LATE SUMMER GARDEN WISDOM THE BEAUTY OF BOUNDARIES
You know how some people can’t stop themselves from taking in stray animals ? Well I am this way with plants. My garden is full of volunteer flowers, trees and weeds. Cosmos crowd out the tomatoes. Morning Glories climb up the trellis which was meant for the bean plants. Grass grows where there should be flowers and flowers grow where there should be grass.
I know I should set limits, but who am I, I ask myself, to deny anyone or anything a chance for growth and development? After all, my altruistic free-for-all garden ethics seem to work out most of the time – until harvest rolls around.
It is during this abundant time of year, where we enjoy the fruits of our labors, that the effects of my lack of boundaries become obvious.
While other gardeners are swimming in green beans, I am trying to pry the few precious bean pods from the clutches of morning glory strangulation. Carrots are dwarfed under a sea of nasturtium leaves and beets are buried in a field of straggler sunflowers, growing every which way but up.
As some wise gardener once said, ” the garden is the autobiography of the gardener”
According to this maxim, my garden story has a less than satisfying ending this fall. Everything is growing and yet nothing seems to be receiving enough of what it needs to truly thrive.
Might this also be the story of my overly extended life?
In Chinese Medicine the harvest season of late summer corresponds to the Earth element. The Earth element regulates the digestive system and all that deeply nourishes and sustains us. The Earth element is all about balance, boundaries and maintaining inner and outer integrity as a cornerstone to Health.
In harmony with the nature of the season, harvest is the perfect time to do our checks and balances in the garden and in our lives as well.
𖤓 Does your energy output equal or exceed input ?
𖤓 Are your actions and intentions feeding what will provide deep nourishment in the days to come?
𖤓 Are you able to prioritize your needs first before taking care of others ?
𖤓 Are you able to let go of what does not nourish you even if it might disappoint others?
𖤓 Are you able to say “No”?
Remember that every time you say no to what does not work in your life, you are really saying a YES to what does.
This gardening season has taught me a difficult yet valuable lesson about boundaries and my ability to foster a healthy life. I may not have grown an award winning crop of vegetables but I did, indeed, harvest some useful insights about my own need to set limits.
Now fall arrives and it is time to cut back and clean out. It is time to live and learn, to let go, and to give thanks for the bounty that does exist within the chaos of my garden walls.
“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments “
-Janet Kilburn Phillips
