Met two gardeners at the same plot - one planned everything, one just went with the flow

I was helping at a community garden in Portland and noticed two old timers with totally different styles. One mapped out every square inch of his plot with a ruler ahead of time, the other just threw seeds in the ground and let nature sort it out. Which approach actually yields more over a season?

3 comments

3 Comments

sam_thomas16d ago

Wait, did you say he actually used a ruler? Like, a literal measuring stick out in the dirt? That seems a little much, even for a planner. I've been gardening for thirty years and I've never seen anyone pull out a ruler unless they were building a raised bed. I get having a layout in your head, but marking soil like it's a blueprint just feels like you're fighting the whole point of growing things. Nature's gonna do what it wants anyway, ruler or no ruler.

finleym4325d ago

Guess the ruler guy's salad tastes like spreadsheets.

john65024d ago

Spreadsheets"... that's pretty good actually. I guess my salad would have a lot of numbers and maybe some dollar signs sprinkled on top like croutons. I bet the dressing would be a mix of regret and caffeine, ha. Pretty accurate description of how my day's going, honestly.