Category: Thoughts and Musings

Being a master gardener is hard work. You spend all day outdoors in your garden digging holes and cutting branches and twigs or the lawn. You also need to weed and fertilize and move around a lot of heavy dirt in a wheelbarrow. It is manual labor and there’s lots of it to do if you’re attending to your garden. But you love doing it, because you love your garden. You definitely need a way to relax after gardening, however.

My favorite new way to do this is my hammock. I recently bought myself a gorgeous Mayan hammock from a website called Hammocked. I’m sure there are many similar sites, but I really like this one, because they help you find the perfect hammock for you and guide you all throughout the process of buying hammock.

That kind of guidance was especially important for me, because I had no idea what kind of hammock to get. When I first got the idea in my head that I would put up a hammock in my garden, so that I can relax after the hard work but still be out in the garden while I’m relaxing, in other words to enjoy my hard work right out there among it, I pictured myself in what is called a rope hammock.

I also wanted a calm place to practice my singing. I recently got a new microphone, which I use to work on my vocals. The hammock is the perfect place for light singing practice with my new mic. I basically do my vocal warm-ups lying down, before getting up for some real singing practice.

The rope hammock is what most of us imagine when we think of a hammock. It is one of those things you seen with the ropes tied together. You’ve probably been in one and that it’s a nice for a little bit. But after a while these things get pretty uncomfortable. I thought that was a drawback of hammock in general. That you enjoyed them for a while, then you get out, because they become uncomfortable.

It turns out that is not true at all. Hammocks are insanely comfortable for a very long period of time. I even learned that the ancient Mayans slept in the hammock and many people still do the same in South America. It seems they go camping in hammocks and travelers travel with them. They use different styles of hammocks for this, of course. The rope hammock just wouldn’t do.

The parachute hammock is one of the more popular ones, because it is sturdy, comfortable and cheap. But it is not as comfortable as the South American hammocks. Among them, the Mayan hammock caught my eye, because it has a loose weave.

This means it is a lot cooler to lie in that other hammocks, which is exactly what I want in the summer months. I want to enjoy the breeze as I’m swinging between my trees and my garden. In the winter months, I’ll move it inside and swing there. And I don’t care how warm my hammock is, I’m not hanging out in subzero temperatures.

Now I know a lot of you have only an indoor garden. You’re probably thinking does it make sense to get a hammock for an indoor garden? Of course it does!

Your indoor garden is beautiful too, right? Why not get a hammock and enjoy it

In fact, with your indoor garden, you can enjoy it all year round. It doesn’t matter how cold it gets outside, you can still be comfortable in your hammock indoors. It might not be as nice and the warm months, when a grow light obviously can’t quite replace the sun, but the rest the time it is even better.

In fact, now that I have my hammock, I can wholeheartedly recommend one for anyone. Even if you don’t have a garden or balcony or really any space to hang it all, get yourself a hammock. You can always find the space to hang it.

And don’t worry about people stealing it. If it’s in your indoor garden, you should have a security system set up anyway. Keep your surveillance cameras watching every entrance to the greenhouse and your equipment and hammock will stay safe and secure.

You can hang it up under the ceiling or somewhere in your place. I have friends that have small apartments and have recommended them getting a hammock. They’ve hung it up between two walls in the corner of a room and they absolutely love it. Most use it for quick naps in the afternoon and I have to say, that is been one of my favorite uses too. Get a hammock, it will change your life.

Today, you know me as a master gardener. You also know me as someone who consults people on their gardens and helps them choose the best style, the best layout, the best plants and the best methods to use. I’m a gardening consultant and I am very good at what I do. More than that, I absolutely love what I do. It is the best job in the world and I would never want to do anything else. But how did I get here? Did I always want to be a gardener?

The answer to that last question is no. When I was young, I wanted to be a princess. Because, of course I did. I also wanted to be a ballerina and a singer and dancer and basically any other typical job the little girls aspire to.

Once I got a little bit older, I really wanted to be a banker. Specifically, I wanted to be a bank teller. Yes, I know. Aiming high, right? But whenever I went to the bank with my mom and I saw the teller, I just thought it looked like such a cool job. I’m really glad I changed my mind on that one. I would’ve been extremely bored with that.

When I was in junior high, we moved to a new location and to a new house that my parents bought on a fairly large piece of property. I guess it wasn’t that large, but it was larger than anywhere we live before and that meant that my mom could garden.

She always enjoyed gardening, since she grew up on a farm. Farming was simply in her blood and whenever we visited her family, I got a small taste of that. I always enjoyed it, but never considered it beyond that. However, now that my mom started gardening at our new home, I occasionally helped her out. And I really loved it.

I love the you’re actually helping life grow. You plant the seed and many years later you have a tree that gives you apples. It’s just an amazing feeling and so much fun to do. It does take a long time, which is a little bit frustrating at times, but you can also just buy trees that are already grown. During this time, my mom became a master gardener. She did more as a hobby than anything else. She loved doing it to relax.

For me, though, watching her get her master gardener certificate and watching her garden and, more than that, helping her in her garden, left a lasting impression on me. It was then that I decided that I want to do something in the field of gardening. When I was in high school, I got a summer job at a gardening store. I continued this throughout college to help pay for school.

In college I studied botany, figuring it was the closest degree to gardening. It was far more scientific than I wanted, though. I enjoyed working in the garden using my hands. I do not care too much about studying plants. I just want to grow them. Nevertheless, that degree allowed me to get jobs that eventually led to me becoming a consultant. Once I was a consultant, I also got my master gardener certificate. As mentioned before, that helped me in that I could now charge a lot more for my services. It also meant that I was finally where I wanted to be in life.

I have decided to write a quick little post to clear up a question I get asked all the time. That question is: what is a master gardener? Many people think it is someone who has gotten a Masters degree in gardening. This is sort of true, but not quite.

A master gardener has studied the subject of gardening extensively and has received a certificate qualifying him or her as a master gardener. But this is not the same as a Masters degree for other subjects. The certificate does state that the holder has extensive in-depth knowledge on all things gardening. It is often required for a lot of commercial gardening jobs. It is also a good thing to have if you do freelance work, which is what I do.

Ever since I’ve gotten my master gardening certificate, I have been able to charge much more for my consulting work. This is work where I help people plan their gardens and then execute those plans. I consult with them on what exactly they want to grow, how much work they want to put in, what the situation is with the local climate, etc. Basically, I help them plan every aspect of their garden. Then I usually help them execute that plan. I do this for indoor gardens as well.

I introduced them to contractors who can do everything for them or I show them what they need to do themselves. Usually for small gardens, people like to do the work themselves, but for larger commercial gardens, they obviously don’t. Companies and the like usually hire a landscaping firm. I know a lot of these and I can always give them good deals. This is another way I help.

I do get a lot of friends who always want me to help them with their gardens and I never know what to do. I know other professionals have the same issue. Doctors get asked a lot of medical advice, but if you spend all day giving people advice, you don’t want to do in your free time as well. Especially not without getting paid.

The same goes for me. I hate giving out gardening advice or helping my friends and family with their gardens. That sounds selfish, but think about it. I spend so much time doing this all day long that I don’t want to do more of it. Plus people pay me a lot of money. I could take more jobs in my free time and make much more money, but I choose not to, because I want to do other things with my free time. So, when people asked me to help them with their gardens, they are basically asking to steal my time. It is kind of rude.

So if you have a master gardener in your family, please don’t do this to them. Acknowledge that they worked hard to get their certificate and that they work hard to make money with it. They do not want to dispense free advice all day long, no matter how close your relationship. They wouldn’t do that to you with your job, would they? Okay, if the answer to that is yes, then you are fully justified in doing the same to them. But in my case the answer is no, so please stop asking me, friends and family. I would like to remain friends, after all.