Life will find a way

Gardening to me represents so many things, and relates to the stages and events of my life. The cycle of life and death, rebirth, renewal, the neverending path of seed to plant to flower to seed, the dance of seasons and years passing.

This rose came from my beloved grandparents' home in Vancouver, before they died, before I found myself on the curb outside the home I'd spent every Christmas at for 40 years.

It's down but not out, like me.

Next year's going to be a great one. That's something about gardening. If things aren't going well, there's always next year. Life's like that too - until it isn't, of course. But individuals die and are replaced by others, including their descendants. This is how it has been since the very first life form on this planet. There's always next year. We will go on.

Lives end. Life continues.

I'm turning the soil in my garden over, a couple rows at a time. A few years ago, I could clear a garden that size in an afternoon (and often did). But things happened, and I'm not able to do that, and I simply must realize and admit I have limits. There's no rush, anyway. I'm not going to plant anything this year (except some garlic bulbs in the fall).

I did throw in a few basil seeds when I first moved in a few weeks ago. They're doing nicely, surrounded by a bed of quickly-spreading volunteer purslanes. Both plants are incredibly nutritious, easy to grow, and good for gardens because they ward off most bugs.

Scientifically, purslane is a superfood, and a remarkable plant that can grow almost anywhere. It tastes sweet, bitter, and salty at the same time - a bit like a green pea crossed with a cucumber. It can be eaten raw or cooked. Historically, purslane has been hated through the centuries, called 'bland', 'filthy', and even 'slimy' (the latter by the bible itself).

I gave the rhubarb a serious haircut (you can see how it looked in my video here). It was harbouring a lot of snails. They've got less place to hide, now.

Damn, that's a lot of rhubarb. I personally don't really enjoy the flavour all that much (without a lot of sugar being added, which I'd rather not do). Instead of let it go bad, I washed it and chopped it up:

4 big bags, in my freezer. I think I'll take them down to the local farmer's market one morning soon. Just to give away. I'm sure I'll find someone there that can put it to use.

Everything's very green right now. I'd love to have more action in my garden at this time of year, but the move was pretty major, and I'm unwell, so I'm happy with waiting for spring.

Besides, there's something else really big and amazing about to happen. I'll talk about that soon. :)

But for the next month or two I'll be happy to let the purslane and basil flourish in the golden Okanagan sunshine, turn the garden soil over row by row, and try to do what I haven't done in many years - rest.

DRutter