Gardening for the soul

My garden has been my refuge for years now.  Growing up, we had gardens wherever we lived.  Huge ones in those public sector quarters and then my parents bought two plots of land, one for the house and the other for a garden.  As children, we played in the garden at all times of the day....there was a badam tree to chip badam seeds out of and irrigation canals (tiny little rivulets connecting different plants) to play pretend picnic with mudpies near the 'river'.  We learned seamlessly about sedimentation and water conservation.  One summer, water was rationed and we could not water our gardens.  I remember sharing my drinking water with the marigold plants I had planted....they were the only plants in the garden that were green and flowering.  Of course, that got my mom's antennae up and we ended up having to choose human over plant welfare.
Had two plants in the US....gardening there on the East coast is a royal pain.  Between the fact that you have a plot of land in a community garden and have to frost proof plants et al, my enthusiasm was low.  Reserved for my lovely terrace garden in India.  We chose a first floor home because I am scared of cockroaches.  Easier to cockroach proof a non-ground floor home, which we were able to do, about 90% of the time.  And then began my hours of planning, placing, reading, sighing over garden books....fast forward 8 years to my around 150 pot terrace refuge, complete with bench and birdhouse....lotus pot and herbs, strawberries and some tomatoes, jasmine of different kinds, pomegranate and fig plants, a lavendine branch donated by a friend when pruning, raat-ki-raani near the window, sending whiffs of pure decadence at night into our bedroom, a sicus that began with two leaves, growing SLOWWWWWWLY to give out 25 - 30 leaves this past year - my centerpiece.....I can obviously gloat/brag on for paragraphs.

We get to have tea in our garden, forecast rain and plan my wash cycle thanks to my bright rain lilies, see crows and tiny birds bathing in our lotus pond, squirrels sitting up and eating the strawberries like human beings with their tiny hands, run excavating earthworms that decided vermi composting was not as much fun as we thought it should be for them, exclaim at butterflies of vivid hues, see the children toddling away in their walkers to today when they proudly show off gerberas and our double colour rose that start off pale pink and finish up falling off close to black in colour.  We have bees and wasps and have to look out for centipedes after a garden cleaning.....wade out in the middle of a downpour to unclog the drain, sweep away leaves and leaves and leaves, ensure that we have plant care for vacations...the advantages outweigh the work.

On days like this after a downpour, my plants are laughing and happy.  You can sense the nonverbal body language....everyone is up and cheerful and sprightly.  Hot, hot days see them drained and exhausted, limp in an eerie reflection of how you feel...except you have a home to get into for shelter.  We talk to plants and sing to them.  Needless to say, we have lost a few that preferred rap music.  The others deal with pop music and classical with the same appreciation and polite deafness.  Very laissez faire in attitude.

If I have a garden in the ground, the complexity will have me gasping, I am sure.  I am able to limit the bugs considerably and still my purple cabbage looks close to white.  Organic farming is fun and non-intrusive.  We plant thuja in between and garlic to keep away the vampires, dust turmeric on ants (we consume a few gallons a year, it seems like!) and spray lemon grass spray on the naughtiest of bugs.  Between the daily dump composter on one terrace and the garden on the other, I would like to be responsible for zero waste from my kitchen.  One day, it would be nice to eat a summer meal totally sourced from my garden. Addition to bucket list.

By the way, all the pictures on my blog are from my garden.

G'day!