The Whistling Vicuna

    Many people grow gardens. Many more do not. I am one who does garden. Right now I have lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and a variety of cooking herbs. My mom-in-law lives with us and she gardens, too. She likes flowers and herbs. My wife also gardens and grows roses. The rose bushes are in full glory. The flowers, some are blooming and some are just youngsters.

    My truck garden is just getting started. The lettuce is six inches tall +/-. The “Early Girl” tomatoes are going like rockets, growing about six inches a day all having little green tomatoes. I put in some heirloom tomatoes this year, “Black Prince” and “Mr. Stripey”. I haven’t had good luck with that type out here in AZ. The “Early Girls” are 55 day toms, while the heirlooms are 70-75 day. Taking that long can get into high summer with 110+ temperatures cooking the fruit on the vine. It can be an exercise in frustration, trying something new. It can also be a joy.

    The year we left Oklahoma for Arizona, I had been gardening for about two years. I put in a small crop of “Arkansas Traveler” tomatoes. As I remember, they were the only thing in the garden. I tended the plants and watered daily. I had gotten some freshly fertilized grass clippings from an older lady across the street, who needed her lawn mowed.You plant in late May/early April back there. By July when we moved, the tomatoe plants were about six feet tall and just loaded with fruit sized between a baseball and a softball. I never got to enjoy those tomatoes but I think the folks at South Lakewood Baptist Church next door did. I “willed” the tomatoes to them.

    I’ve got peppers coming, too. Three types, a “Big Jim” New Mexico variety, and Anaheim, and a bell. They have flowers and seem to be progressing just fine. I like to fire roast my peppers on the grill outside. They are immediately usable or can be frozen to use and enjoy later. I may let some of the “Big Jim’s” ripen and dry on the vine and make my own chili powder. I’ve never done that, but will try. I’ve grown bells before but they came out very small. They were quite tasty but only useful for chopping. I’m hoping that this years will be better.

    The Green Beans. Eating garden fresh green beans is not something that many people do. Some might occasionally buy the “fresh” green bean at a supermarket, fresh only in the sense that they are not canned. Dried out, spotted, sometimes molded beans do not lend themselves to epicurean delight and can be an unsavory chore when you throw out half as unedible. Canned green beans are the only canned vegetable I buy if I cannot get my garden fresh ones.I’ll tell you, there is nothing like eating garden fresh food. The stuff found on shelves is like another species of food in taste and texture.

    You may be wondering where this is going. I realize I’m taking my time getting there but here I am. Growing some of your own food can allow you time to slow down from the frantic pace of the world, especially the world of the work environ. A plant cannot be rushed, cannot be put on a deadline, and won’t demand a meeting. You can’t approach a plant full tilt, garden hose shooting as much water as it can. Those things will kill a plant. Plants need patience, a tender hand, and yes, loving care. You nurture plants and it’s always a bit sad when, at the end of its life, the plant needs to be pulled up and mulched. The plant becomes a part of you. And no, I’m not a tree-hugger type, just someone who enjoys sharing a plants cycle. And quite literally the plant becomes part of you. As you eat the fruit of the plant, your body uses the cells and “life” of the plant to feed and nurture itself. It’s the old “you are what you eat” thing. I don’t put a lot of chemicals on my garden, just a little fertilizer and an ocassional pesticide, as the bugs here in AZ can be atrocious. I guess what I’m saying is that plants that are eaten are more than just food. They are an essential part of life, of living. Being a gardener, I will suggest that you try gardening, too. It might just help cure what ails you.