I love gardening. There’s something about feeling the dirt between my fingers, and something about watching seeds turn into five-foot tall tomato plants, or a ridiculously high bearing pepper plant that I just can’t get over.

But sometimes, gardening isn’t very fun.

I’m not talking about the endless weeding. Sometimes that can be overwhelming, but I don’t mind pulling weeds that much.

I’m not talking about racing to cover the garden to protect it from unexpected late frosts. Thanks to advanced weather technology, I rarely have to guess on that.

I’m not talking about the endless amount of time that it takes for that first tomato to get ripe.

I’m talking about pests.

I’m talking about the bugs that think my bean plants were planted simply for them to live off of—in more ways than just one. I probably should have kept count of how many I’ve picked off in the past two days.

I’m talking about the four legged robbers who sneak in under the cover of darkness and sample the benefits of our hard work. They come and eat and only leave footprints behind.

It is annoying, and it is amusing.

Its annoying because the only way I want to share picking produce is if I can share the proceedings with Scott. Annoying because I kind of want us to be the first ones to enjoy those tomatoes and I sort of want my bean plants to live long and prosper.

There’s no doubt about it: these are acts of war in the gardener’s text book, and I’m determined to win—at least most of the time.

Its amusing because I am discovering the most unexpected weapons in the warfare. Like dirty laundry laid out at night and a cup with soapy water in it.

And if I had to trade fewer bugs for less ability to grow things, you better believe I’ll deal with the bugs. Plus, I have a feeling moose wouldn’t care a sniff about dirty laundry. The deer are easier to intimidate.

So…gardening isn’t always fun. I’m not really fond of picking off creepy crawling biting beetles every day. I’m not impressed with the impregnations  of hoofs all over my nice garden beds.

But… we ate our first three zucchinis this week. Today I picked a yellow sweet pepper. We’ll have some beans in another week. I have a myriad of cantaloupe blossoms, watermelon blossoms and tiny cucumbers.  I’m still terribly excited about how this garden is growing.

And if you ask if it is worth it..yup. Every single moment of it.

Bugs, deer, weeds and weather…I’ll always love digging in the garden dirt. And I’ll especially love that first tomato that the deer didn’t get. ;)