Feeling and Think Maine is Lacking Gardens? Mainers Explain Why
One of the best parts of the spring and warmer weather rolling in is seeing everything bloom around us -- the trees seem to get life back to them instead of looking brittle, bare, and frail. Plants and flowers develop buds and seemingly overnight, start to bloom.
It's also a great time (and provides a great reason to get off the couch and get outside) to get in the garden and start planting whatever your heart desires. At least, it seems like it used to be. It's still popular with some, but one Reddit user, joeydokes, noticed that it seemed like there wasn't much evidence of garden beds in Mainers yards lately.
Now, joeydokes mentions in his post that we're still a couple of weeks out from getting our vegetable gardens going. However, according to the University of Maine, when it comes to vegetable gardens and when to plant, it depends exactly what you're looking to plant for veggies that determines when the best time to pull the trigger on them is.
For example, broccoli and cabbage are good to be planted in early spring as soon as the ground is good to be worked on, and seeds for veggies like lettuce, onions, peas, radish, spinach and turnip to be dropped. So technically, since we're in about mid-spring, we're not too early to start planting veggies.
That said, Mainers responded to joeydokes on exactly why there seem to be fewer garden beds around Maine homes than you'd expect, and it has nothing to do with the time of year it is.
"I was a professional gardener for many years. I don't make a ton of money and I work at a physically and more importantly mentally demanding job now. When you are poor, time is very much money and frankly, it is exhausting enough to live in poverty." - Reddit user particularBillarina
"I grew up somewhere in Southern Maine on the coast that had excellent natural soil. We "easily" had great tomatoes, cukes, etc. When my folks moved across town more inland, they were beset by *expletive*, sandy soil and after an attempt in year 1, never grew a garden again. On top of the soil, people (like my folks) get tired. They work hard and sometimes don't want to put in more effort on a struggling project when Hannaford is 20 mins away." - Reddit user lintymcfresh
"I have 14 raised beds and it was expensive to get them started due to the bad soil at my house. I think it could be a tough financial investment for a lot of people." - Reddit user mainelyreddit
So, to answer joeydokes question, it seems like it's a mixture of exhaustion from everyday life/everyday work, working with terrible soil, and money. Do you have a garden at your home? Better yet -- did you have a garden at your home but gave up on it? How come?