as often as I could, and when I don’t, I feel bad. WHY?! It’s supposed to be fun and informative. I’m not trying to make money doing this, and if I don’t post for awhile, it doesn’t mean we aren’t doing cool stuff. So, I blog when I want to. As for this blog, I’m feeling behind, I’ve done a lot in my garden that I haven’t yet written about, and by the time I do I will be even further behind- bla bla bla, you see where this goes, and if you have a blog, you know exactly what I mean. I will post all my stuff eventually, but maybe everyone won’t know -today- what I did -today-. Oh well. Also, it’s easy to garden (or whatever) for the blog rather than garden(or whatever) for the right reasons. It’s about keeping it in perspective and not letting it become yet another demand on your time. At least it is for me.
Third, gardening.- I was commenting earlier and made the point that I have five survivng pea plants left, (whoopie) Clyde (my daughter’s dog) and the kids (teenagers, for goodness sake) have destroyed several of my seedlings, all of my Brassicas for the spring, I almost killed all my tomatoes, and this was before any warm season stuff was actually put out. Then the flea beetles attacked my ground cherries as soon as I did. The point to this rant? The point is- life is challenging, gardening is challenging, spelling challenging is challenging. But we keep going and trying and learning, for a few reasons. Here are some of mine depending on my mood:
Really pissed off: I can’t justify quitting to my husband, when I’ve spent money on this endeavor. (hehe)
Moderately pissed off: What am I gonna do, sit in the house with the very vagabonds who wrecked my plants?
Mildly miffed: Dang it, I want some @$&# Ground Cherries.
Through the eyes of reason: (real answers) I can’t let my kids see me quit in the face of adversity. I will eventually succeed in a meaningful way. Daniel-son, that which does not kill you only makes you stronger, (or more experienced, and therefore more successful.)
Your Thoughts?
May 12, 2009 at 10:44 pm
It is your blog, so you write whenever you want and whatever you want. If you want other people to know your every step in the garden, post it, it will also help you next year – to remember what you did in the garden this month. If you want to write only about something special, it’s fine, too. So, it’s up to you. I understand about pressure, but we need to remember that there are people with and without kids, with jobs and no jobs, etc. Someone will always post more often than you. As for me, I’d rather spend more time in the garden and write one post a week than try to take a picture of my every step and post it. Saying that, I understand if someone does it differently, and it’s O.K. Blogging is making us more social, helps to find new, virtual friends and keeps our brains busy, preventing problems with memory loss in future. There are about 1300 gardeners on Blotanical, that is why it looks like people are writing non-stop. Let’s relax and follow our inner voice. Happy gardening and no-pressure blogging!
May 13, 2009 at 10:17 am
Tatyana,
You’re absolutely right, I agree completely.
May 13, 2009 at 6:55 am
My thoughts? Oh, man, you should come to my house and dig up a few of my volunteer ground cherries. They transplant really well. There are still *hundreds* of them. And that’s after I went to town on the weeding. But I know it’s a long way from NM to PA for just a ground cherry plant or four. Take heart. Once you get some established, you’ll likely need never make an effort to have them each year.
May 13, 2009 at 10:16 am
Kate,
I would love to! But you’re right that is a long way, I’m not that determined! Ha! Thanks for the encouragement, they aren’t something that is typically grown in these parts, at least that I know of. I’m not sure why, though, they seem to be suited to our climate so hopefully I will have the same success you have with them.
May 13, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I find myself avoiding those blogs that day after day are nothing but perfection. They make me feel inadequate and then I eat cookies.
I don’t view my blog as needing to be completely positive. I use it to remember what happened and some days what happened was a lot of whining! Other people use theirs for other things though and that’s cool too. If everyone did it just like me, it wouldn’t be interesting. : )
May 14, 2009 at 10:13 am
I hear you on the cookies, only with me it’s usually dark chocolate of some kind.
May 17, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I try to post what happens in my garden, good or bad. Recently I had a post called “The Good the Bad and the Ugly”. Unless the deer come by it usually isn’t devastatingly bad (that only happened one year in the 17 I’ve been gardening here). When the bad happens I sometimes try to make it a little funny (like my potato saga), but the garden is mostly good. I get inordinately happy over the smallest things in my garden sometime and of course have to share them. I’ve been gardening long enough but the excitement when I’m successful never fades. So the blog end up mostly positive.
As to how many times I post – well I started my blog for really weird reasons. So when I started the goal was to write every day. I didn’t really care what, but a blog worked. I let that go a bit over our snowy winter, but I still try to post very regularly. I really don’t think people ought to be ruled by their blog though. I had a blogging friend that posted the same time everyday and she was having trouble keeping up. She was frazzled by it all. I told her that life was more important. It is. I miss her posts, but I’m happy her life is more balanced.
May 18, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I started my blog just under two months ago, and my goal was to post every two days, at least. I don’t always live up to that and I feel a little guilty if I see that people who follow my blog have checked it and there’s nothing new up. But, I agree with you, it should be fun so I try to relax and enjoy it. Cheers!
May 21, 2009 at 9:27 am
Even as it illustrates my point even better, I apologize for not responding sooner. We had a horse show last weekend, and new software implementation at work this week, so I haven’t even logged on in five days! Anyway, I just want to say thank you to everyone for the dialogue this post has stirred. It’s great to hear all the points of view. This weekend, all the kids will be gone and I have nothing planned but some glorious, relaxing gardening, and writing some well thought out posts. My garden is really starting to look beautiful, so there will be lots of pictures.
May 22, 2009 at 1:12 pm
I go for the Dove Promises dark chocolate, myself. I currently have my whole early garden bed (with the peas, lettuces, alliums, and kales) looking like a net circus tent. Quail, I think, ate all my pea plants down to the ground. I now have the second planting coming up, and something got inside and nibbled most of the English pea plants. I found the hole though, and am hoping the plants will still branch and grow. At least the Snap peas are in the center of the “tent” and still looking good (if I can get a crop before the withering heat gets to them). I think of gardening as the slowest art form.