In Praise of Laziness
"Good mathematicians are basically lazy." —Monica Fleischauer
So said my Calculus II teacher, Mrs. Fleischauer. I think she meant that good mathematicians don’t make extra work for themselves. It sounds obvious, but look around at how many people who make work. How many people work long hours at prestigious but crummy jobs for a little status? How many people can't say no to anyone? But since make-work in the garden won’t give you status or make you popular, it shouldn’t be hard to give up. Here are a few chores you can scuttle:
Regular spray program. The best rose growers I know never spray. One of the blessings of living in the arid West is freedom from the bugs and diseases that bedevil plants in the Midwest and South. If you have some plants that are prone to certain diseases, and you don’t want to give them up, spray them as needed.
Heeling in bare-root plants. This is where you plant bare root plants in a trench if it’s too early to...plant your bare root plants. If the ground is soft enough to heel in, why not just plant your bare-root plants? If it’s too early, why did you have them shipped so soon?
Pruning with surgical precision. This isn’t too time-consuming if you prune just a few plants. But do you think that the caretakers of big gardens do this?
Regularly fertilizing native plants, or those very well-suited to your soil and climate. Think about it.
So said my Calculus II teacher, Mrs. Fleischauer. I think she meant that good mathematicians don’t make extra work for themselves. It sounds obvious, but look around at how many people who make work. How many people work long hours at prestigious but crummy jobs for a little status? How many people can't say no to anyone? But since make-work in the garden won’t give you status or make you popular, it shouldn’t be hard to give up. Here are a few chores you can scuttle:
Regular spray program. The best rose growers I know never spray. One of the blessings of living in the arid West is freedom from the bugs and diseases that bedevil plants in the Midwest and South. If you have some plants that are prone to certain diseases, and you don’t want to give them up, spray them as needed.
Heeling in bare-root plants. This is where you plant bare root plants in a trench if it’s too early to...plant your bare root plants. If the ground is soft enough to heel in, why not just plant your bare-root plants? If it’s too early, why did you have them shipped so soon?
Pruning with surgical precision. This isn’t too time-consuming if you prune just a few plants. But do you think that the caretakers of big gardens do this?
Regularly fertilizing native plants, or those very well-suited to your soil and climate. Think about it.
posted by Lori Miller at 7:42 PM
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