Yes, lawn care requires a commitment of sorts, but it s a kind of going through the motions sort of thing. Guys are good at that. It doesn t require a lot of attention. Gardening can also fulfill our need to mark our territory, especially if that territory is a tiny eighth of an acre that s virtually indistinguishable from every other lot in the neighborhood. A little bit of sprinkling doesn t do the plants much good, but it certainly makes us feel like the alpha dog of the neighborhood.
Gardening s great for that.
We can leave piles of garbage lying around, watch them rot as worms and all sorts of creatures crawl through them . . . and call it compost. When we garden, we re allowed to dig in the dirt. We can splash water around. We can play in piles of fresh manure. We can make stacks of twigs, unroll big sheets of plastic.