How a community garden plot taught me to dig beneath the surface. Appearances can be deceiving.
Like in the garden, life’s real purpose often lies just out of sight, where you can’t see it until you’re willing to get your hands dirty and uncover the meaning.
By Grace Alexander
Special to the Press Herald
Jan 14, 2025
My aunt has a garden plot that I took care of over the summer while she traveled. It is a small 8-by-10-foot plot located in Portland’s community garden. The community garden holds about 30 different plots, each of which has a different owner. It is wedged between a dusty dog park and a shelter for abused women.
Each week I would make the roughly 1-mile walk from my house down to the garden. I would pass the West End’s mansions and trimmed gardens, walk down a steep hill, and past groups of homeless people clearly on drugs, until I eventually arrived at the garden. I would open the gate and make my way over to a locked shed.
I would plug in the code my aunt messaged me and retrieve a key to turn on the water spigot. In the shed there were two large water cans, which I would grab and carry over to the spigot. I would insert the key to the spigot and fill the cans with water. I would then carry the watering cans and feed the many plants in my aunt’s small plot.
Each time I went to the garden I was disappointed with what I saw. There were 29 plots that looked perfect. Their soil was a uniform brown color, the plants had clear rows between them.
My eyes would light up when I would see these other plots; their produce looked great. Unfortunately, my aunt’s was the single derelict-looking plot. Most people walking by the garden would have thought that my aunt’s plot was abandoned. There were weeds, an excess amount of thyme, leaves covering the ground, and zero organization of like-kind plants. Everything was a mess.
One thing I specifically admired about other plots in the garden was that their soil seemed perfect. It was a rich dark brown and was evenly distributed across the plot. I loved how you could see the full cucumber plant top to bottom, not just the tops of the plants like in my aunt’s plot. I loved how the thyme, basil and mint each had its individual section, not a single weed or leaf intruding on its space. I loved how nothing seemed out of place; if they were growing tomatoes, there would only be tomatoes in the section.
My aunt was in town one day and we went to the garden together. While everything seemed perfect in the neighboring plots, I learned that it wasn’t when my aunt showed me their soil up close. “Grace, come over and bring the watering can. Pour the water onto the soil and see what it does.”
I followed her instruction and poured the water onto the soil and observed how the water formed a pool atop the soil and then took many seconds to seep into the soil. “Grace, now come over to our plot and pour water onto the soil.” I was shocked to see how the soil immediately absorbed the water. I began to pour water on, in increments, just to see how fast the soil drank the water. If you even blinked, the water would be gone.
My aunt taught me that the nutrient value of vegetables depends on the soil in which they are grown. For a soil ecosystem to flourish it needs the three main beneficial microbes: bacteria, fungi and protozoa. To survive, beneficial microbes need air and water.
One of the best soil ecosystems is a forest floor. A forest floor is spongy, with trees and leaves covering the soil, shielding it from direct sunlight so it doesn’t dry out. Therefore, the soil has the capacity to absorb water, hold water and freely drain water, because it has holes for air and water to get in and out. With the air and water, the plant’s roots in the forest floor are able to function properly and the whole ecosystem can work together to thrive.
The soil in the neighboring gardens was subject to drying out because it was directly exposed to sunlight. Dried out soil is much more compact, meaning that the beneficial microbes couldn’t survive and harmful microbes were growing.
I realized that my aunt’s garden, for all its chaos, held a deeper kind of order, emulating the forest floor. The weeds towering over everything weren’t just there by accident; they provided shade so the soil didn’t dry out. The leaves scattered across the ground weren’t signs of neglect; they were a natural cover so that the sun wasn’t directly hitting the soil. The tangled mix of plants wasn’t random chaos; it allowed different parts of the ecosystem to work together. What seemed like a mess at first glance was actually the garden’s way of quietly taking care of itself.
My aunt’s garden taught me that the real value often isn’t obvious from the surface. It’s easy to be impressed by the perfect rows and neatness of other plots, but it’s what’s happening below the surface that matters most. The richest, most nutrient-dense produce came from soil that looked neglected on top, but was thriving underneath.
Like in the garden, life’s real purpose often lies just out of sight, where you can’t see it until you’re willing to get your hands dirty and uncover the meaning.
Source: https://cityfarmer.info/how-a-community-garden-plot-taught-me-to-dig-beneath-the-surface-appearances-can-be-deceiving/
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