A very common reaction I get when people first see my garden is, “wow, isn’t that an awful lot of work?” They say this partly in admiration, but there’s an undertone of criticism sometimes– yeah you’ve got a gorgeous garden, but look what you have to do to get it.
I’ve been trying to imagine someone with a hobby or a livelihood that isn’t “a lot of work.” Do you jog or work out? Sing in a choir? Tutor on the weekends?
Wow, isn’t that an awful lot of work?
First of all, if I didn’t do a lot of work, it wouldn’t look like it does. Secondly, I enjoy it, and sometimes I get paid for it. I don’t really think of it as “work.” I think of it as something I need to do to get the result I want– a beautiful garden, personal satisfaction, admiration, food.
Having grown up on the Puritan east coast, I am more suspicious of someone who doesn’t have a hobby or beloved activity that isn’t a lot of work. Whether it’s cooking meals for your family, or the homeless, tutoring your kids or others’, jogging to stay thin or teaching yoga so others can do so, the “work” we do by our own choice and on our own time is not just physical labor or drudgery, even when it is. It’s what keeps our spirits healthy and the holy close.
Most of us spend hours and hours doing “work” that brings us only pay, and not fulfillment, or fun, or well-being.
I like to lie on the beach as much as the next guy.
Okay, no I don’t. But I like to read, and shop, and go hiking; have drinks with a friend or toss a ball to a dog, or just sit on the porch and admire a flower. But I also like to “work”–to sweat and labor for something wonderful.
So yes, it’s a lot of work. Join me sometime.
Not Dabbling In Normal 
Yes it’s a lot of work, but oh the rewards!!! We just started picking our fresh shelling peas this week. People that complain a garden is too much work have never had my wife’s cream peas and potatoes recipe made with peas and potatoes that came fresh from the garden only a few hours before! To die for! And it makes all the work worth it!
I enjoy sewing. Sure, I can get clothes made by someone else, and often do. But the time I spend in my sewing room is more precious to me than anything I have ever found in a store.
I do get asked sometimes how long it takes to take care of my garden. It really isn’t that long. But it does take constant care. If I let it go then I’ll be spending hours and hours on it to make up for it. But I’ve never ever had anyone criticize it even obliquely. Most people are wildly enthusiastic. Though some are just oblivious.
I admire someone who is able to garden. I have always wanted to, but I have no experience with it and so I am intimidated by it.
TC, I’m a little humbled by this reply! I too am intimidated by things that look like a lot of work. But I hope that I honor the work and the skill, and don’t slip into tropes that seem to denigrate it. Of course what I want to know now is what fabulous thing you do that I would find intimidating!