WESTPORT — The leaves are falling and the squirrels are gathering food for the winter months ahead. We are looking forward to baking and roasting odors permeating from the kitchen. But wait! This is also the start of a new gardening cycle. Bet you thought that you could just put your feet up and rest for six months. If you witnessed your neighbors’ gardens flourishing this past summer and always dreamed of having one of your own – now is the time to begin and hear the call.

Beware; this endeavor is not for the faint of heart. Much preparatory work must be done prior to following the primal call of gardening. The first decision relates to the approach you want to take. We will start with the three most practiced methodologies. This will not be an easy choice to make!

The first is the one where you enlist the services of a professional landscape designer. This is the antiseptic gardening method. Your hands will never get dirty, your fingernails will maintain that professional look, and your back will never ache. Only two tools are needed for this method — the phone book and a healthy checking account. You will have a successful garden, but could be missing out on all the fun.

The second approach is the dirty method of gardening. In this approach, in early spring you will bring yourself and your truck to a big box store. Back the truck up to the garden center loading zone and fill it with inorganic soil containing every pollutant known to mankind and maybe a few others that haven’t been catalogued yet Next, buy all the insecticides, herbicides and pesticides available. On your way home, please stop at your local pharmacy to pick up a supply of sterile gloves and breathing masks; this will enable you to till the soil without requiring the services of the emergency room.

Once your soil is prepared you can go back to the same store to pick out your plants. I caution you once again, if you have any motherly instincts please leave them home; otherwise you may be tempted to purchase the weak, the depressed and the sickly stock to nurture back to health. I warned you this would not be easy! All you have to do now is to dig a little hole, drop the spindly little plant that you still insisted on buying, because you are a mother and can cure and nurse anything back to health. So there!

Now water the little, almost green things and let the chemicals, insecticides, and herbicides do their job. Just be prepared to wear your gloves and a mask whenever you visit your little infirmary and warn your children to do the same. Oh, and keep your pets away from the area. Good luck with the outcome and your health.

The third method and the one I subscribe to is the down and dirty method. With this practice, you will have the fun of gardening throughout the four seasons. The growing season starts in the fall with the bountiful supply of free fertilizer, in the form of leaves, provided by Mother Nature. These can be raked up in a pile somewhere out of sight and left to decompose in the sweetest smelling, healthiest manner. To accomplish this you need a rake and a strong back; as an added benefit your back will get stronger in the process. So, proceed slowly, a little bit at a time until your body learns to enjoy it. Another side benefit will be the smells and the sounds of nature you perhaps have not been aware of since you were a child. Also in using this method you don’t have to wear a mask. Once you have your huge pile of leaves raked up, the next step is to jump in it with the complete abandon of your inner child! Just one little word of caution here: if you have a dog you may want to be sure that his contribution of fertilizer is not found in your leaf pile. Now didn’t that just feel great and didn’t those leaves smell good! When was the last time you got up close enough to really smell the leaves? To hasten the decomposition of your leaf pile, this suggestion is for the serious gardener, you could opt to purchase a chipper-shredder. It also reduces the pile to a fraction of its size.

The winter gardening phase is when you start planning the garden you’ll be playing in when the springtime arrives. Feeding the leaf pile is another activity done in the winter. All uncooked vegetable scraps can be added to the pile, no bread or meats. The only tool needed here is a container to carry out the compost additives and of course, someone to bring it and dig it into the pile. Rain and snowmelt will get the miracle of digestion going on with the result being black gold. Please be aware, it may take longer than a couple of months before you can use your compost. You will know it is ready when it turns black and smells sweet. There will be no trace of the scraps you have added. Usually two piles are in process at one time. One that is fully composted and ready to use and the other is a work in progress. Plants love this; it is their Flintstone vitamin.

So, now in-between your walks to the compost area you will have a lot of free time to plan your new garden or improve your existing one. One writing instructor stated: “the writing process involves ‘thinking, reading and writing’ and repeating the cycle until a plan develops.” The same principle applies to gardening. Think about where you want your new garden. Read gardening magazines to help you develop a mental picture of what you want to see there. Write a plant list for reference when you go nursery shopping in the spring. If you really are serious, you can develop a plot plan of the area. This will help you to visualize what your garden will look like and then you can better work out the colors and arrangements before purchasing your little darlings. Be sure to keep the size of the plants in mind in order to create a harmonious effect. You will be creating your own visual art masterpiece, maybe one that will rival Claude Monet’s.

Finally, spring has arrived and this is the real down and dirty part. This is where you become a child again for the second time. You get to play in the dirt! Hopefully you exercised during the winter to get your muscles in shape for what lies ahead. My choice is weight lifting at least 40 pounds for the upper body; this allows me to lift the bags of cow manure without needing assistance. Early spring is the heavy gardening time when the new bed you planned during the winter becomes a reality. Some of the tools needed at this stage are: pitchfork, shovel, pruning shears, hand cultivator, hoe (optional) and a wheelbarrow. Depending if one is available, a spouse is always a useful addition to the process.

The first step is to clear the area of grass, weeds, and stones. Once done, you are now ready to add the beautiful compost you created during the winter. You could add granulated lime to the soil to ensure that the leaves, if not fully composted, do not rob the soil of nitrogen and other nutrients. This is the stage where you get on your knees and put your hands into the soil. It is like baking bread, the hands know if the dough has been kneaded enough and ready for baking. So the hands know if the soil is loose enough and ready for planting. At this point you may feel the earth move between your fingers. This is not a miracle where the earth has acknowledged your presence. No, no, it is the presence of a miracle from the earth acknowledging its presence. It is Mr. Earthworm coming out to say hello. He is a sign of healthy soil but may take getting used to. Until that event takes place you may consider purchasing a pair of gardening gloves. Big-box stores are ok for this purchase.

When the soil has warmed up a bit, usually around late April to late May, that wonderful moment has arrived; it is planting time! For this stage, the only additional tools you will need are a garden hose and a watering pail. Once again, a word of caution, resist the urge to purchase seeds. The temptation is overwhelming; I do it every year, but the end results could be very disappointing and cause you to give up gardening altogether. Take thee to the nearest reputable local nursery. Here you will find quality annuals, perennials and shrubs that you have chosen for your plan from the winter gardening phase. As a reminder, an annual plant is one that needs to be replanted annually because it cannot endure the winter cold; a perennial is a plant that comes back every year; and a shrub usually grows to about 4 feet wide and tall. There will be disappointments but the joy of gardening will override any pitfalls you may encounter. As stated earlier, this calling is not for the faint of heart. Where else will your family members dare not interfere with what you are doing for fear of being asked to help. You will be left alone to your thoughts, to daydream and to work out all your problems. By the end of a gardening day you may realize you have no problems. This is the stage, referred to as Zen gardening, when the garden takes care of the gardener by absorbing his/her stress into the soil. This is one benefit that the first method does not provide; plus it is free therapy!

Now that you have the plants, what do you do with them? First, you dig a hole twice the size of the root ball then take the hand cultivator and loosen the soil in the hole. Next, add some cow manure and peat moss; work this into the soil so it is properly mixed. Gently place the healthy plant in the hole. Water the roots and fill the remaining space with the soil you have dug up, being careful to insure that the plant sits in the soil just a fraction of an inch lower than what it was in the pot and water well once again. You may want to make a small earth mound around the plant to hold the water in place and not allow it to run off.

Your first plant is now in the ground! Repeat the process until all your new little ‘children’ are happily tucked in. Oh, if you have not exercised until this point your body will let you know. You may need a long hot bath and some Advil or Tylenol.

Now we move into the maintenance phase of the gardening cycle; also known as the summer season. This could be a love/hate time for you. Love the look of the garden but hate the weeding process. Weeds are those lush green healthy plants that you did not buy or plant. Even though they may look better than the expensive ones you purchased, they must be removed. This can also be a Zen experience for you. You will know that it is when you find yourself humming a tune from your childhood or your dating days. You may also find yourself looking closely at a butterfly in a way that you have never experienced before and discover bugs you had no idea existed. During the next winter gardening phase, you may want to find out which bugs are your friends, which are your enemies and how to control them. This is an intoxicating time for the gardener, the annuals are in full bloom and the perfume is overwhelming.

One other bit of nurturing must take place at this time. Watering is essential during the hot summer days and the help of an organic fertilizer should be applied to keep your little perennials healthy and happy. This may be a great time to get to know your nursery person on a first name basis. He/she is the most reliable source of information you could ever hope to acquire.

Congratulations! If you have made it to this point, you are now a gardener. If you have cut a bouquet for your dining room table you are hooked. See you at next spring’s plant sale.

FAQ Section:

How can I get plants without spending a fortune?

This takes a bit of planning, but it will be worth it. Take a walk around your neighborhood when you know that the neighbor with the finest garden is outdoors. Point out the plant you covet and tell you neighbor how much you admire it. You will be given the name of the plant and may walk home with more of its offspring than you know what to do with. If this doesn’t happen, the following week take one more walk, admire the plant once again and ask where you can purchase one. If this doesn’t get you a sampling, your neighbor is not a true gardener.

My perennials have greatly multiplied. What do I do with all the extras?

Be on the look out for new gardeners asking the name of a particular plant. Make them happy and share your wealth with them.

I am finding that dogs and cats are digging in my garden and are also using this as their private toilets. How can I stop this?

I’m sure that you want to accomplish this in a humane manner. I place a few mothballs in areas that dogs and cats use my garden as a porta-potty.