SOL 26- Plants

          Plants are horrendously expensive. Today, my family went plant shopping for vegetables, herbs, and flowers to plant in our backyard. We got carrots, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, citronella, thyme, mint, basil, peonies, etc. We always plant a ton of plants, end up with way too many zucchinis to do anything with, and then, in the end, let all of the plants die off. This year, we decided to get, and focus on, herbs. We are trying to actually use what we grow this year and what better way to do that than plant a bunch of plants that you use microscopic portions of each time you cook with them? In all seriousness, I love gardening in the summer because you can actually eat what you produce. The best time is late summer because everything is fresh and blooming, ready to be eaten.
          On a different note, I hate annuals. You pay three dollars for a pack, they bloom for two months, and then they die. The next year the cycle repeats itself. I have always understood buying perennials, because they come back every year. I guess I understand buying annuals for their beauty and appeal, but, at the same time, it is kind of obnoxious that the world is in such a vicious cycle. I know that I can not blame the plants for the way they live, but it would be really nice if they could just all become perennials so people would not have to make quite as many yearly Home Depot trips.
          Planting, on the other hand, is one of my favorite parts  of the entire process of gardening. It is so cool to me to be able to take a group of plant smashed together in  plastic rectangles and rearrange them into freestanding, aesthetically pleasing garden arrangements. It is a very enjoyable art form. It is actually really interesting to look into how certain plants do next to each other and what the overall life cycle looks like. The worst part of gardening is the upkeep. It would be so much easier if you could just plant a plant and let it grow and bloom on its own. Sadly, you have to water it everyday, make sure it gets the right amount of sun, yada, yada. This is a massive pain if you are the kind of person, like myself, who prefers to plant something and let nature take its course. I already have too much to worry about in terms of homework without having watering a garden on top of that. Anyhow, I really like gardening and the entire process of livening up sad looking, tightly packed flowers.