This is part of my vege garden, taken a month ago. Unfortunately it doesn’t look this good at the moment, but let’s just pretend it does for the sake of this post. At this point you may be wondering why my vege garden gets special mention on the Edge Kingsland blog. Well, here are a few profound spiritual reasons why I love gardening and think you should too:
When I garden, I’m reminded of God as Creator. Of his power, but also his gentle care. I feel like I’m partnering with him, co-creating and nurturing his world.
I find I’m more in touch with the seasons, the natural flow of life. It helps me recognise and accept the seasons in my own life.
Henri Nouwen writes that “the whole of nature is a sacrament pointing to a reality far beyond itself.” A sacrament is something sacred that reveals God’s grace to us. Familiar sacraments to us are the Eucharist and baptism. The idea of creation as sacrament is that we can witness something of God in what he has made.
Spiritual musings aside…
I love the process of learning to grow my own food. I love getting my hands dirty and seeing what I can create and produce (and eat). It’s fun. What’s even better is getting around other people who are just as nerdy about gardening as me and sharing ideas (and food).
Every now and then, those of us who are interested in gardening are planning to meet at someone’s house for a cuppa, a chat, and to have a nosey at their garden. Maybe even go on some other field trips. Would you be keen for this? Perhaps you are an expert already – we need your wisdom! Perhaps you are a total beginner – we can help you! So, come and talk to me sometime.
So when will we be getting together to share our gardening stories?
wow your tomatos look amazing, I have a really small patch and my toms are not looking quite so healthy….. the leaves are all curled up. On the upside the peppers, chillis and heabs are coming along fine bar all the catapillers.
well now that we are sharing ‘on-line’ stories…I know I have potatoes growing under the soil,
my fox terrier dug up a plant (suspect she was trying to bury a bone)…the evidence of the big dig
was a tiny potato….laying on top of the soil…..4 more weeks until harvest…
Well watch this space and we’ll sort out the details of our first gathering. Let me know if you would like to volunteer your garden as one we can visit – even small ones are great!
So I was reading an email that gets sent out by NZ Gardener every Friday…and they were talking about building a ‘cloche’,
which in lay terms is a little home- made glass house, that sits in your garden, protecting your most valuable edibles from pending frosts. Turns out that an old window frame works the same, and ‘voila’….there, under our house were two frames, with opening windows begging to be given a new lease of life! So picture this, two narrow windows laying in my garden, strategically placed over a row of carrots, and a row of lettuces, open during the day to capture the much needed rain, and closed by night to ward off the cold…..how exciting, and free! So…rummage around for an old window frame and give your delicates some extra TLC and enjoy winter harvest!
p.s.Happy to volunteer my home and garden for a gathering…there’s not a huge amount to see, but definitely some good old-fashioned kiwi ingenuity!
Ooooooh… I’d be into a little gardener gathering. I’m a garden newbie, but I’ve gotten quite good at growing lettuces. My broccoli leaves are being chewed up by some little critter, but I think they’ll still produce something.
you can grow lettuces in winter???? cool!
p.s. – my lettuces have gone to seed, is that the end of them?
I do believe that this gardening blog is the most popular on the edge page so far!
Look at all these comments! Gardening is the best…thanks for getting us growing together Bec.
Kelly I’m afraid that is the end of your lettuces. You can grow lettuces in winter though – there are different varieties that are suited to summer and winter, so it will say on the labels on the punnets/seeds. Woohoo go the gardening blog!