So Long from This Garden
Garden Views
by Kent Petterson
It has been fun, and I’ve learned a lot preparing these monthly columns for the Community Reporter. I hope that you learned a lot too. We have lived through 14 fruitful growing seasons since Maxine McCormick asked me to try my hand at a gardening column. Two more editors and many bushels of produce later, I have decided to retire my garden-themed contributions to the paper.
This year’s garden, for some, is mostly planted and growing larger. For others, maybe it is just beginning. The process of making your “garden” varies each year. Whether it’s a container on your patio, a Gertrude Jekyll perennial flower border, or a community vegetable garden plot, tending your garden is forever a new adventure.
We gardeners are a lucky bunch. We get to see up close, the cycle of life play out each year. From a tiny seed to a beautiful flower or a nourishing vegetable, our view of the cycle is spectacular! Well, sometimes it can be frustrating, when plants die before their time or unforeseen troubles intervene (I’ve complained about my rabbits over the years). Even so, one of the rewarding features of your garden is that you define it the way you want. I like to think of it as valuable therapy that nourishes both soul and body.
It has been a troubling time for everyone recently—though for many the troubles began long before the pandemic—and we could all use such nourishment. I am eager to continue watching the sun rise above and the rain fall upon the gardens that are what we each build of our lives.
You may not see me in the paper every month, but I’ll be around, tending my garden and bookstore (TerraceHorticulturalBooks.com). Maybe I’ll see you in the garden. The views are great!
