3 ms·

I recommend trying out real gardening, akin to what the author's girlfriend was doing. (Also, she sounds like a cool person! As does the author.) The parallels

I recommend trying out real gardening, akin to what the author's girlfriend was doing. (Also, she sounds like a cool person! As does the author.) The parallels between virtual gardening and physical gardening became a lot more viscerally true for me once I experienced physical gardening. Here's my mini-story. SF has a bunch of community gardens but the waitlist for getting your own plot is comically long. 2-3 years. However, the community garden near me has a bunch of apple trees that are volunteer-maintained. I figured that would be a good way to scratch my gardening itch in the meantime. It's been great! The project leader has taught me a lot about maintaining trees. And I've really learned that weeding is a lifelong commitment. They will always come back, and it's a lot easier if you go out there regularly and pull up the small roots. Obvious, and I'm sure you've heard this idea before, but going through this personally with physical gardening really drives home the wisdom of this trite idea. I got lazy this winter due to all the storms and didn't go out there for a couple of months. There are FEET of weeds now. I've taken out 3 wheelbarrows of weeds and am still not done. Ironically I am not that great at keeping on virtual weeding either (fixing bugs regularly). But when I am out there weeding I have literally thought to myself a few times: "I really need to stay on top of my issues..." Also, there is a very interesting lesson to ponder through physical weeding: you do it because those weeds will compete with your tree for resources. Your tree grows less when there's weeds around it. Literal bugs will thrive in the weeds and eventually make their way up to your tree and damage your tree. I know that the makings are there for another visceral lesson but I don't quite feel that one deep in my bones yet... I guess I've been lucky to not have to work on projects with suffocating tech debt...

preommr 4y ago
My foray into gardening turned into an engineering project. Figuring out the amount of sunlight an area gets, being able to mointor ph/moisture, drip irrigation, foldable greenhouse covers, proper tools to make tilling the soil and laying down a solid weed barrier, etc. It got to be too time consuming, expensive and doing it any other way seemed demoralizing. During that time, a lot of gadgets have come out that make those things easier. I am pretty happy that I spent my time enjoying other things and can come back to it now if I wanted to with the efficiency I wanted before.
- tectec 4y ago
  Gardening doesn’t have to be that intense. I grow a reasonably productive 12x20 garden, just by guessing. And I’m not a natural.
- danybittel 4y ago
  I learned gardening from my dad and he'se the pure opposite of an engineer. What he does, he goes through the garden, does a bit here and a bit there. If he sees a plant he likes, he makes space for it, if he doesn't like something, he cut's it down. Occasionally he brings new plants (some from other peoples trash).. or tries new things. If it works, he does more of it, if it doesn't work, it's usually just in a small patch. He doesn't really do any planning. This way.. over the years, he has a massive and healthy garden. Very diverse, lot's of insects, flowers, fruits, berries... He never uses pest control either. The lesson, "Don't fight forces, use them".
  - marmakoide 4y ago
    After a few years trying to maintain a 80's like lawn without pest and weed control (2nd hand home, previous owner), I learned the way of your dad : I just remove things I don't like, favor what I like. My garden is not the 80's picture perfect lawn anymore. It looks like a pretty prairie now, with poppies and all sort of other local wild flowers. It burns in August, it is self regenerated by October. No need for watering. Bees are coming, my kids discover all sort of insects we didn't see when we moved in.
    - paulryanrogers 4y ago
      What does "burns in August" mean? Do you light it on fire?
adasdasdas 4y ago
You should check out spark social, I have a plot there and it gets great sunlight. It's a little pricy, but what isn't in sf

preommr 4y ago

My foray into gardening turned into an engineering project. Figuring out the amount of sunlight an area gets, being able to mointor ph/moisture, drip irrigation, foldable greenhouse covers, proper tools to make tilling the soil and laying down a solid weed barrier, etc. It got to be too time consuming, expensive and doing it any other way seemed demoralizing. During that time, a lot of gadgets have come out that make those things easier. I am pretty happy that I spent my time enjoying other things and can come back to it now if I wanted to with the efficiency I wanted before.

tectec 4y ago
Gardening doesn’t have to be that intense. I grow a reasonably productive 12x20 garden, just by guessing. And I’m not a natural.
danybittel 4y ago
I learned gardening from my dad and he'se the pure opposite of an engineer. What he does, he goes through the garden, does a bit here and a bit there. If he sees a plant he likes, he makes space for it, if he doesn't like something, he cut's it down. Occasionally he brings new plants (some from other peoples trash).. or tries new things. If it works, he does more of it, if it doesn't work, it's usually just in a small patch. He doesn't really do any planning. This way.. over the years, he has a massive and healthy garden. Very diverse, lot's of insects, flowers, fruits, berries... He never uses pest control either. The lesson, "Don't fight forces, use them".
- marmakoide 4y ago
  After a few years trying to maintain a 80's like lawn without pest and weed control (2nd hand home, previous owner), I learned the way of your dad : I just remove things I don't like, favor what I like. My garden is not the 80's picture perfect lawn anymore. It looks like a pretty prairie now, with poppies and all sort of other local wild flowers. It burns in August, it is self regenerated by October. No need for watering. Bees are coming, my kids discover all sort of insects we didn't see when we moved in.
  - paulryanrogers 4y ago
    What does "burns in August" mean? Do you light it on fire?

adasdasdas 4y ago

You should check out spark social, I have a plot there and it gets great sunlight. It's a little pricy, but what isn't in sf