Monday Harvest

Monday Harvest, a photo by Taproot Garden on Flickr.

Admittedly, it's not a burying windfall. There was plenty of room left in the basket. Nonetheless it was good to spend the morning getting reacquainted with the garden after an extended weekend away. More, really, because showers throughout the preceding days had seduced me into leaving the seedlings to their own quiet growing while I attended to matters outside the fence. A generous neighbor agreed to monitor the thirst of the intervening days, so I knew the project was in good hands. Still, like a parent leaving young ones with a babysitter, it was good to get back home and behold their well-being with my own eyes.

In the cool of the morning, heavy with dew, I made my way out and through the gate. Indeed, all was well, though the plants seem to be "between times." Recent seedings are only barely peeping through the soil, and the tomatoes seem pretty well exhausted. The peppers, while not heavy with fruit, are popping with new blossoms; a premonition of spiciness to come. The rest are on their way or holding their own, contentedly filling their spaces.

I strapped on the knee pads and started a fresh circuit confronting weeds in the first half-dozen trenches, and then browsed the rows for ripeness. There were, as the picture attests, a few offerings to bring inside -- a kindly, if humble, gesture as though to say, "welcome home."