8 ways gardening is harder than pregnancy

Guest post by Shelly
#The Great Offbeat Outdoors#gardening

9th MonthIt came to me after we found a power tiller in our shed, declared it not functional after more bloodshed than I care to admit, and found myself tilling the garden with an ax: gardening is a lot like pregnancy. But harder.

Now, I’ve only had one pregnancy, and it was an accident resulting in an amazing adoption story. However, as I looked over my garden, heart alight with its possibilities, I realized this garden has already been a lot more difficult than my pregnancy.

Why?

  1. I had to set the stage for my garden. I planned, cleared top soil, tilled, planted seeds, and fertilized. With my pregnancy, the only thing I consciously did was… till?
  2. While pregnant, my body gave in-your-face clues about the nutrients it needed. With the garden, I research endlessly and hope I’m not getting bad advice, reading it wrong, or confusing the plants.
  3. I’ve bled a lot for this garden without the benefit of people giving me drugs and telling me what to do.
  4. I wasn’t allergic to most of the things pregnancy involved. With the gardening, it turns out that I am allergic to just about everything that produces pollen in the spring.
  5. Pregnancy doesn’t generally involve a lot of insects. And it definitely doesn’t involve birds eating everything before you can enjoy it.
  6. If you forget a prenatal vitamin for a couple days, it’s not cause for concern. If you forget to water for a couple days, you could lose all that hard work.
  7. No one is sympathetic to your gardening aches and pains, but it’s easy to be sweet to the pregnant lady.
  8. Pregnancy doesn’t require getting out of bed early (except to pee, then you can go back) or changing out of your pajamas.

At the end of the season, though, I can only hope my garden has brought me a tenth of the joy I got from giving birth.

Guest Post By: Shelly

Shelly is a female in her twenty-sixth year. She lives in the mountains east of Albuquerque, NM, with her husband, her brother, an Irsih wolfhound/German shepherd named Zulu and two cats. They have a garden, a great view, and are excited for the many projects life may bring.

Comments on 8 ways gardening is harder than pregnancy

  3. If you’re allergic to everything, you might want to check out “Allergy-Free Gardening” by Thomas Leo Ogren. It ranks lots of common and not-so-common garden and houseplants on a 1-to-10 scale based on their allergy potential.

    http://www.amazon.com/Allergy-Free-Gardening-Revolutionary-Healthy-Landscaping/dp/1580081665/

    We’re in the middle of planting a low-allergy (almost all 4 or below) low-water-use native plant garden to help with my husband’s allergies to grass and tree pollen. It’s a lot of work, but better than mowing the lawn!

    • Thanks for the link! Unfortunately, my biggest allergy is juniper pollen and we are surrounded by junipers. This spring has been particularly bad, the wind blows and you can watch the pollen launch itself in clouds.

  5. This is a pointless comparison. It also sounds like you had a pretty easy pregnancy. How about this: Gardening doesn’t involve daily vomiting for 8.5 months solid.

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