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| Believe it or not, I had already prepped this bed once already this past May! (6/23/13) |
When it comes to working in our small urban garden, I take on the role of destroyer. I break things down and make them ready, while my wife selects, plants and nurtures. In the garden each summer, I embrace my inner
Shiva and happily make ready the bed by weeding, digging, turning-over and blending the soil. I happily take upon myself the task of waking early (before the heat and humidity set in), and get to digging in the dirt.
The suggestion that Shiva-energy is at play seems appropriate (at least in a modern, Western sort-of-way) as it gives a positive and situationally appropriate connotation to the "destruction" necessary for successful gardening. As I understand it, Shiva does not destroy out of evil intent or as a means of ending the existence of something, but rather to reassert the truth that "all that has a beginning by necessity must have an end" and from that end a new beginning.
Making the ground ready is my role and the planting of the vegetables is my wife's. Tilling the earth, mixing in fresh compost consisting of wet waste from our kitchen--these things bring me a sense of accomplishment. This is not to suggest that I do not also enjoy assisting in planting, and on many occasions watering the plants in the early morning and late evening, my skills set is more in tune with the act of dismantling.
Of course, the greatest pleasure is in eventually being part of the small contribution to our table that the garden will (fingers -crossed!) have to our table in the fall.
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| Progress made early in the morning before going to the diner for breakfast. (6/23/13) |
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| Things move quickly once re-energized with joe, toast and eggs. (6/23/13) |
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| Fresh compost for blending into the soil (6/23/13) |
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| Ready, set, GROW! (6/23/13) |
...and so begins a new growing season with a variety of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and eggplant.
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