Gardening in Hard Times

I saw a sign posted on the wall at the medical lab. It said, “Growing old isn’t for sissies.”

What does that have to do with gardening and hard times, you ask?

When someone says hard times, most people think of some international events, like wars and financial upheavals. And it’s true those things can and do happen way too much. But what I want you to consider here are the hard times on a more personal level.

This is a personal story and how it relates to the gardening season just passed.

Late last winter I developed a retinal tear with a retinal detachment. Old age the doctor said. After eye surgery to repair the damage, I had certain restrictions on movement and no vision in my right eye. The lack of vision was from the gas bubble they put in my eye to fix the retinal detachment. This happened just about the time to start indoor plants for the coming season. Ultimately, this meant I would be buying plants instead of starting my own. It was a hard time for gardening.

The eye healed. The gas bubble was absorbed. Literally, things were looking good. I started to prepare the garden and start some early planting. Well crawling around in the garden, I picked up a nasty germ that caused an infection just above my left knee. After a round of antibiotics and about six weeks of healing, I was able to bend the knee and get back in the garden. I got a late start, but there was still time to get a good harvest of my favorite vegetables. It was a hard time for gardening.

The summer wasn’t as warm as it could have been, but the rain was good. The garden was looking good. The weeds were under control. The usual pests were even quite light. There’s hope for this garden season.

The peppers were turning red. The tomatoes were ripe. Fruit on the trees and bushes were sweet and ripe. It was time to start making jams, jellies, and tomato sauce for the coming winter. You know there’s nothing better than homemade jam on still warm homemade bread. The taste of summer in every jar of canned tomato sauce has no equal in store bought sauce.

Then lightning struck once again.

A late summer bonfire in the backyard, marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers...AKA s’mores. While pulling logs out of the woodpile for the fire, I picked up a spider too. It was most likely a Yellow Sac Spider, common in my area. It wasn’t a happy spider and it bit me on the lower right leg near the knee.

Seven days in the hospital on IV antibiotics and two surgeries later, I had a 4 x 5 centimeter hole in my leg. Apparently , the venom of a Yellow Sac Spider is similar to a Brown Recluse Spider. Not quite as bad, but bad. I have gruesome pictures if you really want to see how bad. A month on a wound vac to regenerate tissues in the hole in my leg, another month of moist dressings, and now 3 months later things are nearly healed. That’s the good part. The bad part is the tomatoes and fruit got overripe, fell on the ground and rotted.

No tomato sauce. No jams and jellies. It was a hard time for gardening.

Now I realize I’m getting older and some garden chores are harder to do. Then there are the unexpected events. Sickness, injuries, weather, pests, plant diseases, and weeds can conspire to make a gardener’s life interesting.

I like to think of gardeners as hopeful people. In spite of all the things that can go wrong, we still plant seeds. We trust life. We plan for the next season. We envision that perfect garden and perfect weather. It never happens, but even one sun warmed ripe tomato makes it all worthwhile.

Where are my garden catalogs?