Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

  • Home
  • About
  • DISCLOSURES
    • Amazon Affiliate
    • Book Reviews
  • Published
  • Contact
  • Blog
    • Commit Poetry
    • Dared

15 Lessons From My Garden

July 5, 2010 By Sandra Heska King

 First harvest

1. Weeds multiply. Fast.

2. A pruned plant is a healthy plant.

3. Overgrowth hides new fruit and drags it down.

4. It’s hard to support an overgrown plant without breaking it.

5. Mosquitoes thrive in overgrowth.

6. There’s a snake in my garden.

7. Don’t plant seeds called “flower mix.”

8. Only a handful of seeds may sprout from a bazillion sowed.

9.  I’m not a very good seed person.

10. I do better with established plants.

11. It’s easier to pull a few weeds (even relaxing) than to wield a hoe.

12. You may need to uproot something good to make room for something better.

13. One needs to periodically step back and survey the whole scene.

14. Hard work yields great satisfaction.

15. Your weeding may disturb and confuse others.

Copyright © 2010 by Sandra Heska King

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: stories and reflections

Comments

  1. Linda Yezak says

    July 5, 2010 at 7:29 am

    Good post! I especially like #13!

  2. Sandra Heska King says

    July 5, 2010 at 7:48 am

    I especially like #13 because . . . 😀

  3. katdish says

    July 5, 2010 at 7:58 am

    Ah, the wisdom that can come from working in the garden. Those are some serious ants! Be gratful they're not fire ants!

    This was great, Sandy. May need to print this one off and put it on my bulletin board.

  4. caryjo says

    July 5, 2010 at 10:50 am

    Very good! When I first read the title I thought… 15 LESSONS re: gardening? SO LONG. Could be boring. And then, "Oh, but not her… never boring." I loved it. And, again, we see things a lot alike. However, one reason I don't take good enough care of my gardens some of the time in your number 6. Freaks me out big time…

  5. Laura says

    July 5, 2010 at 11:24 am

    I love this, Sandra. My garden continues to teach me. Over and over and over again. It requires a diligence, this keeping, doesn't it? Ah, you have that listed, don't you? Keep pruning…

  6. Sandra Heska King says

    July 5, 2010 at 11:28 am

    @katdish: So grateful we don't have fireants!

    @caryjo: LOL! Maybe I need a new title. 😉 Thanks.

  7. n. davis rosback says

    July 5, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    i like your list.

  8. Sandra Heska King says

    July 5, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    @Laura: Daily.

    @Nancy: 🙂

  9. Jennifer @ Getting Down With Jesus says

    July 5, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    Gardens are a lot like life, aren't they? They take a lot of work, but we reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Gal. 6:9)

  10. Janet Lyn says

    July 5, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    Great post, Sandy!
    I can relate to all of these so much because I finally put in a garden again this summer after several years of no garden.
    And the available patch of ground was one where only grass and weeds had been, so it required an enormous amount of hard, hard work to get it ready before planting anything. Hours and days of pulling up tangled roots to prepare the soil.
    So, lots of hours and days to think about all God is teaching me as I garden again.
    Ah, but so worth it to see everything now sprouting to life out in my new, beautiful, peaceful garden.
    Best Wishes with yours!!

  11. Sandra Heska King says

    July 5, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    @Jennifer: So true! Great scripture. I like the concept of fruit, more fruit, and much fruit in John 15, too.

  12. Ann Kroeker says

    July 5, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    "Weeds multiply. Fast."

    Dealing with that here, too.

    No snakes, however. I wonder if my gigantic dog discourages snakes and other varmints?

  13. HisFireFly says

    July 5, 2010 at 9:39 pm

    "12. You may need to uproot something good to make room for something better."

    I think we almost always have to give up something we have to receive something He wants to give us.. even previous gifts from His hand. He desires to move us from glory to glory, and I pray we continue to learn to let go and allow Him to have His way.

    Great post.. a fellow mosquito dodger..

  14. Sandra Heska King says

    July 5, 2010 at 10:39 pm

    @Janet: I don't have the patience to properly prepare anything. My neighbor came in with his tractor and plowed my little plot for $20. He went over it several times, and it smelled so good and felt so soft. I'm going to be embarrassed when he comes back in October to till it under.

    @Ann: Is your dog's name Angel? For some reason that just made me think of the invisible battles going on around us.

    @Karin: I keep looking at my harp and wondering if it's already time to move it out, sell it, for writing conference money . . .

    And I am full of mosquito welts. Hand sanitizer works great!

  15. S. Etole says

    July 5, 2010 at 11:05 pm

    Lots to be learned on our knees, digging into "dirt" and uprooting weeds …

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Meet Sandra

I’m Sandra, a camera-toting, recovering doer who’s learning to be. still. Read more…

Get updates from the stillness by email

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Archives

Categories

Instagram Inspiration

sandraheskaking

Happy first day of fall from my backyard to yours. Happy first day of fall from my backyard to yours.
Just another backyard photo… Just another backyard photo…
From my backyard tonight. From my backyard tonight.
Just another sunset. Just another sunset.
“I would like people to remember of me, how inex “I would like people to remember of me, how inexhaustible was her mindfulness.” ~ Mary Oliver in “ A Little Ado About This and That.”
Current situation. Current situation.
“This spark of life that wavest wings of gold” “This spark of life that wavest wings of gold” ~ Thomas Wentworth Higginson in “Ode to a Butterfly”
🦋
We pulled all the milkweed because it just could not support all the caterpillars. They were eating it bare and most of them died because they ran out of food. This one butterfly found this one lone volunteer.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright futur "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." ~ E.B. White (as quoted on today's page in my Franklin Planner)
"May you experience each day as a sacred gift wove "May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder." ~ John O'Donohue in "For Presence" from To Bless the Space Between Us
🌴
Tri-colored heron stalking breakfast in my backyard.
“. . neighbor’s tree hangs heavy with mangoes “. .  neighbor’s tree hangs heavy with mangoes. They are moving in a week. They say a family from Belarus bought the house. I hope they don’t care much for mangoes.”
**
“Beautiful Sweet Things” at https://sandraheskaking.substack.com/
"People do not grow old. When they cease to grow t "People do not grow old. When they cease to grow they become old.” ~ Emerson

It's been a while since I've written anything on my blog. Like 3 years. But I just wrote my first post on Substack. Come see?

https://sandraheskaking.substack.com/p/ten-years-ten-things
Spent a couple hours this morning with friends fro Spent a couple hours this morning with friends from @spanishriverchurch picking up beach trash. Little bits of colored and clear plastic, big bits of plastic, bottle caps, broken glass, strings, ropes, straws, socks, fast food containers, paper, cigarette holders and filters—and a couple unmentionables. Took extra care around the turtle nests. Last count was about 70 pounds, but there were also some bigger things like an abandoned chair and a plastic tent. And a big piece of burlap or something with a fishing lure and giant hook attached. D found a Macy’s gift card that he almost tossed in his bucket. But we brought it home to check the balance—$24.60! We should be able to turn that into something useful for someone. 😊
H Already dead, I am living my afterlife here in t H
Already dead, I am
living my afterlife
here
in the form of a human.
~ Xueyan from Time Peels All to Original White

Thanks to @tspoetry for introducing me to this beautiful collection via an Every Day Poems selection.
The cats attacked the window all night. The dog wo The cats attacked the window all night. The dog woofed all night. This morning we discovered the would-be burglar imprisoned between the screen and the glass on our bedroom slider. 

When I stepped out to release it (no bail), I was surprised by this brief bit of backyard beauty.
For most of us, knowledge of our world comes large For most of us, knowledge of our world comes largely through sight, yet we look about with such unseeing eyes that we are partially blind. One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?" ~ Rachel Carson in The Sense of Wonder
#prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michigan #prayformsu #spartanstrong #spartannurse #michiganstateuniversity
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faith Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. ~ Psalm 136:1
A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana in the background until I downloaded the photos. That, I believe, is the one that got caught in one of the openings in the neighbor's chain link fence. We tried in several (safe) ways to dislodge it without luck and could think of no other option but to leave it. Somehow it apparently dislodged itself. We also believe this is the pair that was getting into another neighbor's garden. We haven't seen either one since the last cold snap, so we are wondering if they survived. 
🌱
Thinking some may have tumbled from their perches last night. Pretty sure it will be raining iguanas tonight since we are under a frost advisory. It's cold. And windy.
Just sing... sing a song... Singing our way into Just sing... sing a song... 

Singing our way into the weekend.
"We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramse "We don't just see. We learn to see." ~ Russ Ramsey in Rembrandt is in the Wind
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Get the Mug

Embrace the life you have t s poetry mug

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy is available HERE.

I Read Light

TSP-Red button

bibledude-net



Sponsor a Child

Join the Compassion Blogger Network

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2023 Sandra Heska King · Site by The Willingham Enterprise, LLC on the Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Log in