Gardener’s Envy

In her book 10 Principles for Spiritual Parenting, Mimi Doe recommends that parents help their children to eliminate envy by being happy for the good news and success of their friends. She explains envy in a positive way noting that feeling envy is a sign of what is possible in our own lives.

Today after playing at the park for a bit, Annabelle and I wandered over to our neighborhood’s community gardens where for a small fee, folks aching to garden and who don’t own much land can grow to their heart’s content. I wanted to see what other gardeners were up to and think about what we might plant next spring and this coming fall. For starters, we want to build another raised bed in our backyard to grow more vegetables. My husband forgot just how much space cucumber patches require (his parents made him and his brother tend a vegetable garden when they were growing up in rural Connecticut), so next year we’ll plant them wider apart and allow for more room. Maybe we’ll even have a cucumber patch bed? Two nights ago I had to dig up our dried cucumber plants and add them to the compost pile. It felt sad to do it but in its place, I planted a butterfly bush, which we’ll move in the coming weeks to a new flower bed.

Our grape tomato plants are also drying up (although we’ve harvested tomatoes several times this summer). Lesson learned. Next season we’ll add in a sprinkler system for our garden.

Since we live in a townhouse and own just a small plot of land, we’re planning to build 2 flower beds and I will likely plant native wildflowers and winter lettuces that can endure cold weather. As a matter of fact, I would love suggestions on how to go about doing fall planting. Color and ease of care matter most to me since much of my time is devoted to chasing an almost 2 year old around.

Meanwhile, for landscaping, we’re researching how to build a stone pathway around the garden beds. We’ll likely let that project wait until next spring, though.

So, as mentioned in the blog title, I walked through the aisles of the community garden and envy swelled up inside of me when I saw other gardeners’ large plump tomatoes and tall gorgeous sunflowers. However, like Doe explains, our envy for what others do and make is a way of telling ourselves that we are capable of making such realities possible for ourselves, with a little bit of creativity and work. This fall and next spring I plan to read more and think about how we’ll expand and design our own little plot of land.