Grow

Do you know that I have had garden nightmares?
I dreamed that the green beans sprouted up in the cracks in the sidewalk instead of in the garden, and that I needed to transplant them into more fertile soil but I couldn't find a way to pluck them up and keep their root systems intact. And if I couldn't keep their roots systems intact then that meant there would be NO green beans. And I really really was looking forward to those green beans.

The gentlest of nightmares--true, but I still woke up feeling a little anxious.

This garden business is hard and I fear I have not been the best at attending to it. Because, try as I might, the squash bugs are still invading and the onions need top dressing or they'll never get any bigger and the waterline needs fixing and the tomatoes need some serious pruning or else they are going to take over the world and the green beans need trellises and the melons are dying and being invaded by weeds and.... it always always seems that the garden is on the verge of some small disaster.
The truth is, I am not the best gardener. And I am certainly not the best garden manager. I am not detail-oriented enough for such a large operation and, honestly, I know nothing about those plants. After all, this is only my second year trying to grow them. We are just starting to get acquainted.

But I am learning so much. And I am trying to let the anxiety go--to breathe, to relax. This garden is huge. There are so many people pitching in this year, and so many parts that need to come together in order for it to run smoothly. Managing it could be a full time job and I am terribly inexperienced and ill-equipped to tackle that job. Not to mention, there is never enough time.

But I am not intending for this post to be all self-deprecation and whining. That is not the point.
The point is that even though it sometimes feels like everything is chaotic and I am doing everything wrong and the entire garden will be unavoidably ruined-- I am frequently and lovingly reminded that the earth is forgiving. and it is abundant. and even a little effort goes a long way.

I came home from the garden tonight with more food than I know what to do with. Let me show you all of it (pardon the poor quality of the photograph--my cell phone is the only thing I have to take pictures with right now):

Here you see: A beautiful variety of purple string beans (they grew!), carrots, onions, apricots, 2 types of cucumbers, green peppers, broccoli, 4 types of squash and the first glorious blush of tomatoes.

Tonight, I am happy.

"For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare"