A season for giving

It does not seem as if our life will resume the old routines and rhythms anytime soon. With the work at Vredehof, our routines have become linked to the time schedules of contractors. As a result, our routine departure from Cape Town can happen any time between 3pm and 6pm.

Luckily, we do not have to get used to this inconvenience. It is only a temporary arrangement until the work at Vredehof is completed, which will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks.

On Friday, we arrived early enough to see the scarified lawn in the last light of the afternoon. For me there is no more fitting description for an action in the garden than ‘scarifying’ the lawn. It is scary to see the lawn like that. I will never really get used to the experience.

The nice part is that the lawn never looks like that for long. In the space of two weeks, the lawn will show the first signs of the beautiful and healthy green lawn we will enjoy in summer.

Scarifying the lawn is just one of the many preparations needed in the garden to prepare for the summer season. I have decided to use Solution 3 for the fruit fly bait station traps. These traps are hung in the fruit trees to control the Mediterranean Fruit Flies. This invasive pest can destroy most of our fruit in summer if left unchecked.

The orchard smells of blossoms and in the vegetable and herb gardens, the first seedlings are sprouting. Two of the vegetable beds will remain empty for a while. This year, I am dedicating two beds to tomatoes. I have received an assortment of seeds from a friend in Florence, Italy. I have my little tomato nursery set up at Elmwood. I am using a special weed free soil mix for the germination stage of the 20 different varieties of tomatoes. He sent me 24 different varieties, but I will reserve some for next year’s planting.

2020 is a very disruptive year. We never got around to marmalade making. We decided instead to donate the organic citrus fruit to women in the town that make a living from selling homemade jams, preserves and baked goods. It has been a tough time for everyone. Allowing someone else to benefit from the bounty of the Towerwater garden seemed right. Also, understanding the difficulty small home industries experience during a time of lockdown, makes one even more appreciative of one’s own blessings.

A thank you basket with gifts from a local home industry

We decided that we will support these home industries in future by buying their products instead of the mass-produced products of big industry. We potted all the Grenadilla seedlings that came up in the vegetable beds. The seeds came from our own compost. At the first opportunity after lockdown easing, I shared the seedlings with fellow gardeners in a social media group to which I belong. I am pleased that I did not return the young plants to the compost bins after sharing in the joy the Towerwater plants brought to fellow gardeners. Mother Nature was generous in giving us the abundant Grenadilla plants, allowing us in turn to be generous in re-sharing the bounty from the garden.

It is a fortunate position to be in that enables giving. I have met so many lovely people through the sharing of fruit and plants. I am humbled in return by their generous gifts of preserves, jams, biscuits, hand-crocheted dish cloths and seeds. The act of giving itself was a joyous enough gift for me. Spreading joy is a beautiful experience.

The pandemic has taught us many lessons. Hopefully some of these will help make the world a kinder place.