Gardening should not be referred to as a hobby.
It can’t be, because one is dealing with life here. One is planting tiny seeds and saplings in
earth one has to soften and goad so it yields.
One is tending to the little newbies with the worry, care and anxiety of a parent. Shielding it
from the elements at times; exposing it to the same elements at others; watching over them
in rain and frost; smiling with them when the Sun is being a friend. Watering some more,
others less.
It is a beautiful process.
However, those perfect gardens one sees and envies; those bouncy veggies from the
neighbor’s kitchen garden; they don’t result from hiring the most expensive gardener on the
street.
They are the result of toil and patience and love and the right education on the subject.
Local stores will sell you seeds and instructions. Organic/hybrid/ imported/ local, with
scattered instructions. Your gardener will add to the scatter with his experience and old
wives’ tales which work at times, don’t at others. The Internet will give you the most precise
information necessary; so, that should be your primary source of information.
Your gardener should be your green thumbed assistant.
Till you, yourself, however, don’t assume the parental role in loving, tending to and rearing
your greens, there can never be that little piece of Paradise you dreamed of in your front
lawn or backyard.
Put on your gloves, grab those yummy tools and breathe the aroma of fresh earth as you dig
into it.
Know, you are now part of the big plan, the one where life sprouts before your eyes, colours
your mornings and wafts fragrances through your windows at night.
Enjoy filling in those baskets with lemons and cherry tomatoes for the neighbors.
Bouquets of roses and fresh flowers for your loved ones.
Know you provide nectar for the bees and butterflies; shade for the birds; beauty for yourself.
Know; that you are now a big deal in the cycle of life.
You are a tender of a garden you can call yours.
Sadia Babar