14
Oct

Gardens and Life #1

My husband Jim is a gardener. With few exceptions, we’ve had a garden somewhere all of our married life. Sometimes we have bumper crops (have you ever tried to give away large grocery sacks of acorn squash?). Sometimes we have a small return on his investment of time, effort, and money. Here’s our entire peach crop this summer!

Jim says the key to a bountiful garden is preparation—the right soil, healthy plants and non-GMO seeds, sunny location. So when he made our new garden a few years ago (after he retired!), he searched out the best combination of mulch and compost (5 different kinds purchased at 5 different locations!), dumped it all out in the driveway, and mixed it up. Little boys don’t grow up; they just have bigger dirt piles!

He had already built a square garden (see Square Foot Gardening) in our ONLY sunny spot, so he loaded it up with this wonderful mulch, topped it with wood chips, and began planting.

You all know what came next—watering, watching for the baby seeds to pop up, more watering, more watching and anticipating. He did NOT have to weed because he had prepared for that. Hey, we live in Tyler, Texas, where we can have 3 crops a year, and there’s lots of rain and therefore, lots of weeds! So the work-around is to use wood chips.

I think life is a lot like a garden. Preparation is key. So after we graduate, we keep learning our whole life. We quickly pluck any weeds of self-pity, doubt, judgmentalism, and hate. We water love, joy, peace, kindness through our quiet time with the Lord each day. We read uplifting books, listen to beautiful music (like Claire de Lune, since I LOVE classical piano!), and spend time with encouragers like my friend Linda.