Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
Inch by inch, row by row
Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
'Til the rain comes tumbling down
Well, I kind of go back and forth between thinking my garden is going to kill me this year and loving it to death. Today, I'm kind of in-between and, if not one with nature, then at least we're oozing into each other a bit more.
Our beautiful hilltop home is surrounded by acres and acres of fertile fields. I can see them all from just about every window of my house. Notice, my friends, that I said, "surrounded by." What that means is that this fabulous peak that gives me such incredible views just doesn't have any good soil.
Pulling weeds and pickin' stones
Man is made from dreams and bones
Feel the need to grow my own
'Cause the time is close at hand
Grain for grain, sun and rain
Find my way in nature's chain
To my body and my brain
To the music from the land
So, for the past seven years, from the very moment that I stepped foot on this piece of paradise, I've been working to tame the land. Clay, sand, rock, and the neighbor's newly-planted trees that border--ah, yes, even hover--over my garden area have all been issues to contend with. I've had years when my tomatoes have been attacked by hornworms, and blossom end-rot, and calcium deficiency, and an attack of goats, and the neighbor's cows, and the other neighbor's children. I've had years when I tilled and turned and double-dug only to be thwarted by weeds that popped up and choked out everything practically overnight. I've had raised beds rot away, birds devour cherries just moments before they were ripe, curculio worms eat my peaches from the inside out, and chickens dig up every last newly sprouted nasturtium seedling. My dogs love rolling in freshly spread mulch and freshly planted perennials, and my cats, like all cats, can't resist a brand new litter box shaped like a flower bed.
But I persist. I'm not sure why. I think it's a combination of naivety, stubbornness and a strong desire to hold on to a dream.
Because I've always had this image of a house surrounded by beautiful flowers, productive fruit trees, plentiful vegetable gardens, and chickens gently scratching away the grubs and cabbage worms. Of big, lazy dogs lounging on the porch (not in the flower bed, you see), and cats stretched out among the catnip.
Plant your rows straight and long
Thicker than with pray'r and song
Mother Earth will make you strong
If you give her love and care
Old crow watchin' hungrily
From his perch in yonder tree
In my garden I'm as free
As that feathered thief up there
So, sure, I've had to do some adjusting. I've learned a bit about fences, and about multiple plantings, about sticking sharp things where you don't want animals to lay or dig or scratch. I know now that I have to pick the cabbage worms off the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage every day, not just when I see the pretty white moths appear fluttering above my garden. I've finally figured out that when the dogs find a patch in the garden that they like, I don't chase them away and replant what they dig up. I just leave that spot empty for them, let them feel like they won the battle. Chasing them away just sends them to a new spot, anyway.
Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
Inch by inch, row by row
Someone bless the seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
'Til the rain comes tumbling down
Anyone who tells you that gardening isn't hard work is probably growing something illegal. It's a heck of a lot of work, and there are days when I don't think it's worth it at all.
But today I do. And that's what will keep me going tomorrow.
That's the country life.
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