George Shirley wrote:
....
Gardening, at best, is a hit and miss experience in my opinion. You can
do everything right and the damned plants won't grow properly or the
weather changes to bad, or bugs and birds eat everything you plant, or
the dog digs them up. Basically gardening is a crap shoot but if you do
the best you can most times you are rewarded. Wife and I gardened with
our parents at a very early age and here we are in our mid-seventies
still trysting with the garden gods. Just go for it.

learning and trying things are both important, but
i like to also help the overall production from the
gardens by increasing diversity in my patches.

i divide my plantings into smaller plots and then
hope the critters, bugs and diseases don't get them
all. usually they don't.

sometimes things do go wrong, but you can sometimes
cut your losses and replant with something else if
you notice in time.

experimenting with different systems of production
can be good too. like the ways i've been trying the
strawberries in different gardens and seeing how they
do when mixed with other plants. i'm now well past
the point where critters can eat them all -- they may
raid a garden and eat some of the berries but they
can't seem to find them all. i still have plenty when
i go out to pick. if i'd planted them in more formal
rows and there weren't any surrounding plants to
provide some cover i think the critters would also
have it much easier to find the fruits.


songbird