There is absolutely no reason in the world to garden as obsessively as many of us do, if not to please ourselves. Why does that seem to happen so rarely? I usually come indoors with my head spinning from what I haven't accomplished rather than what I have, with my mental list of tasks grown longer than when I started. We should feel satisfied rather than frustrated after all that hard work. Well, if not exactly satisfied — who ever feels that way about their own garden? — at least content. Maybe even gratified, and on good days, glossed with a tinge of triumph.

What is a good day in the garden? Perhaps it is simply when, after a day of work, the plants look refreshed, and the gardener feels it. To accomplish this rarity, we can borrow a rough interpretation of the Buddhist idea of large mind and small mind, the yin and yang of the garden.

Now In Bloom Astrantia major 'Hadspen Blood' is the darkest flowering masterwort, with flowers in tones of deep ruby-wine. It's a reliable, hardy, long-blooming perennial that thrives in sun or partial shade, and its flowers last for weeks when cut for arrangements.

Begin by taking an overall, expansive view: this is macro mind. Tell yourself firmly that you'll never, ever finish all you'd like to, so you're just going to fluff and buff right now. Give yourself permission to skim over most tasks, doing the minimum, leaving the real work for another day. Pull the bindweed that has climbed up to encircle the lily, water the pots, stake up a listing dahlia. The point here is to do just enough so no plant is left to suffer, cleaning up enough so your garden doesn't offend your eye — sweep, tidy, but don't be too particular. Now is the time to refine the art of looking loosely, blurring your eyes a bit, not paying real close attention. Never, ever wear your reading glasses for this part of the work. If you can whip through this overview of the garden in an hour or so, hardening yourself to the tantalizing call of all the things that need doing, you're ready to move on to the satisfying part of the work.

Now zoom in on one area of the garden that is most important to you that day, and concentrate on it. Bring all your creativity and skills to bear. Whether you add more flowers around the terrace, refresh a container planting or free a section of ground from the chokehold of weeds, take the time to finish up and make that one small area just how you'd like it to be. If you need to run to the store for a bag of mulch or a soaker hose, do it. Sit down for a minute, drink some ice tea, and contemplate which low-growing perennial would look just right in front of the pink rose, or what shape pot would best fit in that corner of the porch. Then go buy it, rather than making a mental note that will soon be long gone, pushed out by a list of groceries to buy or appointments to make. By taking this micro view of one small area, and completing a few specific tasks that are important to us, we can defeat the frenetic nature of gardening by not becoming frenetic ourselves. There is great contentment in finishing up, cleaning up, putting away and being done.

The trick is cultivating the strength of mind not to be pulled here and there, only tweaking, never completing. When not so buffeted by all that needs doing, it is possible to accomplish something satisfying, and have a good day in the garden.

Valerie Easton is manager at the Miller Horticultural Library. Her book, "Plant Life: Growing a Garden in the Pacific Northwest" (Sasquatch Books, 2002) is an updated selection of her magazine columns. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com. Michelle Kumata is a Seattle Times news artist.