I've been growing things lately. There's something inexplicably satisfying about watching these little plants sprout and flower each day. I love these violas. I usually see purple and yellow ones, but when I saw these with the orange? Well, let's just say I have a lot of them.
Of course, it's not all fun and instant payoff. I wish I had a picture of my back patio before I cleaned it up. It took about a month to pick the rocks out of the soil, remove the awful tanbark, weed, replenish the soil, and then plant. (Most of which I did myself, though I'm not complaining because Nick cleaned inside the house during all that. We're a team like that.)When my peas started sprouting, you should have seen the smile on my face! It worked! All that stuff I did made things grow. Sure, I didn't have peas yet, but I had baby peas! The potential for peas. And they're even bigger now than in that picture.
I still have a couple months of watering and weeding ahead of me, but I will reap the benefits eventually. With lots of peas and peppers and tomatoes. Yum.
For me, growing things is yet another lesson in patience, consistency, and the value of delayed gratification. But the coolest thing is you can see your progress so much easier than in, say, writing.I put in effort. I wait. Things grow. I get a reward. I like to think writing works the same way, but sometimes it's hard to see. Because in writing, I think, I'm more the plant than I am the gardener. Maybe a bit of both. My writing grows, but it doesn't grow unless I grow, you know? It's not a perfect analogy, but yeah. Something like that.
I'm kind of rambling, but I guess I'm feeling strangely grateful for the journey today. Writing has brought me some of the most challenging struggles of my life, but it's also given me quite a bit of fruit as well.I'm not sure I'd be as grateful for the good things if I got them easily. It's the difference between buying peas at the store and waiting 70 days for them to grow. Sure, both are great, but there's something extra special about those peas you worked for. Every single one is more like a pearl, and you savor each bite.
Plus when your kids get crazy you can have them go play out there!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful plants, and beautiful thoughts to go with them! It never hurts to remember the rewards of hard work. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know what that mini-tree thing is in the last shot, but it's lovely!
ReplyDeleteI totally get your analogy, and I enjoy the accompanying pictures. I do wish it were easier to see one's growth as a writer... but I sometimes think part of the reason I've always been drawn to writing is because it challenges my personality so completely. :)
I'm right there with ya! I started planting a garden abotu three weeks ago and I go out every evening and examine their growth and I make all my visitors walk through there (as if they care about tiny sproutlings). I've even dug out new areas for more plants.
ReplyDeleteIt's so much fun and so addicting to watch new things grow!
I very much relate to this. I remember in college planting daisy seeds to teach myself patience. They died. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd the writing/growing/planting metaphor has always been very strong for me. Years ago, I heard this interview on NPR (I've left the link below). It has gotten me through many rocks and weeds in my attempt to sustain a healthy, strong story.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1836659me.
I'm envious of your garden (and the gardening space)! I would love to be growing green beans this summer (no peas for me, thank you!) but I'm restricted to one window box growing basil and chives. They're very happy plants but not the same as a garden.
ReplyDeleteHappy tending!
I am a fellow writer and gardener, wrestling through the process of finding my process, my voice, my patience with it all. My carrots just began to pop above the ground, and the bright lights chard that just unfolded has a .5 cm burgundy stalk. There is a deep joy in it all.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of wisdom by Anais Nin: “And the day came when the risk to remain in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to bloom.”
Lovely analogy :) If only we could actually see our growth as a writer as visibly as watching plants grow!
ReplyDeleteIs that last one a baby Japanese maple? It looks like the big one we have in front of our house.
I've tried gardening but I don't like it much. Maybe because I tend to kill things when I try...I hope that's not somehow related to my writing :P
I so relate to this. We just did our planting last weekend - we have to wait a little longer in Colorado than most places. It's fun teaching my kids about growing our own food and things like responsibility and patience. The writing metaphor is awesome! :)
ReplyDeleteThere is something completely different about homegrown veggies, isn't there? They just taste better. I completely agree (and just posted about this on Elana's blog) - I think the happiness or enjoyment of success is parallel to the amount of hardship and pain it took getting there. The harder you work for something, the better it feels. Or tastes. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI wish I could have a garden... If you have extra peas or tomatoes or zucchini or whatever, let me know. he he ;-)
My wife and I (ok, just my wife... I don't know what I'm doing) grow strawberries, broccoli, corn, lettuce, brussel sprouts, cucumbers (which always end up as pickles) and a few other things I can't think of at the moment. You're totally right about watching them grow, and the satisfaction of eating something you worked on!
ReplyDeleteGardening really is satisfying, watching something grow from almost nothing into a beautiful flower or delicious fruit. It's quite rewarding.
ReplyDeleteIs that your backyard? Wow! My garden is starting to grow really well, too, and I think the best part is when things start poking up out of the soil. It really is rewarding. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a happy post! I love growing things, and I like working through story ideas when I'm out there. It's funny how, when I'm weeding, my kids can do without me for a while. When I suggest we pull weeds, they disappear, and I can actually think.
ReplyDeleteI like your analogy. And I envy you the space to grow plants. I would love to grow vegetables. There's something so soothing about digging, planting, and weeding. I love to pull weeds. Much more satisfying to work out in the garden than do housework. Eventually, if you've prepared the soil well and tend to the plants you have something tangible in the end. Like writing, though I think that's more challenging.
ReplyDeleteI'm growing tomatoes and peppers in a couple container gardens. I'm impressed by all the work you did to get your soil ready. Go you. And your husband cleaned? Almost as awesome as those home-grown peas.
ReplyDeleteYou know why it's easier to see growth in plants than in writing? Because with plants, there was nothing there before.
ReplyDeleteWriting grows more like adults do. When you're around someone every day, you may not notice that they've gotten taller/fatter/thinner, etc. But if you look at a picture of them from two years ago, you can suddenly see it.
Beautiful words. Thanks!
Wow! What a green thumb you have! I am starting to worry that some of my seeds aren't going to sprout at all. Sigh. I try really hard but I dont ever seem to be able to grow much.
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