Fertile Myrtle

That’s right,  I can grow more than people.

I decided this year with so little going on in my life that I should grow a garden. 

Not just flowers.  Those gardens are for amateurs. 

No, I’m talking vegetables – real ones. From seeds, oh yeah.

So off I went to Lowe's, to purchase the making of a garden box.   With my own two hands and the help of a power drill I built myself a garden box, 4 x 5 and filled it with top soil and love.

And then there was the waiting.

After the initial work was done, it turns out that vegetable gardens are pretty boring. 

And then it rained.  A lot.

So when the sun finally came out days later, I wandered to the back yard to check on my veggies.

To my shock and amazement, my beans had sprouted, my peppers were popping, my tomatoes grew tall. 

When I set out to plant my garden, I figured I would see a comparison between gardens & friendships, you know….fostering friendship and then watching it bloom…crap like that.

But instead, I find my garden reminds me more of parenting.  A lot of preparation and then a lot of waiting.  I found Monster Monkey to be rather boring as an infant.

I read a lot in preparation for him.  Scoured the Internet for answers and advice to make sure I did everything correctly, sure that if I didn't prep correctly I would ruin him forever. 

Once he arrived my search continued as I asked everyone from our child care provider to the cashier at the corner store, “Am I doing this right?”

Somewhere along the way, however, I realized that much like my garden, with very little effort I was growing a great little man.  He learned, and grew, and blossomed sometimes in spite of me.

Now that my mutliple Monkeys have sprouted I see that they need more support as they grow.  Like my tomato plant, bending under the weight of it's fruit, my Monkeys need guidance to grow tall and strong. 

Gardening, like parenting, is a lot of work if you intend to do it correctly.  But I think the fruits of my labor are so well worth it.   

 

It's funny how it all started with a couple tiny seeds.