Oops, Do Over!

The growing season is obviously over for my garden. We went from sun-drenched warmth, bypassed the threats of frost and went straight to a deep freeze in a matter of days.

I still hold out hope for my brussel sprouts. I’ve never grown these things before and it’s been a fun little discovery seeing the unique way they grow on a plant. They have some tolerance to the cold so they may make it to harvest-size, or they may not. Either way, I’ve learned something new.

And I’m already percolating some ideas for next year’s garden, based on what I learned from my mistakes this year, like:

• Don’t plant so much in such a small space, no matter what the gardening book tells you.
• Pay more attention to how things are grouped so tall plants don’t’ shade and stunt the growth of smaller plants.
• Thin out the viney plants. like zucchini and squash, so they don’t turn into a wild, berserk, trail of chaos that threatens to overtake the garden and not allow the well-meaning, gardener to enter!

By now perhaps, as you read my gardening thoughts, it strikes you, as it does me, that the same knowledge could be applied to a person’s life.

• Stop cramming so much into a limited number of hours of “free” time!
• Don’t let people, duty, bad feedback, or any other shade fall onto your creative work and dreams.
• Stay organized. Don’t obsess about it, but thin out the eye noise and time suckers. Stuff lying around screaming, “File me! Wash me! Put me away! Read me! Dust me!” makes me anxious. I don’t need that.
• And above all, remember that no matter how hard you try to get it right this time, mistakes will be made or things will occur that are out of your control. 

I want to spend my time enjoying all of it — the successes and the oopses. There’s so much to learn! And with your life, you can do it over right now. You don’t have to wait until Spring.