Thoughts in my garden
06/09/16 05:51
Yesterday, on the fifth of September, I mowed the lawn. It is lush and green, as is sometimes the case in late May and early June. There were even a few dandelions popping up their yellow flowers, something we don’t usually see in September. It is especially surprising because there was a giant heat wave in June this year that sent all of our grass except a few areas that we watered around the house and garden into dormancy. Around the first of July, I had resigned myself to a brown summer with the grass waiting until another year to don its green. Then the thundershowers that we normally expect in June came in July and continued into August.The thundershowers brought much-needed rain and turned the grass green once again.
It isn’t just the grass that is surprising us. Our garden was flattened by hail on July 30. Thirty minutes of pea-sized hail left only stems of most of the plants. Even the hardy sunflowers were looking sad with big holes in the leaves. The tomato plants were only stalks in their cages and the few tomatoes that remained on the vines had the tops all bruised. As those tomatoes ripened, only about half of each fruit was usable. But tomatoes love hot weather, and we’ve had plenty of that this summer. With daytime temperatures holding in the 90’s throughout most of August, the plants came back and now are filled with ripening fruit. Looking at the plants yesterday, it was difficult to remember how sad they had looked on the morning of July 16.
It is one of the endearing features of the natural world that it is so able to surprise us.
I’m no master gardener. I am able to grow only plants that are easy and hardy and resist a bit of neglect. I’m not the kind of person who is out in the garden every day. That means that I’ve always been able to produce prodigious crops of weeds and there are many years when the garden is more of a source of amusement than a source of food. I always imagine that I can produce more food than actually grows. My one crop that seems to succeed each year is sunflowers. I plant them for the sheer joy of looking at the large yellow and orange flowers. We don’t attempt to harvest the seeds other than shaking a few out of the heads to keep for next year’s planting. Most years I have to add purchased seeds in order to replant. Sunflower seeds are natural bird feeders and in our neighborhood the pinion jays can strip all of the seeds out of the garden in a single day. Watching the birds feast on the seeds is, however, satisfying in its own way.
In my imagination we carry in baskets of nutritious food from our garden each year. There are plenty of folks who can do that with smaller garden spaces than we have. The best time of the year for my style of gardening is early spring, before the first tilling of the garden soil. That used to be the season of seed catalogues, but the seed companies have moved digital these days. You can sign up for a digital newsletter from Burpee and other companies, but it isn’t the same as the old seed catalogues.
The web sites are, however, pretty tempting. The photographs of luscious blueberries and the reminder that fall is a good time to plant berry plants. It is also the season for planting bulbs for next spring.
I know, however, that there are plenty of things to distract me from gardening. I have a busy work schedule and I like to head for the lake when I have a few minutes of extra time. Given the choice between paddling and pulling weeds, I’m likely to go for the former. My life doesn’t really need more chores than the list of undone tasks that are a part of my everyday existence.
We’ve settled for a rather simple garden. There is something about the flavor of a home-grown tomato that is worth the effort to produce a few each year even if our production is far less than our consumption. We aren’t likely to see a drop in our household food budget caused by gardening miracles, but an occasional treat from the garden is worth a small investment of time and energy. I suppose that if I kept track of the amount of water we use, the costs of seed and other garden products, the occasional garden tool purchased and a few other factors, we don’t save much money on our style of gardening. Still, it seems like something that is well worth the time and effort invested.
There are plenty of things in life that aren’t well measured by money. What is the value of being able to pick a fresh tomato and bring it inside to slice for lunchtime sandwiches? What is the value of watching the birds feed on the sunflowers after having enjoyed their sunny colors for several weeks? What is the value of getting a little dirt underneath of your fingernails and breathing fresh air instead of sitting inside on a spring day?
So I’ll continue our somewhat chaotic form of gardening, with a few too many weeds and a limited harvest of edible crops. I’ll continue to plant sunflowers each year and enjoy watching the birds. I probably won’t ever develop the berry beds and fruit trees that I can imagine when I am looking at the seed web sites. We’ll still remain dependent upon the successes of more dedicated farmers and gardeners when planning our meals.
Two wonderful things about gardening remain. The first is that there is always next year. No matter how poorly the garden does in a single growing season, there is always the promise of a better year next year. The second is that the garden holds a wonderful capacity to surprise. Indeed this year has been amazing. Next might be equally surprising.
It isn’t just the grass that is surprising us. Our garden was flattened by hail on July 30. Thirty minutes of pea-sized hail left only stems of most of the plants. Even the hardy sunflowers were looking sad with big holes in the leaves. The tomato plants were only stalks in their cages and the few tomatoes that remained on the vines had the tops all bruised. As those tomatoes ripened, only about half of each fruit was usable. But tomatoes love hot weather, and we’ve had plenty of that this summer. With daytime temperatures holding in the 90’s throughout most of August, the plants came back and now are filled with ripening fruit. Looking at the plants yesterday, it was difficult to remember how sad they had looked on the morning of July 16.
It is one of the endearing features of the natural world that it is so able to surprise us.
I’m no master gardener. I am able to grow only plants that are easy and hardy and resist a bit of neglect. I’m not the kind of person who is out in the garden every day. That means that I’ve always been able to produce prodigious crops of weeds and there are many years when the garden is more of a source of amusement than a source of food. I always imagine that I can produce more food than actually grows. My one crop that seems to succeed each year is sunflowers. I plant them for the sheer joy of looking at the large yellow and orange flowers. We don’t attempt to harvest the seeds other than shaking a few out of the heads to keep for next year’s planting. Most years I have to add purchased seeds in order to replant. Sunflower seeds are natural bird feeders and in our neighborhood the pinion jays can strip all of the seeds out of the garden in a single day. Watching the birds feast on the seeds is, however, satisfying in its own way.
In my imagination we carry in baskets of nutritious food from our garden each year. There are plenty of folks who can do that with smaller garden spaces than we have. The best time of the year for my style of gardening is early spring, before the first tilling of the garden soil. That used to be the season of seed catalogues, but the seed companies have moved digital these days. You can sign up for a digital newsletter from Burpee and other companies, but it isn’t the same as the old seed catalogues.
The web sites are, however, pretty tempting. The photographs of luscious blueberries and the reminder that fall is a good time to plant berry plants. It is also the season for planting bulbs for next spring.
I know, however, that there are plenty of things to distract me from gardening. I have a busy work schedule and I like to head for the lake when I have a few minutes of extra time. Given the choice between paddling and pulling weeds, I’m likely to go for the former. My life doesn’t really need more chores than the list of undone tasks that are a part of my everyday existence.
We’ve settled for a rather simple garden. There is something about the flavor of a home-grown tomato that is worth the effort to produce a few each year even if our production is far less than our consumption. We aren’t likely to see a drop in our household food budget caused by gardening miracles, but an occasional treat from the garden is worth a small investment of time and energy. I suppose that if I kept track of the amount of water we use, the costs of seed and other garden products, the occasional garden tool purchased and a few other factors, we don’t save much money on our style of gardening. Still, it seems like something that is well worth the time and effort invested.
There are plenty of things in life that aren’t well measured by money. What is the value of being able to pick a fresh tomato and bring it inside to slice for lunchtime sandwiches? What is the value of watching the birds feed on the sunflowers after having enjoyed their sunny colors for several weeks? What is the value of getting a little dirt underneath of your fingernails and breathing fresh air instead of sitting inside on a spring day?
So I’ll continue our somewhat chaotic form of gardening, with a few too many weeds and a limited harvest of edible crops. I’ll continue to plant sunflowers each year and enjoy watching the birds. I probably won’t ever develop the berry beds and fruit trees that I can imagine when I am looking at the seed web sites. We’ll still remain dependent upon the successes of more dedicated farmers and gardeners when planning our meals.
Two wonderful things about gardening remain. The first is that there is always next year. No matter how poorly the garden does in a single growing season, there is always the promise of a better year next year. The second is that the garden holds a wonderful capacity to surprise. Indeed this year has been amazing. Next might be equally surprising.