A gardener’s life is an action-packed, fun-filled adventure.

Our heart skips a beat when the new, colorful seed catalogs arrive in the mail. With sweaty palms we caress each page, admiring the photography and imagine introducing these new flowers and vegetables into the next planting.

Soon, with jubilation, we open that fat, brown envelope containing packets of seeds, ripe with potential. Filling the pots, sowing the seeds, labeling, and watering is a slow dance. After nursing for days or weeks or months, germination is the crescendo, a reason to send out birth announcements.

Transplanting the seedlings into the garden and containers is like the pyro-technician loading the tubes on the third of July. It is arranging for the hopeful display.

The thrill continues when the established plants bring forth their first blossoms and fruit. In Old Testament times, believers would bring their “first fruits” to the temple as an offering. The first are the biggest and the best the plant has to offer, for all to enjoy.

The satisfaction continues as the plants increases in size and abundance. 
Cultivating is caring. It is not work, it is helping the good plants, hindering the weeds, giving water when needed, and watching for pests. It is correcting and directing. It is a satisfying activity.

The harvest is a reward but not the conclusion. Gardening is a natural continuum. There is no final season, only the next season, filled with dreams and desire and contentment.