Gardening is apparently not for the faint of heart or easily frustrated. I use miniblinds cut into 5" lengths as my plant labels in the greenhouse. The picture above was taken after a single weekend of recycling plant "failures". Each of the pieces included in this picture represents at least one dead plant. But that is not the full impact of the picture.
About 50% of these labels represent a 6-pack of dead seedlings. Over 30% of these labels represent a full flat (either 36 or 72) failed seedlings. So, in this one picture, from one weekend of culling, you are looking at about 1,000 failed plants from my greenhouse efforts. Kind of sobering, huh?
During my most recent propagation clinic I warned the attendees that: failure is going to happen, propagate more than you need, work hard for success, but accept that failure is going to happen. On the bright side though, I can reuse most of the containers and nearly all of the soil for the next round of attempts. The only thing I really lose forever is the seed and the time I spent with it, which are truly priceless. What I gain is wisdom and experience which are also quite priceless.
So, I would say that this gardening effort is basically net neutral under the worst conditions (failure) and hard to quantify when things go well. Very few other activities can make that claim.
As you go your way, take a minute now and then to balance your mental bookkeeping.
The return on investment that our Creator has built into nature is staggering to behold!
I hope you enjoy your weekend.
~ Steve
P.S. - If any of you know of someone throwing away old miniblinds I would be happy to recycle those!. Aluminum or Plastic are both fine & color does not matter one bit. Thanks!