Bulbs

I’ve recently inherited a garden that I have no idea how to care for. Besides watering, fertilizing and pruning, I have no further knowledge on what this garden needs. On Saturday morning, I woke up before my husband, as usual, crept out of bed and went to the backyard. I raked up fallen leaves from our orange tree, pulled weeds surrounding the tomato plants and laid down some new soil for upcoming winter vegetables. Later, I wandered around downtown until I found the local nursery. Peering over the stacked boxes of fertilizer I was balancing in my arms, I asked the man behind the counter which one he recommended. I walked away with a few helpful tips on how to revive my basil and a bag of organic something-or-other. I strolled down the street to the library and checked out three books with helpful titles like “Gardening in Southern California” and “Vegetables 101”. With determination, I headed home, ready to equip myself to succeed.

I spent Saturday afternoon reading through the books, fascinated by how much planning and preparation goes into growing the vegetables I effortlessly pick up at the market. I took notes, placed Post Its on important pages and photo copied planting schedules. While reading up on a chapter about how to properly plant bulbs, I came across this paragraph:

“Even if you plant a bulb upside down in the ground, they send their shoots up and their roots down. Sending up their shoots takes longer, and wastes some energy, but they manage. Eventually, the bulbs even reorient themselves in the ground.”

I imagined how frustrating it would be to put all the time and energy into preparing the soil, buying the right fertilizer, learning how to properly care for the plant and then plant the seed or bulb incorrectly. Not only is it fascinating to me that a bulb can turn itself right-side up in the ground on it's own, but it was also a very small reminder of a very vast thing:

In the end, God will have his way.