You Don’t Have A Black Thumb.

Don't. I repeat, don't be hard on yourself about gardening. Don't label yourself as a bad gardener. Don't think you have a brown thumb or a black thumb or anything like that. You can garden. And you will if you truly desire to. Tell yourself that you are a gardener. The moment you consider starting a garden, you're a gardener. Will it be challenging? Absolutely, but the best kind. You'll sweat a lot, hopefully never bleed, though there's no guarantee, and you'll certainly cry a few times, whether from joy or disappointment. None of these are reasons to avoid planting the next seed, hoeing the next row, or going out to harvest what you can.

Recently, I killed my potato tote experiment. But you know what I didn't do? I didn't criticize myself for it. I saw it out there, looking cold and forlorn, and I laughed because I knew it wasn't my first failure, and certainly not my last. This doesn't make me a "bad gardener." I turned to my daughters, laughing, and said, "Well, I did it again!" I'm not perfect, and neither is my garden. After all, gardening isn't about perfection. It's about growing both plants and yourself, expanding your knowledge. Perhaps it's more about you than the plants. They want to grow and don't really need us. It's actually us who need them deeply. It's a partnership, a symbiosis; enjoy it for the harmonious activity it is.

Simply step into your garden, friends. You'll start to make sense of things. We'll spend our entire lives gardening and still never "completely understand it all." Gardening is a journey, not a destination.