

Gardening and software development - mooreds
http://www.mooreds.com/wordpress/archives/1143

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Sven7
After many years in the garden what still blows my mind is what one little
seed can do.

Surviving all manner of obstacles (rains,winds,infections,insects etc) and
totally self sustaining in many cases requiring little help from my end. It is
very satisfying to watch over time.

Now if only the software I build ever achieves that fine level of
engineering...

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zwieback
Regarding your hesitancy to plant perennials: I plant lots of them and keep
the ones that make it. After 18 years my yard looks pretty great now. It's
hard to predict what will take give all the microclimates but it's fun to
experiment.

Programming has some parallels, since it's easy to try new things you can keep
what works and get rid of what doesn't work. After 25 years of programming I'm
pretty happy with my craftsmanship.

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mooreds
Hmmm... I love the idea of planting lots and seeing what makes it--there' just
a money/time investment that makes me hesitate (again, "just do it", right?).
And what if you plant an invasive perennial?

Another similarity is compounding returns, both in terms of skills and 'on the
ground knowledge'--the garden you have this year is the sum total of your
efforts for previous years as well as your knowledge (unless you move).

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zwieback
Yup, time is the bigger problem than money, though. You can get cuttings from
your neighbors or go to plant sales of garden clubs. At least where I live
that's possible.

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mooreds
Thanks for the suggestions. The older I get, the more time is my limiting
factor, rather than money.

