The Great Garden Saturation: A Beginning

It’s ten-thirty at night as I write this and I am terrified of the next twenty five days. My family is going to Europe and I get the house to myself. With a catch. I will be taking care of my mother’s other child, the one she keeps underneath her green thumb. Her garden and her lawn. Her herbs and her vegetables. The strawberries and the rabbits.

I don’t remember how long my last fish lived but isn’t that the point? My fish died. I’ve never kept a plant alive except for a lima bean in a wet paper towel in the second grade. Tonight my mom walked me around, showing me how to reset the sprinkler system should the power go out or the weather remain in the high 90’s for more than 2 days. Which plants don’t get enough water from the sprinklers. How to keep the rabbits out of her plants that have slug bait sprinkled around them. How to start the lawn mower. The terrifying lawn mower.

Yes, it’s true. I have never mowed a lawn in my life. I was hoping to never have to. Isn’t it one of those unnecessary skills like how to program your VCR? It’s nice to know but not necessary. You see, there were always my parents and then my three brothers to do that. I appreciated that they did it. I guess my appreciation wasn’t wished at them hard enough because now it’s my turn.

I told my mom that I’m going to kill all her plants and she’s going to hate me when she gets back. She says I’ll be fine and maybe I’ll even learn to like it. And isn’t it fun, puttering around the yard, relaxing, taking care of things in the cool evening? My mother wishes she was a hobbit and often does the watering barefoot. And I really am terrified.

Because I don’t really want to sacrifice thirty minutes a day, plus an extra forty-five on Saturdays to water plants in a desert. I barely have time to exercise and write in the same day, let alone take care of the green stuff.

But my mom loves her yard and I love her so I am going to do my best to keep it green for her. The carrots will need to be thinned, the strawberries picked, the green beans wound, the lawn mowed (the dreaded lawn mowed!). And who knows? Maybe I will learn to enjoy it. I never pictured myself taking care of a garden until I was done with everything else I wanted to do. So I really wasn’t planning on this until I was eighty or eighty five. Give or take.

Wednesday June 6th marks the beginning of The Great Garden Saturation. Wish me luck.