Thursday, July 16, 2009

You Reap What You Sow

Early this spring I planted radishes in the garden. I planted radishes once when I was a youngster, and I remember being thrilled with the rapidity at which the plants pushed their little green heads above the ground. What I didn't remember from my earlier experience was how many radishes grow from those small seeds.

In my spring garden, I planted two long rows of radishes, and in a short space of time the radishes did their thing. I thinned the rows for awhile, then life got busy and I neglected my farm duties. I wasn't too concerned because the sprinklers automatically watered and the sun shone down every day. The plants grew...and grew.

At first it was lovely to walk out to the garden and snatch up a half dozen radishes for the salad, or to slice up a few for bread, butter, and radish sandwiches. But what do you do when you have 50 radishes ready to harvest? There's no such thing as radish stew, or radish cake, or radish jelly, and after a while your stomach revolts at the thought of digesting another red orb.

So, today, as much as it saddened me, I pulled up the remaining plants (which were 3 feet tall and had flowering tops) and tossed them in the garbage. I hate waste, but I couldn't stand the thought of eating another of those peppery little veggies. As I shut the lid of the garbage can, I tried to be philosophical. "I will learn from this mistake," I told myself. "All mistakes can serve as a lesson." So true. Next time (if there is a next time) I will plant a quarter row of radishes, and I'll be sure to thin them and watch over them.

Mistakes...we all make them, right? So here's the life lesson. Don't beat yourself up for planting too many radishes. Hmm. Maybe I'll try zucchini.

2 comments:

Valerie said...

I'm just plain impressed that you made time to plant anything at all. And you know there's a lesson to about appreciating having had something, even if the time comes when you're tired of it. A friend gave me a bunch of radishes and although we didn't each them all (personally, I'm not a radish fan), my two brothers thoroughly enjoyed the ones they did eat.

I say pat yourself on the back and say, "Many, many people talk about planting gardens (and writing books), but I have done both."
Way to go! What a woman!

Cheri J. Crane said...

Words of wisdom, Gale. ;)Last year I planted nearly 3 rows of lettuce. Different kinds of lettuce, but lettuce all the same. Yeah . . . lettuce jelly doesn't work out so good, either. =D