The realization hit yesterday that my gardening efforts reflect my spiritual journey. I have spent a few days spiraling into grumpiness and frustration over the status of this second year of gardening and my general failure to complete a variety of other tasks lately. Last year we were feasting on tomatoes by April 24. This year heavy rains, extended cold weather, some false starts and yes, my own procrastination put me way behind. My tomato plants are just now putting on blooms, and some other veggies that were doing great last year are behaving with less enthusiasm this year. Grumble, grumble, whine, sigh.
After tilling and weeding sessions yesterday, the light dawned that I haven’t entirely broken a habit of focusing on the negative. The light-bulb moment came when weeding took less time than I anticipated thanks to heavy mulching earlier in the year. Oh! Something to be thankful for! That mental hop triggered a look around for other garden blessings to count. Cucumbers and okra were coming up as well as marigolds and zinnias. Mild cherry pepper plants were doing well. A few banana pepper seeds had germinated and the first little double leaves had pushed into sight.
The weather here has been so untypical - ie dry and cold - that the weeds are hardly growing. Just as well because I have had to resort to a kneeler and get a disproportionate amount of satisfaction at doing very little!
ReplyDeleteMy hubby is trying his hand at gardening this year. The veggies are not doing nearly as well as the grass and weeds. We have no tiller or plow--that will be a must before we try gardening again! Poor Ed, he's out there armed with only a hoe. He's like a needle in a haystack--the haystack being grass and weeds...
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