Raising plants

I have harvested the first produce from our garden.Like walking on the moon, it is a pretty small step for some men, accomplished and experienced gardeners, but for me it was a giant leap! It is only an handful of radishes but it represents success and the taste of things to come.

Life has not been easy for the baby plants in my raised beds. The local cats have very much appreciated the soft and bare soil and many mornings I have found shallow pits and disrupted seedlings. I think I have come up with an organic and simple solution. Can you see the holly?

Three nights in and it seems to be working. The labels are statements of faith as m never convinced that the tiny, wrinkled seeds that disappear into the soil will reappear as plants.

I often find parallels between the garden and my own life: as I clear ground and plant new ideas and wonder what the fruit will be. Sometimes I forget what I've planted, and how growth can take place all by itself without me having to worry about it. Two years ago I got some free plug plants and placed a honeysuckle at the end of the garden. And then I forgot all about it. It has struggled on, along the ground, and on Saturday I rediscovered it, twined around the grass and barely distinguishable from the surrounding wilderness. I carefully extricated it, cleared the space around it and supported it up the fence. I am amazed at what a vigorous specimen it is, despite the neglect and lack of sunshine.

I wonder what else I might be growing?