Year Round Gardening

I have had writer's block the past few days as I have toyed with thoughts of springtime and the whole idea of gardening.  I've struggled with this topic because I kept telling myself that I'm not a gardener; I would only be writing of this topic simply because that's where all the magazines lead us this time of the year.  While the communities that surround me are beginning to see the frost come out of the ground, my yard still remains covered in a large blanket of snow at least a few inches thick.  It's difficult to get in that same frame of mind since my season here starts much later than in town.  Nonetheless, I need to prepare; gathering seeds and looking forward to the results of a great harvest.

Being from the south, it is almost always assumed that I grew up on collard greens and ham hocks, having a great big garden and must be a good cook with thousands of good ol' southern recipes.  The truth be known, it was nothing like that. I lived in a neighborhood where I know there were some families that had gardens in their back yard, but I don't recall seeing a lot of them.  Perhaps they were there, but as a child, one doesn't pay attention to those kind of things.  One of my greatest memories though, is sitting with my best friend Joy on the front steps of her porch crackin' beans and shuckin' corn before we were allowed to ride bikes.  Her mother had a huge garden and made the best fried okra of anyone I've ever met since then.  Those memories have laid dormant in my mind for many years now.

I use to dream of the day I could have my own garden.  I attempted it once out back here, but I put the cart before the horse so to speak.  The ground is like pit run here, so I had my husband haul in some dirt for me and began planting everything imaginable.  As the plants began to take root, excitement filled my heart as I was finally accomplishing my goal of becoming a gardener. When the tomatoes were ready to be harvested, I was so excited.  I rushed to the house to grab a bucket and by the time I returned, my entire garden had been mowed down by one lonely deer that traveled through my yard.  There was almost an early harvest of meat in my freezer that year as disappointment and failure sunk in.  I had failed to build a perimeter; after all, we do live in deer country!  Being the so called "city girl" I was, I never dreamed that animals would come in and steal my harvest!  As the deer sat there chewing the final blades of grass that surrounded my tiny piece of heaven, I realized that I was never going to make it as a gardener.  Years have passed and what once was a space filled with rich soil is now covered in grass and clover.  I look out my window everyday and dream of what "could have been"; if only I could drive a stake in that hard ground.

I've been thinking hard about revisiting the whole gardening thing this year and I must say at first I was apprehensive.  I've been contemplating "square foot gardening" mainly because all the research I have done on it shows that it takes less water, less ground, can be done "above" the ground and provides an abundant harvest.  Still I need a perimeter. I don't know how to build one by myself and again disappointment fills the air.  But at 6:27 this morning, my eyes opened wide; I've been a gardener all along; year round!

I believe that my purpose in life is not about how much money I can make.  While I need it desperately to make ends meet, I don't think I was put on this earth to be a twenty year career woman with a great pension, 401K, IRA and all the trimmings.  It's been disappointing at times, but I now can come to peace with it. I now realize, I've been planting seeds all along; reaching out and sharing what I've learned with others in the hope of a great harvest; that they might learn something new; open their hearts and minds to something different; to set a perimeter in their life; boundaries.  It really takes less energy to watch it come to fruition and when done in smaller bits, produces great reward just as a square foot garden.

The world lacks a perimeter. With today's new technology, the deregulation of rules and values; churches falling apart and war, there are no longer boundaries in place; anything goes and look at where we are.  Fighting with those we love; fighting over land, animals, the earth; food; religion. It doesn't have to be. Become a year round gardener.  Determine what it is that you want harvest; build a perimeter to protect it; sow your seeds everyday; year round and I promise, your harvest will be plentiful.