Gardening in the East

I have been spending many hours a week, and sometimes daily, wasting away the day in the garden. Mostly I am weeding and thinning now, but for about 3 weeks straight I was turning over soil, harvesting and tossing out rocks, planting seed, transplanting seedlings that had been started inside, watering and searching for creative ways to make more space. Much of the time I just stand in the garden and look at my work. That feels good and it's hardwork right in front of your face that shows pretty quick results. I've had my fair share of struggles, too. Like when it snowed on my garden on May 25! Everything survived, except the cucumbers which were beautiful. I have also had some hard lessons from black flies. Apparently they don't bother me while feasting on me, but I was a swollen, red-dotted mess for 2 weeks following that episode. Now I wear full coverage during black fly season, including a turtleneck no matter what the temperature!! I have also lost squash seeds and others to rot due to heavy rains for days in end before they germinated. But the great thing about that? I just assessed and replanted.

I think the reason I love building my own garden and working the soil and earth between my fingers is the absolute metaphor for life it provides. You can always have a fresh, new start. Sometimes you thrive right away and other times it takes a while to get going. Sometimes, even under the best circumstances, you just cannot make it happen and other times it seems miraculous that a life could be formed. Hard weather can be threatening and unpredictable, but surprisingly you usually can persevere. If you want it to be wonderful and be something you can be proud of than you must give it the daily attention it needs.

All very good lessons that I needed to be reminded of.