Two weeks ago my neighbor Kevin was kind enough to guide me through the process of converting a fairly sizable portion of my back yard into a garden. He even gave me all the plants out of his own yard. Such a generous fellow.
It has been such a joy to turn the patch of grass and weeds and dirt into a nicely crafted bed of shade-loving plants with a little pebble pathway running through it. We even installed a crazy cool misting system that waters the plants on a timer each morning.
As I was adding mulch to the beds today, it occurred to me that gardening is a lot like designing user interfaces for the web, only dirtier and more physically demanding.
OK, I'll bite -- how, exactly, is it like creating web ui's?
Gardening is a lot like everything in life . . . you look at what you have, shift things around, add, rearrange, delete, and watch as external forces (nature, dogs, kids) create impact. Some good, some bad; some easily anticipated, others not. The process can be art or science. Poetry or prose. Hobby or addiction. The end result? Life, death, endurance. And with any luck, a measure of beauty.
cdj -- what Diane said.
Diane, I couldn't have said it better myself.