Green Machine

The community garden is a green machine this year. It cranks out leaves and buds and veggies, never taking a break or calling in sick. I feel happy each time I visit. Even if I’ve gone the day before and the garden looks nearly the same, there are always small changes to notice if you look closely. So many things are growing: football-sized zucchini, beautifully bumpy heirloom tomatoes, flowers of many colors.

 

None of the photos above show things in my plot, mind you. Oh no. These are the fruits of other gardeners’ labors. But I wanted to show them to you because together, everything growing in the garden makes up a mosaic of different shapes, colors, smells and textures, and it’s a work of art.

My own plot is the tortoise in this scenario. (Please refer to the children’s story Tortoise and the Hare if you don’t understand my metaphor.) It’s not the garden growing with the fastest speed or the tallest plants but it is chugging along, pacing itself, and it’s growing. It doesn’t need to come out of the gate quickly, with something to prove. I love my scarlet runner beans. I don’t care if these plants don’t produce one bean, actually! I planted the seeds for the promise of the brightly-colored flowers that grow on the vine. Life is not a black and white movie. The world is a colorful place!