Report From PIA – November 3
It was beautiful today, so after breakfast I headed out to the garden. As I pulled out the frost-killed plants, I noticed some bright green foliage among them. Weeds.
Next I went into the vegetable garden, and once again, the weeds greeted me. In areas I have yet to clear they were partying in a major way, but to my surprise, weeds were also growing in places I’d cleared two weeks ago.
If you’ve read this blog before, you know that I’m not content to stop there. Writing about the mere facts about the garden leave us all shortchanged. Life is so amazingly rich, and we deserve more. When in the garden I’m looking for instruction, metaphor, and understanding…I’m interested in how my garden speaks to me about all aspects of life.
Fortunately, the ever present weeds are great instructors. These small, green, albeit unwanted plants remind me to take advantage of every opening. A newly cleared vegetable garden says, “Come on in!” to weed seeds. They don’t stop because nothing else seems to be thriving at the moment, or because it may be the wrong season to sprout. Couldn’t I regard a time that’s vacant of work as an opportunity as well?
These fresh sedges that spring up among dead zinnias and marigolds tell me to keep growing, even if those around me aren’t doing the same. When others are quitting, it might prove an occasion for me to expand.
My weeds tell me that there is opportunity, even in times that don’t seem supportive to growth.
Among the frosted annuals, a sedge thrives.
In just over two weeks this knotweed germinated, grew and came into bloom in the vegetable garden. It did not live long enough to seed.
