Well, after what seemed like more of a Florida winter than an Arkansas one, we can now officially welcome the arrival of spring. My thoughts are turning to gardening and getting things ready for another year of growing good-tasting vegetables. Now is a good time to be adding compost and other amendments to the soil. I have been turning the rye over in some of my raised beds. It is lush and thick and not all that easy to turn over, but I'm confident that, as the plants decay, they will add valuable nitrogen to the soil.
On March 5th, my grandson Titus and I planted potatoes. They aren't up yet, but I have dug down and checked them, and they are sprouting nicely. I also have romaine lettuce, kale, collards, turnips and rutabaga plants growing. I thought some of the recent freezes might hurt them, but they look healthy.
The elephant garlic I planted back in the fall is looking great. The plants are about a foot and half tall and dark green. I expect a bumper crop of large bulbs. But, as the Led Zeppelin song says, time will tell us all.
Linda's herb garden made it through the winter unscathed. She has rosemary, English thyme, culinary sage, bear's paw sage, parsley and Greek oregano. They are all the picture of health. We also have various onion plants scattered around the garden that made it through the mild winter well.
The asparagus bed still looks pretty bare, but a few early shoots have sprung up here and there. The other day I broke a stalk off and ate it right there in the garden. That's one of the perks of growing your own produce. There's really nothing else like it. I have dug around in a few places in the bed and there is going to be a lot of asparagus this year and, best of all, we can eat all we want for as long as we want. Of course, asparagus is something we eat all the time, but we prefer to eat our own, grown in our own garden.
I have a big pile of compost beside the garden that is now well-aged. I can use as much of this wonderful stuff as I want since it has gone through the heat and is now mellow with age. Fortunately, I won't need as much this year since the beds are in better shape than they were last year. And that's the way it should be. A garden's soil should always be getting better as the years go by -- not because of the passage of time but because of continuous inputs by the gardener.
I need to get some onion plants in the ground, as well as a few other things. A bit later come the string beans, tomatoes and peppers, and later still the okra, the purple hull peas and the lima beans. Folks, this gardening thing doesn't get old for me.
What is it about this cycle of growth and new life that is so exciting and energizing? I'm not sure I understand it. I have often thought that God created us with something inside us that resonates with the concept of spring and new life. Something deep inside that allows us to understand with our limited human understanding what took place on that ancient Easter morning. That God so loved us that He gave His only-begotten Son. That God so loved us that we should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Doesn't gardening and the growing of plants remind us of the Resurrection? I think it does. And I think that is one reason that gardening is so enjoyable. It allows our hearts to resonate with God's purposes for us as His children. And it allows us to enjoy the labor of our own hands. I reckon you could say it's a win-win-win.
Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 03/30/2016