In the beginning....

God almighty planted a garden.  And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures.

'Of Gardens'  Essays of Francis Bacon

Oh, what pleasure indeed our gardens are to us (most of the time).  They certainly are to me on a very early summer morning with my first cup of coffee as I relax in my wicker rocker gazing at the first streams of sunlight hitting the garden plants.

However, as I begin my blogging experience, the ground outside is covered with almost two feet of accumulated snow and ice that has fallen since the beginning of the year.

But as anyone who gardens knows, the winter is the best time to reflect on our little patch of earth, when the yearning and stirrings of another garden season looms before us.  There is much pleasure during the cold, snowy days of January and February reading books, gazing at magazines, searching websites and pouring through seed catalogues.  We pause and reflect on our garden as ideas pass through our fingers and in front of our eyes.

Why blog?  I have been working in and learning about gardens for over twenty years and my interest in the various facets of gardening continues to grow each year.

Having an early interest in environmental science and natural resource protection, I am keen on learning more about being good garden stewards in order to respect life around us and underneath us.

Having a busy life (as most of us do) with family and work obligations, I am always trying to discover labor-saving garden techniques.

Having been introduced to the field of entomology not so long ago, I am awestruck by the role that insects play on the many aspects of our lives - particularly in our gardens, above and below the ground.  I worry that we spend more time and money eradicating them rather then understanding their vast importance.

Having an educational background in community planning, I am interested in the history of surburban development in the last century, and how the economy, politics and fashion trends are intertwined in our landscapes and neighborhoods.

And having delved a little into the history of gardening in the US, I am fascinated by the body of gardening knowledge that has existed for centuries...and dismayed over how much appears to have been lost over the generations.  It would seem that we can learn as much from paging through an old, dusty garden book as we can fingering our computer keys doing a google search.  Of particular interest to me is researching pre-1950's garden methods, when "sustainable" gardening wasn't so much a buzz word but a necessary way of life in an era of limited resources, shipping and travel.

And so I begin.  In the months to come, I hope to cover these topics in various forms and hope that sharing my knowledge will somehow add a little bit of pleasure to your garden experience.