wabisabi

The Existential Gardener: Tomato Angst

So.  I mentioned the tomato plant, that earlier in the summer pushed forth two lovely tomatoes, only to have one of them stolen by some garden creature (I vote for the skunks, but there we are), one broken off and left behind (I mean, really, if you're going to break it off, take it away and eat it already, okay?)

And that was it, I thought, until two more tomatoes burst forth.  They've been sitting there for a month or more, green as green can be, with no sign of them turning red any time soon.

And I figured that was it.  I figured these two would just sit on the plant and stubbornly refuse to redden -- and now that the nights are cooler and the light is dwindling, well, that's as it should be, and all is right in the natural order of things.

So, imagine my surrpise this morning when I went out to look at the plants, and discovered the tomato plant had sprouted two more tomatoes.

Seriously, it's the beginning of October.  What is it thinking?

the naked gardener

It was with a sense of -- well -- horror -- that I read an article on the subject of gardening au naturel in the spring issue of Organic Earth magazine.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not a prude, nor was I offended by the very tasteful, artistically posed and lit photos of what seemed like rather a nice English couple. 

But I cannot wrap my head around the idea of going out to the garden in nothing but a pair of wellies and garden gloves, to commune with the bugs and pull a few weeds.

(Never mind the fact that I live in a rather conservative community, and I don't doubt for a minute that the neighbours would either condemn me to the hellfires or, at the very least, call the police.)

Frankly, it's not so much the nakedness, as nakedness in the garden.

There are lots of places I'd be pretty happy to be naked in, and I'm sure there are many activities that would be rather nice to partake of as well.  Swimming in a lake at midnight comes to mind.

However, I honestly cannot wrap my head around the thought of going out and scrabbing around out there with nothing on.

I know, I know -- logically I get it -- the idea is to take an experience that represents a return to and communing with nature (that is, gardening) and turn it into the Ultimate X-Treeme Nature Experience (UXNE) by doing it in the Ultimate X-Treeme Naturalist State (UXNS) -- i.e. nude.  Nekkid as the proverbial jaybird.

Honestly?  Nope.  Nope.  Not for me.

The article does give a few handy tips though.  You know, things like put on plenty of sunblock and avoid thorns and poison ivy.  For us in the Great White North, well, we're advised to check the weather forecast and use common sense.

My common sense tells me that leaving clothes on will make gardening a much more pleasurable experience for everyone involved, me, the neighbours, and the local cops (who I don't think would know what hit them if they saw me naked, and I'd rather spare them that indignity.  Mind you, I also live in a University town, so I suspect they've seen much more than I might give them credit for.)