Sunday, 01 July 2007 - A plant's forgiveness and resilience

Dear God:

Today, I am thankful for a plant's forgiveness and resilience.

I'm a novice fruit and vegetable gardener, preferring to raise xeric perennials and shrubs that, once established, require little day-to-day care. My greatest fear - that I will over water and overfeed the plants.

Like most beginners, I resort to trial and error methods: Give it a try and see if it works. If it does, good. If not, try something else.

Fortunately, the plants are forgiving and resilient, tolerating my errors while rewarding my on-target efforts.

On very hot, dry days, the tomatoes, watermelons and raspberries demand lots of water so I soak their roots twice - early morning and dusk (just as the sun drops behind the mountains). The hardier peppers actually like the heat and drought so I water them less often (although I can't bring myself to wait until the leaves droop before giving them a drink).

I play it by ear with the five remaining goji berry bushes - one is well established, three are trying to grow and one is in recovery. They like a little moisture when it's hot but not when the temperature drops below 80 degrees F.

The strawberry plants live in the damp/dry shade portion of the north garden - they've blossomed like crazy. This morning, I discovered one very red berry. Since I don't know much about this plant (was a "bonus" that accompanied a brunnera), I'm not sure it's edible.

I'm hoping for a good harvest this year - if not in tomatoes, watermelons and berries, then in knowledge.

For this blessing, I am grateful.

Amen.