My pre-teen garden

I'm sitting in my backyard, staying as cool as possible, admiring my vegetable garden.  I've expanded it this year -- almost twice as big as usual, with a larger variety of veggies.  It's a good-looking garden, neat and clean with few weeds and nicely arranged rows.

Back in March, I started this whole process by incubating teeny seeds in the sunroom. When the baby plants sprouted, we gave them lots of tender loving care until they were ready to head out, like shy kindergarteners, into the yard on their own.  We're now in what my farmer-friend John calls the youngster or school-age stage.  That's when all the plants are well-behaved, lined up, staying in their respective areas, doing as they're told.

Next comes the teenage stage of growth spurts and lanky limbs with everybody sneaking into each other's beds.  This stage includes lots of sex and is when things seem to be getting out of control.  But soon enough everybody's concentrating on producing off-spring, and over the course of the summer (with a little luck) we'll have an abundance of beans, bok choi, broccoli, carrots, corn, cukes, eggplant, lettuce, melons, potatoes, squash and tomatoes.  Eventually things will begin to wind down, until all that's left are the dry, skeletal remains of what were once gorgeous lush plants, coming to the end of their productive season.

Now if I wanted to, I could find a bushel basket-full of symbols and analogies about life, aging, social status, family values, you name it -- all from the simple act of watching my garden grow.  But for today, I'm content to let things unfold, enjoy the order and peace of my almost-teenage veggies -- munch on some pea pods -- and be in awe of how perfectly life works.