Rows and Stories

Planting a garden is a lot like building a plot for a story. You first smooth everything out, fertilize, work your soil, germinate ideas, plow things up, pullout rocks and sticks and set the rows. Then you start planting, mindful of what helps and what hurts, where you put things last year and always considering that the small plant or seed is going to be different from the full grown version.

Leave plenty of room for picking. I am not a small person and I like to trip and fall if my feet are too cramped. Words can be treacherous just as large clumps or rocks, so watch for traps. Every good garden has frogs and snakes, rabbits and mice. Keep a look out or you’ll reach for a stick and end up with a snake. After the scream it takes a long time for the rabbits to come back and you feel silly talking to the plants when the rabbits aren’t even close.

Building a garden, just like a story plot takes time and energy, focus and sunlight, but it also needs rain. Nothing can grow in the absence of water, so invite the storms, but go inside and watch from the window.