Gardening Mad

[Just a heads up that I write a bit about death in this one and if that is too morose for you right now then I'd suggest skipping this one.]

The other day I looked down on the 6 or 7 trays of transplants that are scattered around the holding area near the back door and I started to panic. I am behind. There are too many plants to get into the soil and there is no obvious set of priorities. It all needs to happen now! On top of that the garden is growing and changing. Spring crops and flowers are coming and going as we move towards summer. There is so much more happening than I can possibly keep up with. Things are crazy, but when I look back on the previous springtimes of my life as a gardener, I wonder why I expected it to be any other way. Things are always crazy in these first few months of the growing season and if given the choice, I wouldn't want it to be any other way.



My Garden yesterday (June 9, 2015).



Many years ago, when a friend was fighting cancer, he told me that he didn't think he would make it through to the next spring. He didn't. Years later, when my cat of 17 years was dying, I wished for her to make it through to the next spring so that she could have one more day lounging in the garden with the sun shining down on her. She didn't. I think this is one reason why I go a bit mad packing so much into every gardening year. Where I live, the growing season only lasts about 6-7 months out of a full year, if we're lucky. I jam an entire lifetime into these months because our human lifespan is short and fleeting, and even those of us who are healthy have no real way of knowing if we will make it through winter or if we will have our health when we do.

It's not that I am not living my life during the off season. It's just that there are only so many months when I can have the experiences that I do in the garden. I cherish that time. There have been years when work and other obstacles made it so that I could not spend the hours there that I desired; that I needed. I was despondent and miserable in those years and I felt a sort of resentment about the opportunities and experiences that were lost. I remember all of this during the exceptionally busy weeks when I am freaking out about the trays of transplants that I am yet to get into the soil and feeling pulled in a million directions with chores that I am yet to complete.

I am fortunate to be alive, to have this space to grow in for the time that I do, and to be able to do it.

Some things always slide every spring because I am one human and there are limits to what I am capable of pulling off. However, I have never regretted the manic and maddening years when there was too much. What truly needs to get done does, and the spontaneity that comes out of the madness brings with it all sorts of experiences and lessons that I could never have predicted.



I dug, prepared, and planted a new bed in my neighbour's yard the other day. More plants equals more work. I've got a crazy, but fun season ahead.



I want to try everything in the garden that I can. I want to finish out each growing year feeling full and satisfied, as if I've just ended a 6-month feast. If that means a few months of harried, manic, wild, messy, craziness then, okay, bring it on!

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