The beauty and challenges of gardening
Of Weeds and mosquitoes and other travails
So how is your backyard garden doing today?
My vegetable garden is overtaken with weeds, the more I pulled the weeds, the more they grow. For you see it has been a rainy season and while I enjoy and thank God for the pit, patter of the rain and its effect on the plants, I also detest the fast growth of the weeds.
So to prevent the weeds from taking over my ground I made the decision to go to my garden to remove the weeds each morning before I leave for work. . So each day I pulled on my faded blue ripped jeans, my long sleeves blouse, my knee high water boots, and headed to my little backyard garden.
The fresh morning air greeted me as I stepped outside, the cardinals sang merrily from the tree tops. The sun was just showering its rays above the horizon sending its golden hue through the tree branches enveloping my backyard with light. I leaned over in my garden using my hoe as support; this posture I find is best for my arthritic joint. My back and hip ached as I began pulling at the weeds. But the more I pulled was the more I saw new weeds. In exasperation I straightened up and at the same time trying to unknot the pain that was cascading down my hips. I thought to myself that “this stage of my life is no fun” just then the menopausal sweat just came pouring down my face. The salt from the sweat burned my eyes as I bent over again and began uprooting. The big black Loxahatchee mosquitoes angrily sang at my ears as they attempted to pitch on my exposed shoulders and suck the blood from my already dehydrated body. I swat at the mosquito and angrily said “go away” while as in response many more mosquitoes swarmed towards my exposed face. In exasperation I said “enough is enough.” I grabbed my hoe and headed back to the house
.
I glanced back to the garden feeling disappointed that I did not finish clearing the patch that I started; but as I gazed more at my garden I saw amidst the weeds in a little clearing my little gungo peas now more visible among the weeds. I smiled to myself and envision that by December my little peas plant will be bearing pods and the joy that I will find in eating those peas for dinner. So despite all the annoyances I promised myself that I will continue tending my garden to rescue my little vegetables from these terrible weeds and of course to find a way to protect myself from the mosquitoes.
Happy Gardening!
Barbara
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