What Lies Beneath

Since I last wrote about my garden, a lot has happened. And a lot hasn’t happened.

We went from a wet spring to a few sparse weeks of beautiful summer weather, and then roared into blistering heat. My garden, unable to contend with Mother Nature’s mood swings, had suffered.

Between heat waves, I would wander into my garden and, instead of looking to see what was growing, I looked for destruction. Which crop failed this week? The beds, usually lush and beautiful, have big bare spots where the vegetables failed to grow. Our potato plants, which seemed to be the only crop that survived the wet spring, had dried and brown foliage, leaving me to wonder if my Irish blood somehow invited blight.

While the garden withered so did we. Heat, illness, and general malaise made us wither almost as much as our garden.

In the midst of this ennui, my husband and I trudged out to face our wilting, seemingly dead garden, ready to pull the dead plants, and to grieve over the failed plot. Instead, we found hope.

It began in the carrot bed. While the carrot tops didn’t look too burnt, I was sure our neglect and the weather meant we would only find tiny, woody carrots. Surprisingly, we pulled full, beautiful carrots from the earth.

We found squash blossoms and tiny patty pan squashes hiding beneath the foliage in our squash garden.

Our tomatoes and basils, heat lovers that they are, made promises that the next month will be full of salads and fresh pasta sauces.

We looked-up information about the state of our potato leaves and found out it wasn’t blight, but we were still sure the heat had scorched the plants beyond hope. However, as we began to pull the dead plants from the grow bags, a host of new potatoes came out from under the soil. We had a far bigger crop than we had hoped for even if the plants had survived.

As I stood in front of the kitchen sink, washing our harvest, I thought about how, once again, our garden has managed to teach me a lesson: It has taught me even when it looks like things are beyond all hope, there are positive things happening beneath the surface. Just when you are ready to throw in the towel, you might want to dig just a little deeper because you might just find a happy ending.

Photos of Garden in Augusts Past:

August 2020

Comments

MichelleAugust 19, 2022 at 12:12 PM
I love this article, Laura! Your last paragraph even made me tear up a bit. Very profound words of wisdom from the garden. Thank you for writing this!
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SueAugust 19, 2022 at 3:20 PM
What an awesome and uplifting sentiment. Thanks. Also, Carrot Tops Bring Hope might be my new mantra. haha.
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Michele FawcettAugust 19, 2022 at 9:23 PM
I am so glad your garden surprised you! I know around this time the potato plants die back and that's usually when they are ready to harvest. In fact, I am hoping to dig mine up this weekend. You are doing far better than I have with carrots. I never seem to have luck but I am going to plant a few more and see how it goes for a fall harvest :)
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Nicole MacPhersonAugust 20, 2022 at 7:37 AM
Gosh, you are such a good writer, Laura. I loved this whole post and the message it conveys. Also, I am thrilled that your garden is not lost even with this incredibly hot weather! My zucchinis are starting to really bear fruit, and the kale has been satisfying beyond compare. We have had a "hot" (for us, not for anyone else) summer and my tomatoes and basil have really flourished as well. Carrots, well, I won't be able to pull them for another month or so, but I hope they are doing okay!

Love this post so much, it is so uplifting.
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CathyAugust 21, 2022 at 4:03 AM
When I started reading your post I was so sad to hear about your garden. I am a gardener too - but only flowers and disappointed with my annuals this year too. Your final outcome made me so happy for you I almost cried . Thanks for sharing these ups and downs of life - makes us feel like we are not alone!
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Anne ButeraSeptember 8, 2022 at 8:39 AM
Hooray for the resilience of gardens and of ourselves!
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