Jun 8, 2016 5 min read

As the summer solstice approaches (or maybe it already has passed depending on when you read this) it’s another sign that the seasons move on, as does life.

Which brings me to my moving on. After nearly 40 years living in Greene County, we are moving back to Pittsburgh, the city of our youth. So this will be my last installment for Living Greene Magazine.

I have truly enjoyed sharing my gardening tips and tribulations over several years through the quarterly articles. This move presents new challenges, but also tremendous rewards. We will get to garden with our son and daughter-in-law and, joyfully, with our granddaughters.

Gardening is about renewal, from the planting of seeds in the winter, the preparing of the garden and more planting of seeds in the spring. Tending the garden through the summer months, which can be cool, rainy, stiflingly hot or as pleasant as a 60-degree, breezy evening following a hot, humid July day.

Summer tests the gardener. Will the gardener be able to keep up with the weeds, the pests, the freeloading animals and the ever-deadly diseases? A routine develops and watering occurs on certain days, weeding on others and anticipation every day. Row plating, wide row plating, raised beds, square foot gardening, container gardening, fruit trees, brambles, bushes, ornamentals, bulbs all presenting their own challenges and vying for space.

It’s certainly a hectic time for a gardener, but so satisfying after that bed is weeded or that last row of sweet corn is planted or the pepper and tomato transplants start to rapidly grow and flower.

Summer is also the time when a lot of discussions revolve around the vegetable and flower gardens, fruit trees, brambles, nut and others. It is a terrific time to visit the farmers markets or a community sponsored agriculture farm to talk plants and trees with people who do it for a living. The tips and techniques you learn are priceless. Plus restaurants and food stores now begin to feature the summer harvest in their meals and sales.

We gardeners also get to taste that early tomato, no others taste like it. The lettuce and greens are ready for those delicious summer salads and we sneak a bite right off the cob of the early corn. Flowers begin to appear on our tables and our herbs make their way into our cooking. What a time for a gardener.

Autumn and the autumnal equinox are also right around the corner. The harvest will be in full swing and we are reminding ourselves again that one or two zucchini plants will do. Neighbors shy away from us as they know we are looking to give them zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans and other rewards from our garden, as we have for the past several weeks. We begin the canning process and know it will be time consuming, hot and intensive, but will allay this with thoughts of those canned vegetables in January and February. The row covers come out as we know Jack Frost is a sneaky guy and we want those last vegetables to ripen on the plant or vine. My goal is always to have something fresh from the garden for Thanksgiving.

The putting to bed of the garden, cleaning up, taking care to winterize our tools and other chores, all come at this time of year. We know if we don’t do it now, we will pay for it in the spring. Autumn is also a time of reflection and sitting out on a fall evening perhaps by a campfire giving us time to reflect on how gardening is truly what life is all about, realistically for some, metaphorically for others.

Winter arrives with the holidays and our energy shifts to the celebrations for a couple of months, but the gardening catalogs start arriving and our gardening juices begin to flow in anticipation of another cycle of gardening.

Gardening has given me a means to connect with the past and ensure the future, for that I am thankful. There are so many benefits I will not list them all.

One, though, is the opportunity to become a Master Gardener and learn and share my knowledge with others. The presentations in schools and the communities, the seminars, the educational opportunities, but most rewarding are the other Master Gardeners who have enriched me as a gardener and a person. I encourage you to give it a try.

I will be joining a Master Gardener group in Allegheny County. So to my Greene County Master Gardeners, one of you will hopefully pick up the pen and write this column. You will enjoy it.

The worms are calling me. They are anxious to move and have been chattering for weeks. Just like my readers over the years, usually they’re great listeners!