I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that in all my years of gardening, I have never had to deal with as many challenges as I have this year: late frost, heat waves, smoke from forest fires, and storms that were worthy of being called "of biblical proportions." Still, here we are in mid-August and finally ... finally ... my tiny harvest is starting to come in. I picked my first cucumber on August 1st, my first cherry tomatoes right after that, and a few tiny strawberries the same day. The herbs suddenly shot up so fast that I'm going to have to buy more jars to keep them in when they are done drying. The butter lettuce looks like a field inside of its of container, and the lavender is waving happily in the summer breeze. As for the flowers, the impatiens are no longer impatient (like the play on words?). The petunias are thriving, and my very first zinnia plant is sporting big, fat, colorful blooms. I think I can safely say that this growing season may be successful after all.
What I love most about gardening are the lessons on life I have learned: "To Everything there is a season" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Some of the seasons of life are like long, dark winters of disappointment and discontent. Autumn years teach us that sometimes we have to let go to move forward. Spring is the season of hope, and summer is when the evidence of our efforts are finally seen. Just like in my garden, the cold and the storms had to come to make way for the sunshine and growth.
I think I've also come to realize that I am now in a season to reap more than just cucumbers and tomatoes. I've come to cherish quiet mornings on the porch with my coffee watching the birds at the feeder. I look forward to cooking my dinner and coming up with new ways to use what I've picked from the garden. A good book and an afternoon cup of tea is a treat that's right up there with a yummy piece of chocolate. If I've learned anything from this growing season, it's that, like my mother always used to say, "all good things come to those who wait." After 77 years of waiting, life is finally ripening for me!
Peace and blessings.
