Busy, busy, busy! February is a flurry of garden-planning and seed planting around here. Pay no mind to that old groundhog who today predicted six more weeks of winter…preparations are under way! Newspaper plugs have been neatly rolled and set into trays waiting to be filled with starter mix. Seeds for the first of the spring crops are sorted and at the ready, patiently wait to be tucked in. The slow stroll towards spring is picking up speed!
I love this time of year! I don’t begrudge winter another six weeks, for me it’s time well spent sowing, waiting and reflecting. What is it about gardening that keeps me coming back year after year? I’ve discovered and discarded many other interests in the same 15 years. The simple truth is: I love it! The more complicated truth: I need it.
The first patches of earth I ever turned over were a convenient distraction for me. A stay-at-home mom with three young children and an infant, gardening activities were easily scheduled around naps and school. It brought our family together as we worked to bring nature to the barren yard. Through the years all four of our kids learned to garden. Not to love it, but to do it. Loving came later and I think it caught them by surprise.
As they grew into their teens the garden proved a haven of sorts. For me it was a place to putter; time spent weeding and watering and hiding from teen angst until the child I recognized returned. For them, a private place to be a child at heart while adjusting to the big world. No one judges when you’re watching bees and picking berries. (The world could use a few more gardens and a lot less judgement.)
The baby boy I began gardening with is nearly a teen now. Our oldest daughter is planning her wedding. I’m not-so-secretly hoping for lots of grandchildren…Until then I have the garden to come back to. Watching seeds miraculously unfold into plants, watching bees and butterflies and birds, enjoying my life as it changes with the seasons. Yes, indeed, I need the garden!
I love the seed planting activities in February, too. Even though our groundhog would be more accurate if he predicted 16 more weeks of winter.
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Why do we trust that old groundhog anyway? LOL! February seems to skip by with all the fuss of planting. We’ll be outside before we know it…
Sigh. Whatever gardening genes I have, they were not passed on to my children, despite my best efforts to awaken the gardenlust. We love other things together. Perhaps one day…
Funny how that is with children… one of ours likes to sow, one likes to grow and harvest, one loves only flowers and one just likes to just “sit quietly and smell the flowers”. Each a part of me and my gardening soul. Thank you Helen, for taking time to visit and comment!
Beautiful post! Really hit home for me. My gardening journey has been quite similar to the one you describe. My eldest will be a teen next week and I was just looking through pics of her naked in the garden w/ blueberry stains on her lips. Sigh… Thankfully she still loves to tinker w/ me and forage her way through the yard on her way to new vistas. Sigh… It goes by so dang fast doesn’t it? Time has no manners, really.
Thank you Annica, we garden mamas all relate! I tear up thinking of chubby hands plunking in seeds so carefully and little watering cans flooding the flowerbeds. I loved EVERY minute of it and so I’ve learned to love every moment now as well… and keep hoping for the grandchildren to do it all again!
A lovely post Lisa. I sure you will be blessed with lots of grandchildren you can mentor all over again in your garden.
Thank you, Melanie! I do hope for little ones to spend time with in the garden again. The wonder on their faces is precious…and priceless!