gardening
Gritty fingers
19 May 2008 08:17 PM Categories: Marriage
I haven't quite gotten
used to this land of mild winter, where the rains
come and make the huge plants gargantuan, where
things that should die over two dark seasons continue
to grow.
Last fall, when home life was strained, I stopped regularly watering our outdoor plants. The dirt beneath the scrub grass cracked like a drought-choked riverbed. Herbs turned brown in their terra cotta pots and the stressed lemon tree in the backyard dropped withered leaves. Every time the lawn crew (another thing I haven't quite gotten used to here) finished its work I would come out and find a shallow hole where yet another plant had perished, removed by the efficient men with their thick gloves and weed whackers.
We spent the late fall and winter rebuilding, nurturing our family life in California. The rains came. The greenery was rejuvenated. Herbs mysteriously re-sprouted and the grass came back a patchy grey-green, though the lemon tree did not undergo a spontaneous rebirth.
Yesterday we celebrated spring by planting flowers and vegetables: three tomato plants, a tomatillo, a pumpkin vine, a melon plant, and six tiny swiss chards (too much, I'm sure, but spring calls for optimism). Sunburned, shining with sweat, arms smeared with compost, we linked our gritty fingers after the last plant was watered. One tough year down and a lifetime of growth ahead.
Last fall, when home life was strained, I stopped regularly watering our outdoor plants. The dirt beneath the scrub grass cracked like a drought-choked riverbed. Herbs turned brown in their terra cotta pots and the stressed lemon tree in the backyard dropped withered leaves. Every time the lawn crew (another thing I haven't quite gotten used to here) finished its work I would come out and find a shallow hole where yet another plant had perished, removed by the efficient men with their thick gloves and weed whackers.
We spent the late fall and winter rebuilding, nurturing our family life in California. The rains came. The greenery was rejuvenated. Herbs mysteriously re-sprouted and the grass came back a patchy grey-green, though the lemon tree did not undergo a spontaneous rebirth.
Yesterday we celebrated spring by planting flowers and vegetables: three tomato plants, a tomatillo, a pumpkin vine, a melon plant, and six tiny swiss chards (too much, I'm sure, but spring calls for optimism). Sunburned, shining with sweat, arms smeared with compost, we linked our gritty fingers after the last plant was watered. One tough year down and a lifetime of growth ahead.
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