Hubba, hubba

Recently, I was asked to write a short article on gardening. I could choose the topic but was urged to make it something I am passionate about. I said “no problem” and promptly went into Procrastination Mode. Less than a week before the deadline, I still had no idea what I was going to write about. Two days before the deadline, I had a topic, theme gardens, but still no clear idea of what I was going to write. The night before the article was due, I sat down at my computer with only the vaguest idea of how I wanted to approach my topic.

I seem to work best under pressure. Once I started typing, the words just flowed. It was fun. Unlike college where I had to struggle to fulfill page requirements, I found myself having to condense what I wanted to say to stay within the allotted word count. After I finished and submitted it, I was left feeling very dissatisfied.

Looking at my article, I realized that I had the makings of one very long article or several shorter ones. Either way, I felt a need to do a re-write and publish the results. But where? Not on my blog. I’m trying to keep this as a garden journal. Not the Master Gardener newsletter. The head of the program has an entire talk on the subject of theme gardens*.

I put the whole project on the backburner, sure that the answer would come to me at the proper moment and got busy with other projects like stripping wallpaper in my bathroom. I was right. It finally occurred to me that I had signed up with HubPages about a year ago, but never did anything with it. It’s the perfect place for me to publish my writings. I got out my article and re-worked part of it into a short, punchy Hub, How to Create a Theme Garden.

Drop by and let me know what you think. I’m already hard at work on another article, with plans for more on specific kinds of theme gardens. After that, who knows? I’m sure I’ll think of something while stripping wallpaper or painting walls.


*Her talk is about using themes in herb gardens. My article talks about the steps I take in creating themed flower beds. No plagiarism is involved.