Lessons from the Garden

Here is what I have learned in a lifetime of gardening.
Early optimism always trumps common sense.
Every year in August we tell each other that we will plant less next year. Every
spring we get excited and plant more.
Carl Sandburg was right.
His poem "Grass" is about war and forgetfulness, but it could well be about our
garden. "I am the grass. Let me work." No matter what our intentions, we always
grow more grass than anything else.
For every year of gardening, you get a little better at growing things.
There is a corollary, however. For every year of gardening, your back becomes a
little less willing to bend over long enough to thin those radish rows.
No matter how much I grouse, it is worth it.
Each day brings new miracles: tasty carrots, tomatoes warm from the sun, crisp cabbage, crunchy cucumbers. Oh, and don't forget, I still have zucchini to give away.