Things I have Learned this Year

This has really been a year of learning for me.

Some things I am learning about are not really things I have ever wanted to know, but by necessity I am learning.

I am, like everyone, really much more than what I do. Most people know me because of my garden and the things I grow.

And some of the things I have learned this year are garden related, whereas many are not.

So in the garden these are the things I believe to be true.

It seems to me that red chard, often called rhubarb chard , is much more susceptible to leaf miners.

I also know that despite what I have read to the contrary, my planting rows need to be filled with my best compost with seed sunk into them for them to germinate the best possible in my clay soil. Tomatoes should be watered very little. Potatoes planted after July 1 do well and have no potato bugs.

I know now and should have always known I have to stop beating myself up when the crops don't do well because of the weather. Things look good this year-but haven't always.

I know nothing is idiot proof or fool proof in the garden. Ever.

My friend whose main crop has always been potatoes is having the worst potato year ever. I just read a magazine title screaming about how anyone can grow potatoes. Always works.

Well....it doesn't always. Do it enough years and it won't. Some things are beyond your control.

I've also learned in my other life as a parent, about Colitus and Crohns disease . I've learned about colonoscopies, about Prednisone and Prednisone tapering. I've now encountered for the first time in my life, a life threatening condition called Septicemia. I've held and hugged my 22 year old daughter more in the last two months as she has struggled through all these things. Things I wish she knew nothing of, but she does and she needs to carry on...she has goals she wants to achieve.

When I am in the garden, my head is full of all these things. I think about the kindness and competence of the people whom I have encountered. The friends, I didn't expect to be there, but are.

If you see me in the garden on a Saturday night, when no one is around, just quietly handweeding or watering, I am relaxing and thinking. That's how I know what I do is the right thing for me. I can still turn to it when I am feeling overwhelmed and it slows me down and calms me. There is peace in the garden, and I can find it there.