Another very out-dated post that I've been meaning to type up for ages...
One of the first things we did after moving to our new duplex back in April was to plant a garden in the back yard. I was so excited to try out gardening now that we live practically in the Garden of Eden in terms of getting things to grow. I remember my parents attempting to garden in NM and it just didn't work out--poor soil, no rain, hilly yard, and DRY air just don't add up to happy growing things. (And many of us in the Tonks family seem to have anti-Green Thumbs, which doesn't help either. Keeping houseplants alive does not come easily for many of us.)
So, the tales people told of just being able to stick seeds in the ground and watch them spring up and grow with virtually no effort required here in IL were intriguing. We had a ready-made garden plot from the last people who lived here before us, so we decided to move forward with full speed ahead and get some veggies a'growing.
We planted (almost) everything as seeds rather than buying seedlings. Then, just a day or so after we planted the seeds, we had TORRENTIAL rain which probably swept the seeds away in rivulets to new locations in the garden in some cases. So, when thing started popping up a few weeks later, they weren't in neat little rows for the most part and I often couldn't really tell what was weed and what was vegetable. We got a few HUGE sunflowers growing--those must have been from seeds leftover from last year, since our neighbor told us that the former residents had planted a bunch of sunflowers. One of them grew taller than the roof!
There was also a row of what turned out to be tree seedlings, plus a bunch of plain old weeds. I let them grow because I thought they might be something I planted--they sprung up so tall that I thought for sure they weren't weeds (most of our weeds are low and sprawly it seemed like). In the end I pulled them out, but not before they dumped a bunch of weed seeds everywhere--I guess next year's weeding will be intense.
Anyways, it turns out that most of the stuff did grow pretty well, without *too* much work. I rarely had to water--in fact, we had a very cool, wetter than normal summer, so most of the time there was too MUCH water around. I DID have to weed a fair amount, however. And it turns out that harvesting the vegetables is a lot of work in and of itself.
It was a great feeling, the first time I brought in my bounty straight from the backyard. I even took a picture of my firstfruits--er, firstveggies? of my garden efforts. (I rarely get out the camera, so obviously this was a big deal.)
We had beans coming out of our ears for a while, and PLENTY of zucchini (including one monstrous one that was hiding for a long time before I finally picked it so I let it get too big). We had some lettuce, some bell peppers, and (later in the season--they took FOREVER to ripen because it wasn't as hot as usual), oodles of tomatoes. Rounding things out were a few eggplants, some summer squash, and various herbs.
Since I am working with the Young Women's organization at church, I am trying to complete the Personal Progress Program that the teenage girls I work with are doing-- I decided to make my garden one of my Value Projects (the one for "Faith"). The instructions for the project said to think of faith like a seed as I plant, care for, and harvest a garden. So here are some of my thoughts on what I learned about faith by planting and growing seeds:
- Early torrential downpours can be dangerous for the newly planted seed. Of course the seed needs water, but too much all at once is overwhelming. ("line upon line")
- Sometimes you have to wait and let things grow before you can tell if they are "good" seeds or bad seeds (like the wheat and the tares). But as soon as you recognize something as a weed, you need to pull it out fast.
- You may have a "legacy" from your forebears--things you have been taught as a child, etc. In some cases this is great--fun sunflowers springing up unbidden. But in some cases they will turn out to be weeds (wicked traditions of the fathers...) and will need to be removed and replaced with truths.
- It can seem to take forever before the first plants produce their yields, but eventually you'll have more zucchini than you know what to do with. (my cup runneth over!)
- Weeds are much easier to pull out when they are small. (Repent early!)
- Weeds are easier to pull in moist ground-- we have to nourish our faith carefully, and then it is easier to root out sin and deception.
- It is easier to grow things in good soil (a good background, family, etc.) but even poor soils can be improved with work and compost.
- It takes work to harvest it too (a lot, actually)! The fruits of our faith may be waiting right there for us to pluck, but we DO have to actually pluck them.
- If you let the veggies sit on the plant in the garden without using them, they rot. (Faith cannot be stagnant--it needs to be used!)
