Why I'm Doing This

The Spouse expressed concern last night that I was spreading myself too thin starting a second blog. Here's the way I look at it:

My first blog, which you can link to any time you like, is very important to me. It gets my creative juices flowing. It's given me a little community of imaginary friends who I read and who read me. It provides fodder for other writing projects. It gives me a chance to search Google Images. It's fun. I love my little blog and am committed to it.

But I need a proper garden journal, too. Every season I get a new notebook to write important garden things, like seed lists. I draw garden plans which are out of scale, off kilter and bear no relationship to actual reality but provide a guide anyway. Every once in a very short while I will sketch something I see in my garden. Once I drew a cornichon that almost actually looked like a cornichon. But then, eventually, I leave the journal outside, the rains come and the book becomes soggy and useless. Which is sorta was to begin with. So one reason I started this blog is because it will take up less space than a waterlogged notebook.

The other reason, the more compelling one, is that I actually do a lot of thinking when I'm in the garden. It is a good place for metaphor and introspection. But my bloggy blog is just that, bloggy. While the ocassional rumination from the garden would not be out of place there, I doubt most of my readership would give a flying figlet about my hours in the jardin. This blog is a place to put all that without forcing it on anyone. If they want to come over here and read it they can but I really doubt they'd be interested.