This month my garden is teaching me… to go with the flow

Sometimes, I want to hold onto the garden and freeze time.  It is a feeling that hits especially hard this time of year, when life beyond the garden is shifting; children are wrapping up the school year and transitioning into new phases.  The garden looks so beautiful, it’s hard to think about removing plants and starting over. But a garden is not a sofa or new curtains; it’s a living piece of art that’s meant to change.

New, and even seasoned gardeners, like myself, struggle with the fact that when the garden looks its most vibrant; brimming with lush, full growth, it signals that it is almost time to start over.  It is currently mid-May, and having planted most of my garden in late February, I’m hoping to enjoy healthy tomato plants until mid to late June. But the Swiss chard is getting buggy and the snapdragons are beginning to fade. The good news is that nothing calms me quite like pulling spent plants, feeding the soil, and starting anew.

So when the house was in chaos this weekend, I stepped into my garden for some “me” time and transitioned one of my four garden beds. I cleared out a tomato plant covered in caterpillars and removed the cool-season plants, like snapdragons, Swiss chard, and nasturtiums.  But I kept two healthy banana pepper plants because they will continue to produce in the Texas heat. 

Once everything was cleared away, I worked in a bag of my favorite Nature’s Way leaf mold compost to give the garden a nutrient boost for summer.  Knowing hot temperatures are ahead, I planted white and purple Angelonia, pink Vinca, and purple Gomphrena.  And, because you can never have enough basil for pasta, pesto, and mozzarella salad, I made sure to add another basil and gave it plenty of room to grow.  Finally, I sowed seed for colorful zinnia flowers because nothing beats the miracle of growing a flower or vegetable from seed. 

For the next week or two, I will hand water daily until the seeds germinate and the new transplants establish their roots. Then, I get to sit back and watch it all unfold. I'll enjoy the fresh blooms, harvest the peppers and basil, and cherish the beauty—knowing all the while that when it peaks in August, it will be time to begin again.