Garden Plot

When I retired friends asked what I would do with all my free time.

“Oh,  just more of the good things.”   I said,   “Reading,  theatre,  tennis,  travel.”

“Try something new,  try gardening,”  some suggested,  “it’s  great physical exercise and surprisingly spiritual.  Try planting veggies.”

“Gardening’s not for me”.    I insisted,  “ I don’t have a green thumb.”

But my son does,  in fact he’s worked on an organic farm.  “Take a garden plot and I’ll plant.”,   he promised.

And so he planted –  peppers, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, lettuce and shiny purple eggplant.   And we weeded and watered and watched our garden grow.

You know,  I think next summer I’ll try strawberries.

Dana Susan Lehrman

9 Comments

  • One of the things I miss most about living in an apartment is my mom’s and my grandmother’s gardens. Had everything we needed – tomatoes, eggplant, corn, peach tree, fig tree, green veggies. My grandparents never used insecticides. They planted marigolds between rows of plans to keep bugs away! They also had grape vines – what a mystery to visit the dark basements where grapes were kept before they were “pressed” into wine. No, they didn’t use their feet. I have a picture of me sitting atop a grape press when I was about three years old. Those days are gone forever! PS: Gram and Grampa also picked cucumbers, eggplant and other veggies. Now it’s a trip to a little farm right on West 50th street in NYC where I bought a bunch of fresh picked veggies yesterday! I remember when they fig trees got wrapped in tar paper for the winter! They looked so scary in their black “suits” – but in the spring they came to life and it was amazing.

    • Wonderful memories Angela!
      And believe it or not there was also a small grapevine in the backyard of the Bronx house I grew up in, and indeed my grandma made wine too , and no not with her feet!

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