Gardening Frustrations and Life Metaphors

Audrey Hepburn once said that to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. This is true. There is so much hope that precedes the planting of a seed. But those hopes don’t always come true. You haul wheel-barrows full of dirt, shovel it into beds, and carefully plant the seeds, soaking them in water and sunlight. You watch as they curl up from the earth like little miracles, certain their future is promising. I swear my beans grew faster than Jack’s, but I wasn’t worried about any real giants—only metaphorical ones (i.e weeds and deer).

I have officially declared war on all deer to ever cross the fence-line of my yard, except for the ones that I actually see. (They’re so cute, and, after all, their home was destroyed when new houses were built behind our land.) The deer are seeking revenge and they know how much I love my bean plants. I only have a few left, plus a couple rows of corn, some winter squash, one half-eaten tomato plant, a grape vine, and a lot of Bermuda grass, which I have also declared war upon. It’s not even supposed to be in America.
 

As you can tell, I am very discouraged. I bought a lot of seeds this year, and I don’t want to plant them all because I know what will happen to them if I do. But enough with the frustrations.

Let me tell you about something called the volunteer plant. Sometimes, if you don’t clear out your garden before your plants go to seed, your plants actually sow seeds that won’t come up until the next year. I was feeling discouraged about my garden today, when I found two pink chive flowers that resemble the resting place of a certain Whoville. Just next to these was a flowering borage, with star-like blue flowers. A little further off was a patch of cilantro, lemon balm, and thyme. Later, I realized that the mint seeds I had given up on forever ago had actually grown and were looking very healthy.

 

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I want to have a conclusion to this that includes a big, bold statement about life. This story is all true, of course, but it is also a metaphor, just like most life experiences can become metaphors if we reflect on them in a certain way. If I just said what all this meant, it would be too much like an allegory, so, since I hate allegories, I’ll leave it up to your imagination. I’ll just say one thing. Be thankful for the surprises in life—the lessons, the metaphors, and the fact that the only results worth recording involve the way we grow through our experiences.