Hard to believe that it has been two years since I started the Riverside Community Garden in NW Atlanta. In the space of a few days, a small maze of more than a dozen 40 square foot garden plots sprang up from a lot that had been overgrown and seedy (not in the good way) for several years prior. The lot was right across the street from my house and I was able to look out my office window to see things growing right in front of me.
This is the time of year that gardeners live for. The Springtime window of opportunity opens up and we dive our hands into the soil coaxing life into what was lifeless only weeks ago. Seeds break through the soil and the landscape is flooded once more with shades of green that artists spend lifetimes trying to recreate.
This year, Springtime scares the hell out of me.
I have a new relationship to nurture while simultaneously digging, amending and planting the gardens of the homestead we will share and tend together. I have a career to attend to, with the frantic ups and downs of a freakshow roller coaster ride. Then I have the new 2 acre garden space on the farm to design and create.
Despite the overwhelming sense of being overwhelmed, I realize that the beauty and the magic will happen if I just have the presence of mind to breathe and get out of the way. The heirloom tomato seedlings will soon find themselves stretching toward the sun without the interference of a bedroom window. The asparagus beans will climb their runners and compete with the house to see which will be taller. The herb garden will burst with amazing colors, textures and aromas.
In the end, what grows will grow. We will have more produce than we can use, we will preserve what we need and donate what we don’t. The garden is my life, so the mistakes made and lessons learned will each be chalked up to growing pains.
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That is exactly my approach. Even though I’m a perfectionist, I can accept that the garden will never be finished, and that plants and weather have their own agenda.
Nice to know I’m not the only one …
You are definitely not the only one.