Gardener Tips Online
The other day, I worked with Em on her garden. It’s an annual thing she’s doing now, even though last year she didn’t bother with it much. Her dad did some of it, but Em was bogged down by a full-time work and school schedule. This year, though, her classes are lighter, so she was adamant to start the garden again. I’ve never been one to like to get my hands dirty. I guess you could say I’m prissy, but I went out there and helped her anyway. At first, I tried to pick out all the weeds and roots with the tips of my fingers without getting them too dirty, and I tried to keep my right hand from touching the dirt at all. After a while, though, I thought, “Screw it,” and plunged my hands into the earth. This feels a lot better, I thought. I abandoned my need to stay clean and didn’t worry about whether I got my jeans dirty. They could be washed.
We planted squash, flowers, and cucumbers. I stuck my fingers into the dirt up to my knuckles to insert the seeds and even got so ambitious to use the tiller. Well, it was hard at first. I have no upper body strength, but “I put my back into it” as people with better physical capabilities like to say. I even stayed out there to finish my plot after Em had already gone inside. At one point, I looked to her and said, “I wish I’d had to do stuff like this when I was younger.” “Why?” she asked, “You think it would’ve made you a better person?” “Yeah,” I said, “At least a better worker.”
But I learned that in taking the initiative to till the ground, to want that experience, was a far better thing I could do for myself than having someone make me do it as a chore. In understanding there are weeds and overgrown roots to be plucked from my life, I understood what had to be done to rid myself of them. I’ve understood it for a while, but it’s something I’ve tried to ignore. Instead of letting Emily take care of all the hard work because she’s stronger, I picked up the tiller to build my own muscles. Yes, my back hurts like the dickens now, but that’s okay. As those people with better physical capability like to say, “It builds character.”
