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Inspired by Gardening
By Linda Jo Martin
Every day during this year’s growing season I’ve gotten up at dawn to go outside because gardens need water to thrive. First I visit the flower beds as they are first to get direct sunlight, and I want to get there before the sun does. I reflect on the beauty of the flowers and the condition of the plants, celebrating those which bloom abundantly and obsessing over why some plants fail. This year is my first full gardening experience. I’ve had herb gardens before, and grown a few vegetables, but because of the recession and how it affected me, I was determined to get a real garden started this time. The vegetables are abundant and appreciated. I never knew until this, the fifty-seventh year of my life, how sweet snow peas are, fresh from the garden, or how quickly spinach hits its prime, and how it must be plucked quickly before the plant bolts. My mother never did any vegetable gardening, so I’m learning on my own. Because I’ve got such a close relationship with my garden this year -- because I tend to it daily and love to spend my money on improving it -- it has been a huge source of inspiration to me as I pursue my online content writing career. I started by creating an online gardening journal -- then turned to an older interest of mine: herbs. Way back in 1973 I took a herbology class from a well-known author of herb books: Jeanne Rose. The class was in her San Francisco flat near Golden Gate Park. She asked us all to buy her first book, Herbs and Things. This surprised me because I’d already purchased it, not knowing that the woman teaching the class was the author of the book I’d recently bought at the local health food store! Jeanne Rose taught me to keep an ongoing index card file on herbs and remedies. She also introduced me to pennyroyal -- a herb I’ve had a fascination for ever since. Pennyroyal is a low-growing shrub with tiny lavender flowers that emerge in balls on the stems -- a member of the mint family. Earlier this year I saw an elderly friend at a local plant sale and invited him to my home so I could share some of my garden’s bounty: young catchfly flowers, lemon balm, and purple irises. In return he gifted me with a sweet william plant, peppermint, and a variegated mint that had an additional plant growing next to it. I didn’t know what it was but separated it from the variegated mint and let it grow. About a week ago it bloomed, and I was thrilled to see the little lavender flower balls of pennyroyal growing in my garden. I hadn’t found any pennyroyal in the ten years since I moved to this cabin in the mountains, so I was filled with excitement and joy. If you’re a gardener, perhaps you identify with my happiness over the world of plants. Honestly, my dear life partner, Bob, teased me a bit for getting so excited about the pennyroyal. If I can’t tell him about it, I’ll have to write about it instead. That’s how inspiration is -- it demands expression! I’m so pleased with my garden’s success this year that I’m inspired to share the bounty. I’m planning to plant some of my herbs in little cups to take to the local farmer’s market to sell. I’ve got an over-abundance of lemon balm and know others would like to have some too.
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Contributor's Note
There are many things I love to write about. Inspiration comes easily when you live life as an adventure, free to explore any subject that catches your heart.
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Linda's Gardening Journal
Catchfly blooming in my flower garden.
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I can understand being inspired by your garden. Growing and creating things seem to be the most rewarding ways to spend your time that I can imagine.
I think in these days of economic troubles more of us should be thinking about ways to save money. Growing our own vegetables is certainly one of those very worthwhile ways to do that.
 |  | odls Aug 17, 2009 07:50 | |
What an enjoyable read. As I read I could imagine you watering your flowers, taking off the dead blossoms and checking your vegetables to see if any were ready to pick. You see, I too, have a garden and love to tend to it.
Sounds like your gardening experience is somewhat like mine. I find myself thinking about things I wouldn't ordinarily be thinking about while I am tending my garden and observing and marveling at the complexities evident in God's creation.
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