Never Give Up

Recently, we found out about winter gardening.  What a fascinating idea.  You can grow a garden in winter.  Who knew?

Winter was drawing to a close, and a reluctant spring was on its way.  Anxious to learn more, we decided to try fava beans—a cool weather bean that can grow in summer if planted early.   It can also grow in winter if planted in the fall and given some shelter from the cold.

We needed experience.  This was a good place to start

We planted the beans around Easter time.  That was late March.  We didn’t soak the beans, but did get them wet before planting them, as the directions suggested.  There was enough wet weather that we didn’t worry about watering them.  They were buried in snow more than once, but hey, they are a cool weather bean, so no worries.

We don’t even know if we like Fava Beans.   Never tasted them, as far as we know, but we like to try new things.  We weren’t sure which spot of our garden they would like to call home, so we planted our eight beans in eight different places.  That’s about as scientific as we get around here.

Weeks passed and nothing.  No little green sprouts appeared.  We checked often.  After six weeks had passed without any results, we stopped checking.  Those beans were not coming up.   Disappointed, we gave up on our Favas. 

Those are not the only seeds I have planted that haven’t taken root. 

I’m not talking about the garden.  I’m talking about ideas, once planted with enthusiasm, that didn’t sprout and grow.  Often circumstances beyond my control kept the seeds from sprouting, or once sprouted, thwarted the tender plants.  Sometimes people didn’t keep their promises. Sometimes there just wasn’t enough sunshine and water to go around.  Disappointed, I have given up on promising seeds, planted with care. 

Last week we began planting warm weather plants.  To our surprise we found seven thriving fava plants, in places where we had stopped checking a few weeks ago.  Six of the seven were over six inches tall.  All seven looked hale and hearty.  We don’t know yet about number eight, but for now seven is enough.

Seven feels hopeful.

You never know when an idea will grow into something significant.  Give it some time, some tender care, introduce it to friends, and then watch and wait.  A seed has its own time table, and so does an idea.

Never give up.

Linda Garner