Conspicuous Veggie Gardening

October 02, 2021

Conspicuous Veggie Gardening

Today has been a perfect Spring day; sunny with a cool breeze, and I have been in the garden for the past hour or so. Being back in the garden regularly, I'm reminded all over again why it's so good for me. The way it helps clear my mind. I have been thinking of this poem:

Gift

A day so happy.
Fog lifted early; I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on Earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.

- Czeslaw Milosz

I feel a bit like this after a good session in the garden. I focus on the task at hand; it fills my thoughts and my senses. Smell of freshly turned earth, of lavender or thyme, feel of sun on my back, or wind in my face. All the swirling thoughts and anxieties in my mind are calmed. Not gone, just asked to sit down and be quiet for a while. And when I'm done, I can plunk down in a lawn chair in the shade with a cold drink, my mind quiet for the first time all day, body buzzing from the effects of fresh air and moderate exercise.

I am finally working on a second veggie bed for the front yard! I always love it when I see front yard veggie gardens. Vegetables are so often hidden away in the back, considered not beautiful enough to let the neighbours see. There is a house a few down from ours that have converted their entire front yard to veggie growing, and I love having a peek at it every time I walk past. It has been an inspiration for my own front yard gardening. Like them, I don't have a front fence or wall of any kind. I love it that way - partly because of the extra sunlight, yes, but also because it just feels more friendly. I am finding there are unexpected benefits to having a front yard veggie garden. It is so much more visible.

I am an introvert but I am enjoying the brief low-stakes interactions with passersby that sometimes happen while I am gardening in the front yard. Some girls that were walking past asked if they could have the abandoned bird nest they spotted in a tree in my yard and I got out a ladder to help them retrieve it. A taxi driver that was dropping off a neighbour stopped to tell me about his beekeeping and how the mānuka in the hills around here make it a good place for bees.

And then there are things that happen just because the garden itself is so visible. My dad has been noticing my garden every time he comes by, and commenting on how good it's looking now that the greens are filling in. Now that he's seen how fast and easy it was for me to put together a new raised bed, he told me it's inspiring his and my mom as they are planning what to do with their own garden. And the thing is, who knows who else might be inspired by my conspicuous veggie gardening. Who else might look forward to spying on the developments in MY garden whenever they walk by, the way I do with my neighbour's garden?

Well, it has been harvest time for all of my greens that made it through the Winter and are now growing fast. I've made Southern greens and beans with the collards and the mustard greens. The cavolo nero is great in just about anything. I selected a better broccoli variety this year, one that has tender, edible stalks and leaves. So enjoy some very leafy green photos.