Today the answer was fluttering in a gentle breeze

Even before I read this blog post today, again and again I had been asking myself Why do I garden?  Actually, the specific questions were:

1) Why, from 9 to 10 pm, do I many times climb up and down and reposition a ladder so I can tidy and water my hanging baskets?
2) Why do I move each pot at least four times (left side of deck, right side of deck, back of deck, original position) to make space for the ladder?
3) Why would I undo all the good of a Pilates session the night before by lifting heavy pots the next morning?
4) Why wouldn't I add extra dirt to the dining room's hardwood floor -- it's already crisscrossed with muddy paw and foot prints?
5) Why do I keep more seed packages (35) than food items (22) in my fridge?

Today, feeling a little more discouraged than usual, I really need to answer why I should continue making the time, effort and BIG MESSES  in a such a small space for a few, precious blooms. And it came to me:

What  are your biggest gardening challenges and what do you tell yourself so keep on growing?

Ripe "cherries"...

...ready for picking and tasting, but I can't bring myself to eat them yet. There are so few flowers blooming on my balcony that I'll for now I'll just enjoy these naturtiums with my eyes rather than taste buds.

I'll be eating 'Cherries Jubilee' this weekend...

...but in my salad rather than for dessert:

This gardener needs a helper

Grooming, watering, feeding, weeding and reading about gardens -- that pretty much sums up my weekend. I would've  loved to have handed over the first four tasks to a "helper", though:

Artwork by Ayumi Piland, card by Little Otsu, thoughtfulness from a special blogging friend who sent this little gardener to help me with my summer chores, revolutionary button by Gayla Trail of You Grow Girl.

Nasty flowers

This is one flower on the first variety of nasturtiums ("nasties") to bloom in my balcony garden. Although they are from the seed packet labeled 'Vanilla Berry', they look more like "banana peel" to me. The nasturtiums are next to a pot of Heuchera 'Obsidian'. The colour combination is quite striking.