A love letter to growth, grit, and the annual battle with zucchini
Every Spring, right around the time Western New York is still deciding whether it’s winter, mud season, or “surprise, here’s a 70‑degree day,” I start planning my garden. And every year, without fail, it teaches me something new about life.
Not because I’m trying to be deep about it…
Honestly, I’m usually just trying to remember where I put my gloves…
But because the garden has a way of holding up a mirror. A slightly dirt‑smudged, sun‑warmed mirror that says,
“Hey… you’re doing better than you think.”
So here are a few things my garden keeps reminding me.
1. Growth doesn’t look dramatic most days …but it’s happening anyway.
Seedlings don’t burst out of the soil like they’re auditioning for Broadway. They inch. They stretch. They take their sweet time. Kind of like us.
Growth isn’t about reinvention in one big swoop.
It’s the quiet, consistent choices…
The ones no one sees…
That eventually turn into something lush and thriving.
2. Pruning isn’t punishment. It’s clarity.
Every year I have to cut back perfectly healthy branches so the plant can focus on what actually matters. Tell me that isn’t the most “adult” thing ever!
We’re not “cutting things out.”…
We’re making space for what feeds us…
Boundaries are just emotional pruning shears.
3. Some seasons are for producing. Some are for resting.
My tomatoes don’t apologize for slowing down in August…
My peppers don’t feel guilty for taking forever to ripen…
Why do we?
Midlife is the first time many of us finally say, “I’m tired,” and mean it.
And guess what?
REST is part of the cycle.
Not a flaw in the system.
4. You can do everything right and still lose a plant.
Listen… sometimes the cucumbers just give up…
Sometimes the squash bugs win.
Sometimes the weather decides to cosplay as a villain.
It’s not failure. It’s nature. And life has taught me the same thing:
You can show up with your whole heart and still have things not go the way you planned.
It doesn’t mean you stop planting!
5. The harvest always reflects the care, not the chaos.
My garden never judges me for the days I forget to water or the weeks I’m too busy to weed. It responds to the overall pattern of care.
Life is like that too.
We don’t need perfection.
We need presence.
A little sunlight.
A little nourishment.
A little patience with ourselves.
6. And finally: It’s never too late to plant something new.
Every year I try a new vegetable, a new layout, a new experiment.
Sometimes it’s brilliant.
Sometimes it’s a disaster.
But it’s always worth it.
Life is the same invitation:
Try the thing.
Start the project.
Plant the seed.
See what grows.
Want to get your hands in the dirt with me?
I’m hosting an Earth Day Herb Garden Planting Workshop this month!
A perfect chance to start something new,
learn a few tricks,
and laugh about the herbs that act like divas (looking at you, rosemary).
Come plant with me. Come grow with me.
Come remember that getting older is fertile ground.
-Georganne
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