To garden or not to garden

This year I chose not to garden; after a couple debacles with the dog in the backyard -- see my post about one incident -- I had already determined that buying plants for the back was a waste of money. I did transplant a giant overgrown sedum to the front yard, to save my dog from her fetish for snapping at stinging insects because flowering sedum really attracts bees.
I also shared some overgrown plants with a friend, and I trimmed back the overly enthusiastic grapevine once or twice, but now I've given up. Maybe it's just too hot this week, or maybe I'm sick of trying to rewind the water hose that bends the opposite way no matter which way I turn or twist it, or maybe I'm just supremely lazy (likely that option), but this summer I had no real desire to excavate an area and try a new planting. I have many perennials that are doing all right, so they've filled in the available areas. If I had wanted to garden this year, I would have had to dig out an area covered in thick knotted grass, and I must be the weakest person in Canada, because excavating one little spot takes me all afternoon. I saved some money with my lack of interest in gardening this year, but I do sort of miss the adventure of picking something at the garden gallery store, planting it and tending it and watching what it turns into ... or watching it get shredded by the dog or eaten by slugs. Yes, I made the right choice this year; now, I just have to accept that choice and move on.
One thing I did learn this year, while tending my perennials, is that I must remind myself while doing a clipping project or weeding, or watering, or raking, or trimming, that I must leave energy for the cleanup part of the project. That has been an important lesson for me; not leaving detritus from a project lying around is crucial for my self-respect. Last fall I clipped a huge section of the grapevine away from the fence, and was so exhausted that I left the pile of vines in the middle of the yard until snow fell; then I was too darn lazy to pick them up and try to bind them and tie them into a manageable bale. Luckily, my long-suffering husband helped me with them this spring and a helpful neighbour took them to the transfer station in his truck for us. He's so nice! That pile of vines and its six-month sojourn in my backyard was an important lesson for me: I remembered it every time I started a project, and I have not left a pile behind yet this year. Yet, I say "yet" because I'm sure if I get any crazy ideas about working in the garden in this heat that I'll run out of gas and leave another mound of weeds or clippings lying about until the temperature changes.

A friend's vegetable garden makes me yearn to be ambitious, and hearing my parents talk about their wondrous food-growing landscape in their backyard almost inspires me to try something modest; but I remember the dog and my absence of fence-building ability, and my general lack of wanting to work hard at anything lately, and I resign myself to begging for excess zucchini or tomatoes from people I know who have gardens. I did that today, actually, while talking to someone about her garden, maybe that conversation will bear fruit/veg. Just call me the punster.