Gardening for More Reasons than Veggies
Cleaning out the garden for the year brings the season to a close. The leaves are beginning to have a rustle to them, as the frost has given them a slight crunch. The air is crisp as we work.
While I sit on a 5 gallon bucket the children pull up the green bean plants and pile them beside me. I grab a few stalks and strip all the edible beans off and toss the plant in another pile behind me to get shredded and tilled back into the soil.
Our little garden has done well. So well that my heart groaned at picking those green beans yet again. I lost track how many 5-gallon buckets of green beans came off the patch this year.
I tend to be a fair-weather gardener. You know, when it’s convenient I enjoy gardening. But there is almost always something else that I would rather do than pull weeds or spend a long time stooped over plucking beans. Picking a bouquet of flowers is a lot more fun than veggies! But flowers don’t feed a family.
There has been a different joy to gardening that I have watched unfold this year.
The children’s pleasure in each step of gardening.
Early in the spring their delights are found in the freshly tilled soil, digging and playing in the dirt. They would sit with their bare feet in the dirt and bury their legs. No holding back, they enjoyed the pleasure to its fullest.
Time to plant.
“Momma, can I plant?” I sort of shuddered to think how thick or thin the rows may come up. We found a way.
The tiny seeds are left for Momma to plant. Larger seeds are planted by the children. Using a broken little stick, they plant a seed a stick length apart. They are so pleased to help!
Then it’s the seedlings to discover. Radishes are the first to appear. The waiting is longer for the other rows to grow a line of green. With reminders not to step on the baby plants, they check out the details, asking what plants are what.
Weeding time arrived soon enough. Again, the children dove right in with learning how to work around the plants to get the weeds away from the roots.
They like to push the old cultivator down the paths. We would find them in the garden when they were playing at the shop with Daddy, voluntarily pulling weeds.
The hoe was a bit scary in their hands, swinging wildly. Teaching them to use a little hand trowel instead was a better option.
Blooms began to show up on the squash plants.
“Oh, can we pick this big flower?” they wanted to know.
“No, if you pick the flower, you will not get the food,” I said.
Finally, the fruit of the plants began to set on. Again, the children want to pick the tiny produce, before it has had a chance to mature.
We have had one good-sized watermelon growing in the garden. It has been petted and longed after for weeks and weeks, and many a time they ask if it’s time to pick it yet. The wait is long.
In the rows of green beans were the occasional surprise of what the children nicknamed the butterfly flowers. It made a bright spot as we picked our buckets full of beans. I couldn’t resist making a bouquet out of them and a little dill.
When it’s been a while since we went to the garden (it is about a ½ mile drive down the driveway from our house) the children quickly run through the garden with excitement.
For them, it’s like greeting a friend. They are eager to check out every corner.
“Oh, look we have a zucchini!”
“Can we pick this?”
“Don’t forget to pull red beets for supper!”
This summer we have been watching an unknown volunteer plant – waiting to see what it may be. Much to our surprise, it is a fall Poppy! As the blooms have taken their turns to burst open and display their papery red splendor the children have counted both buds and blooms.
A fall poppy
The Real Fruit
They have enjoyed all the stages of gardening.
It’s been simple pleasures.
Small family times.
The children were thrilled with garden time, even when it involved work. Yes, after picking a while, they begged off, and went and played in the dirt. But still they enjoyed being in it.
A real sense of accomplishment is seen on the children’s faces when they can help me in the garden. First with hauling piles of weeds out, then when we pick something and fix it for supper, they know they helped to make it happen. They were part of filling a need and found it rewarding.
Children are so PRESENT in what they are doing. Living and enjoying this moment. Their complete focus is on the here and now. And they make the most of it – that’s why we have found them so fun to watch in the garden.
Garden time is not so very different than other things we do. Sometimes we chat. Occasionally we sing. But mostly we are simply together. Outside with a big space around us and the occasional twitter of birds keeping us company.
With all the children’s exuberance in the garden it gives me more of a reason to have a garden.
It’s for the garden of my children’s hearts.
~ Sheila
What are you doing in daily life that is just simple interaction and enjoyed by the whole family?
