Moonrise 13Moon Digital Magazine Volume 1, Number 8 - September 13, 2015 | Page 20

columnist
guest
WISHING
ON A STAR

Lessons Learned from Gardening

The zucchini vines looked limp. I stood
one vine upright and it collapsed like
a rag doll. I couldn’t understand why
they weren’t standing up like the others
in neighboring plots at the community
garden. A flower bloomed but just as
quickly, it shriveled up. But I kept
watering the zucchini. Thinking they
were young and just needed more time.
However, my concern grew. I kept thinking
something was off just like when my body
tells me I’m getting sick, tired and droopy
like the plants.
My friend Betsy just happened to be out at
the gardens one day, so I asked her to take
a look.
“Stem worm,” she said without hesitation
as she shook her head. “You’ll need to
pull them all out. They’re all infested.”
I felt shock and grief. It was like I was
hearing “the baby didn’t make it.”
Questions ran through my head, “Why
didn’t I see this sooner? Why didn’t I see
it coming? Why didn’t I know about stem
worm?” As I reluctantly pulled them all
out, my thoughts were already on starting
over.
I found there was a lot about gardening I
didn’t know. I’ve spent summer learning
along the way through trial and error or

istockphoto.com

Judith Wade

with the help of a friend who planted
the garden and maintains it with me. He
taught me the water sinks in better if
you hoe around the plants breaking up
the dirt. Zucchini is planted on mounds
to allow for expansion. Tomatoes don’t
need as much water and most importantly,
make sure you work in boots rather than
sandals if you treasure your toes.
The other thing I didn’t know about was
giving up. See there was that choice but
that didn’t register with me. Sure there
were people who told me to just wait
until next year to plant zucchini. But
that made me more determined. Not
necessarily to prove them wrong, but to
reinforce my belief in never giving up even
if it meant starting from seed because all