Be pleased with your real garden, don't persue the perfection of a picture. What you see in a photo lasted only as long as the shutter snap.

Silly gardeners! We buy pretty, comfortable benches and position them oh so carefully. But does the gardener ever sit? No! We perch momentarily and then jump up to do that next thing we see.

If someone says "You're not doing that right," hand him the shovel, sit and watch. That's the right way to garden.

The very best garden is a new one, on virgin ground. Plants leap out of that spot.

Gardeners do first, read later. Why not? Plants are very gracious in accepting an apology.

You don't know the plant until you've killed it. Then you've learned something.

Take care with manufactured chemicals, certainly. Your safety and long term health are more important than anything. Yet don't forget that if you grow even a dozen different plants, you are surrounded by chemistry. Inside their cells even the most ordinary plants creates potent fungicides, insecticides, irritants, balms, hallucinogens, sedatives, nerve toxins, cell repair stimulants, lures, repellents... you name it. Treat all plants with respect!