Inch by Inch

I am sitting here gazing out the window. I do this a lot. I even payed the builder extra to have giant windows/walk-out installed at the back of my home so I can indulge in green-gazing. It overlooks my small backyard with a view of a home behind. This particular neighbour’s home is a tad on the dilapidated side and is overgrown with weeds and plants due to being abandoned for most of the week. I actually love it, this neighbour’s home makes me feel like I am deeper in nature than I actually am and contributes to me having greater privacy. Goodness, for me it is so gorgeous…wild, not meticulous but it is this uncontrolled lushness that does it for me. I sometimes sit on a mat in front of the glass so that my nose almost touches it. Looking at the butterflies, the leaves swaying and the little sprouts popping out of the soil puts my breathing on meditation pace autopilot.

My piece of land is small…tiny by many peoples standards but it is no matter, there is a voice in my head that sings “inch by inch, row by row, gonna make my garden grow. All it takes is a rake and a hoe and piece of fertile ground“, that voice is my own from when I was back in single digits. I loved this song I learned in school and my own small, distant voice filters into my brain when I look at my little “adult” garden, I hum it as I walk barefoot on my grass and poke at the soil, pull weeds. Don’t get me wrong, I am no farmer. I have just been attempting to grow things with both success and failure for a long time, including a high percentage of time living in an apartment (one particular year I had such great success with my cucumbers that I kept hitting my head on them when I would open the balcony door). Anyhow, I have learned to move on with the disappointment when things get eaten up by bugs or don’t thrive and I always plant leaves that are hardy and guaranteed to give me hope and satisfaction in my gardening pursuit.

Even one tiny plant that feeds you nourishes your heart,instills magic in life and puts appreciation on the brain. City dwellers, throw some lettuce seeds in a deep pot NOW and place it on the balcony where you can see it and it is exposed to the elements i.e rain (the deep pot is so you decrease your chances of letting it dry out). You will have fresh salad leaves over the next few months. It is so simple and  I cannot even say how many friends have come over and been overjoyed and surprised when I hand them a basket and tell them to go on the balcony (now backyard) and cut leaves for our meal. Just keep snipping what you need to eat and it will not only continue to give, it will actually give more and more.

This is more a PSA. Future posts will be more specific about what grows well here in TYO. I am blessed to have my own piece of land now and even writing about it makes my heart explode with love. When I see my kids snacking on what is out back, when I walk out there and pick things to cook with or when I just want to settle my heart by green-gazing in my garden I heal just a little bit more, become a tad more kinder and fall in love with the world just that much more.

(All pics are of my summer garden ending and autumn garden beginning.)