The garden and me

seedless concords

This season I am learning something about gardening and myself. The process of working in a garden is very satisfying in the sense that there is something reliable about it. You put work into it and are rewarded. Granted there are disappointments when caterpillars devour the gooseberries or slugs bore holes in the radishes, but there is always something to be gained from gardening. Even when other areas of life prove disappointing or don't live up to my high expectations, I can go out into the garden to turn soil, pull weeds, water, or simply look and find renewal, hope, and encouragement. It is a place where hard work pays and surprises abound.

Gardens are a form of autobiography. ~Sydney Eddison, Horticulture magazine, August/September 1993

spinach rows | arugula in foreground, grape trellis at rock wall, strawberries in background

It takes a while to grasp that not all failures are self-imposed, the result of ignorance, carelessness or inexperience. It takes a while to grasp that a garden isn't a testing ground for character and to stop asking, what did I do wrong? Maybe nothing. ~Eleanor Perényi, Green Thoughts, 1981

stawberries & broccoli starts in foreground | echinacea and herb starts

If you've never experienced the joy of accomplishing more than you can imagine, plant a garden. ~Robert Brault