gardening

Tomato plants

We always had a garden growing up. I used to love eating green beans right off the plant. My dad
continues to plant a garden every year, and I love it when he plucks a cherry tomato off the vine, ceremoniously dusting it off on his shirt and handing it to me to pop in my mouth.

But I've never really been interested in gardening myself.

I like the idea of it. Of growing your own food. Of getting dirty. Of being so close to nature. But loving the idea and loving to garden are two very different things.

One thing I do love, however, is spending time with my dad.

So when he showed up outside my house with a truck load of gardening tools, seeds, and plants on Sunday, I grabbed my tennis shoes and joined him.

"Are you going to help?" he asked, curious.

"If you tell me what to do," I replied. "I've never planted a garden before."

"Your first garden," he said with a touch of awe.

He showed me how to use a garden planter. How to make the rows straight. How to plant and how to water. He talked to the plants, promising them we'd do our best to take care of them. He told me that the squash would be ready in 45 days and the sweet corn would be ready the day after the raccoons ate it all. We spent two hours in the sun and the dirt and I wouldn't trade a minute of it.

Our garden. Day 1.

Perhaps the reason I haven't embraced gardening before is because my dad wouldn't have been there to plant and harvest alongside me (and remind me to water the plants). Perhaps because I would have had a harvest with no family to share it with.

Now we have enough tomato plants to feed the entire neighborhood. Now I know how to plant and water and talk to the food that will come to sustain us. Now it will be something that my dad and I did together.

EMBRACE GARDENING.

If you love gardening, great! If not, find someone you want to spend time with and plant some seeds together. And think about the friends, family, and neighbors you can share your harvest with.


Listening to Crash and Burn by Savage Garden.