Lose yourself in gardening

You read that gardening can help you lose weight. So far, I have lost a watch in the liriope, a garden cart at a friend's house, several tools who knows where, and some fragile annuals to disease. I've also sacrificed a piece of pink skullcap to a garden "thief," but can't decide whether to put that in the plus or minus column. (It was fun watching the furtive and hurried act, and who could recommend a better plant to snatch?)

To my knowledge, I've lost no weight.

Now, for the tangible gains: poison ivy rash, fire ant stings, allergies to everything from dust to mold to pollen and even some plants, and an arsenal of menacing tools, some of which I've broken and most I didn't know existed 10 years ago.

Finally, the intangible gains found ONLY in the garden: learning a method that takes the fire and perhaps even the blisters out of the fire ant sting; knowing which begonias can take the sun and which can't; gaining a whole new plant vocabulary; finding a readymade group of friends who dig leaving politics, religion and other controversial topics at home; exploring which plants keep their poise and petals in a Texas summer; carrying on a tradition of my grandparents and parents without even realizing it until years later.

Losing yourself in gardening is not necessarily a bad thing. Especially when your significant other finds your watch.