Why I garden

Even with a tiny patio, barely any sun, I still tried to cram as many plants as I could into planters this last year. I think my count was about 80 individual plants.  I was more savvy than the year before, it was my second year in the apartment and I knew better the sun pattern along my space. 

The patio early this summer

But why did I bother? I could have spared myself the expense of all the plants, plus the soil, plus the planters. I also had to check the water nearly every day this summer, hauling a pitcher in and out from my kitchen. It could have gone horribly wrong, like my well intended upstairs neighbor, whose plants withered and died after a few weeks. I think it was to prove that I could. That even in a meager 5ftx7ft space, I could grow something, anything.  It wasn’t exactly a private retreat, it faces a common walkway between buildings. It was a tiny explosion of life I could look at everyday.  It made me smile every day when I walked by it, or when I opened up my patio doors for fresh air. It was a mad experiment that paid off in giving me joy and a smile everyday (plus some extra produce).