Over the weekend when we were stogging around Hazel Creek I noticed the least maple tree growing on a log.
The plant is on a tree that blowed over a good long while back. It is rotted and a lovely moss is growing along the length of it.
The crack the maple tree took holt in is about four feet off of the ground. In other words, not a prime place for growing.
The amazing thing about seeds and plants is they really want to grow.
I grew up gardening with Pap and Granny. I even helped Granny with her flowers. But you don’t really understand gardening until you do it all on your own.
When I first started planting flowers and we started growing food in our own gardens we made so many mistakes! From planting things at the wrong time to planting in the wrong spot. Yet our plants still grew. Maybe they weren’t as prolific as they could have been, but they managed to grow even though we had stacked the odds against them.
Over the years I’ve become fascinated with the desire to grow that is contained in every seed and every plant. They really want to grow. It’s truly their main purpose in life: to grow and reproduce in some manner.
I like to share that fact with folks who have never gardened before so that they can jump into growing with both feet and know they can have some success right out of the gate as well as gain knowledge for better growth and harvest with future plantings.
Last night’s video: Come with Us to Fontana Village!
Tipper
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The log the tree is growing out of is called a nurse log. I learned that while visiting the Hoi rain forest in Washington state. Amazing!
I can’t imagine not having a garden. I’ve had one my whole life. Everything is so much better from growing it yourself.
“Over the years I’ve become fascinated with the desire to grow that is contained in every seed and every plant. They really want to grow. It’s truly their main purpose in life: to grow and reproduce in some manner.” So very true. People are like the seeds, the plants the animals in the field. I think that’s why Jesus always used plants and animals in His parables. It’s something that everyone could understand, even His followers who couldn’t read.
Being new to the area and gardening do’s and don’ts, this is encouraging to read.
God is good. His design is beyond our mere human words.
It is fascinating the places you find seeds growing. that is their job. to plant themselves and grow. They do it well.
I loved your post today which shows how important the simplest things can be to some of us born and bred Appalachians. It makes me recall all th volunteers that flourished in my garden. They seem to do better than our carefully planted and nurtured seeds. I still recall a tomato plant struggling under a step at our local landfill. As I would get out of my car each trip, it would be bigger, and I considered just stopping like the eccentric ole lady I am and digging it up. I was so touch by Randy’s post, as he shows how strong our determination is to get ‘er done. 🙂 I too must carry a stool to the garden along with phone and such to entertain myself with the frequent breaks I must take. I figure ways to plant and weed my garden just as I always did, but just a smaller garden and it takes a lot longer. I even have a grabber and a makeshift plastic fruit picker to reach back and pick tomatoes, cucumbers, and such. I love the challenge of figuring ways to accomplish what I always did. I finally had to let grandson do the mowing, and I try not to be picky. Tipper, I love the gentle way you approach life, and so very glad Granny has such good young’uns to look out for her. God Bless you in all you do!
Years ago my mom and I were sitting in the backyard one evening and I noticed what I thought were weeds next to my chair. When I pulled them up there were tiny little bulbs attached to them. On closer inspection we discovered it was garlic. It’s a mystery how garlic bulbs ended up in the middle of our yard. I imagine birds flying overhead “planted” them. No matter how they got there they seemed to have that desire to grow.
I have river pebble “mulch” in a foundation planting and I have discovered that all kinds of things love to grow in it; short leaf pine, violets, pippssiwa, panic grass and unknowns. Sounds strange but I think I could broadcast seed, cover with gravel and then thin and it would work just fine.
And…….that is what Jesus wants US to do—thrive and grow even though the odds are stacked against us.
Tricia mention her aches and pains when trying to garden. I keep trying to go on doing different things, but now because of arthritis and bad disc it is very painful. I can no longer stand for long, I drag a small stool around with me. Yesterday, I helped my son replace the floor in my utility trailer and when finished I hurt to bad to eat supper. This is really depressing to me, I have always been use to doing for myself and not asking or needing someone to help me. My son recently teased me about sitting on my stool while digging some post holes. I told him you gotta do what you gotta do. I like to say being poor is a big incentive for being a do it yourselfer.
Over the years I found it amusing that we save and try to take such good care of our saved seed but yet a lot of seed left out in all kinds of weather during the winter will sprout back up in the spring as a volunteer. As for something unusual, I have a tree that has a sweet gum growing in a”Y” formed by two limbs. I cut it but it will sprout out again. Not surprising it is a sweet gum, if not for the traffic, a sweet gum would soon sprout up in a Walmart parking lot.
Randy’s adaptation to his physical needs by sitting on a stool to dig fence posts reminded me of my late father-in-law, who in his last years would crawl on hands and knees to weed his garden. His back hurt less that way, he had learned.
And sadly I do not like those little maple trees. Every spring I spend hours pulling those little trees out of my flower beds. You have to get them when they are small or dig them out.
I love gardening and over the years have found what works and what does not. Every year you learn something else, many times a big surprise. I watched your trip to Fontaine last night and really enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the history.
Thank you for sharing. Continued prayers for Granny’s’ health and for all the family. God bless you and yours.
You are so right! I saved all the heads from my zinnias and sunflowers last year with the intention of harvesting the seeds out of them and making a flower bed of just saved seeds and none from the store. I put them all in a shoe box and stuck them in our outbuilding late last fall. As you can imagine life happened and I never harvested the seeds, and when it came time to plant my pollinator garden beside my front porch, I was wary of them and planted the bed with store bought seeds. Not wanting to waste what I had saved, I found a patch of ground at the edge of the woods, threw down the whole shoe box stems and all, scratched it around with a rake, and watered it in. Lo and behold, I have a small flower patch sprouting up, and to tell the truth, I’m more proud of that than any other flowers I’ve set out this season, they really do want to grow!!!
I enjoy working outdoors in my garden even though my body is rebelling with aches, pains, and dwindling energy. I’ve seen small oak trees like the Maple growing on old logs, in the dirt beside by flowers and even coming out of a brick which had a small hole in it. They will grow just about anywhere where conditions are right. My garden is growing well. My husband and I planted about twenty tomato plants, a few squash plants, a few cukes, and some onions. The garden is smaller than in past years as we age. Ecclesiastes 3 says there is a time to plant and a time to harvest. Let’s hope that we have a great harvest.
I am ever encouraged by your “view” of the things around you; that you pay attention and are committed to their best. For 2 years I’ve been trying to grow 100% American Chestnut trees. I got seeds from Ken Blenk in New York who got his seeds (chestnuts) from trees that sprouted from stump shoots from the old trees that were decimated by the Chinese blight. Yes, those HUGE trees that were once fully 1/4 of the Appalachian forest, BILLIONS of them, are still trying to LIVE! I had several sprout last year, got the blight…, and none survived the Winter. I received 23 more seeds from Ken this year and can only hope some might survive; and THRIVE! I attended the seminar of the American Chestnut Society at the Damascus Trail Days last year where the nursery manager gave an outstanding presentation. But they are 15/16 American Chestnuts so will NEVER be 100% American Chestnuts. They are crossed, if only 1/16, with the Chinese. There were several in attendance that were NOT pleased with that approach… but I still admire their commitment. But my goal is to help in the 100% American Chestnut effort. Perhaps some of your readers might join this effort?
I appreciate this as I will shortly retire and am planning to put in some raised beds.
I have the advantage of all of the wonderful YouTube channels that I will be using to help me have a good garden.
Just yesterday I watched a man decimate a bunch of squash bugs using degreasing dish soap! I know you mentioned that as well. Can’t wait to start my winter crop!
One of the greatest wonders of God’s miracles and plans was to place seeds of life not only into us, but also in the animal and plant kingdoms. I recall having a great desire for children, and I think plants have the same desire to reproduce. All seeds of life want to grow because God put the will of life into his creations, and I think this is one reason why we, in God’s image, also love animals and plants and care that they, too, thrive given they were provided to sustain us and that we recognize their desires for life. Glory to God in the highest.
Nancy, I agree with your comment and think the same, but am not gifted enough to put it into words like you did. I know a preacher that compares life to a flower seed when he preaches at funerals. This man is 90 years old and still preaching. I enjoy his sermons, he uses a lot of “parables” to make his message easy to understand.
Yes! Thank you, Nancy.
We’ve recently moved from the rich black soil of south Georgia to the hard red clay of north Alabama. This spring has been, shall we say; diffrent with planting and starting a garden. But the potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and even the blue berries have come up and grown to a sight. Everything under the sun has a purpose and little seeds surely know theirs.