Joely Sue Burkhart

I still haven’t taken any pictures of my haybale garden.  My apologies.  I must admit that for a few weeks, I really thought it was all going to die. 

My Dad came down and was stunned at how brittle and stunted my tomato plants appeared.  They weren’t dry, because I water them nearly every day and the hay is an excellent insulator.  I finally managed to get the bugs under control (thank you SO MUCH to Maude for Neem oil recommendations, although I had to special order it!).  I had one measely little green tomato on one of four plants after several weeks, and that was it. 

No new growth. 

Plenty of water.  Plenty of sunlight.  Plenty of dirt.  Finally, it came to me (again, thanks in part to Maude).  Food.  The plants weren’t getting enough food.

See, I used “poop dirt” according to the monsters, and in my ignorance, I thought that would be enough.  I bought some Miracle Gro and began feeding the plants regularly.  Immediately, the plants perked up and grew about six inches seemingly over night.  I’ve since picked three zucchini!  Of my very own!  I have two tomatoes ripening on two different plants, with lots of blossoms yet to develop.  The zucchini plants themselves are like bushes.  Truly, I planted too much on my 4 bales.  The basil is nearly buried beneath zucchini.

I was hoping to get a summer’s worth of tomatoes, but I had to learn the proper growing tricks.  Water and light just aren’t enough, no matter how hard you work at it.  No matter how dilligently you chase away the bugs and pull the weeds and nurture those tiny plants.

Is there something in your writing life that’s missing?  Are you working hard, doing everything you can think of, but your story is stunted and brittle?  You might need to feed the well, so to speak.  Take a walk, read a good book, sip some wine, enjoy a good movie, study some art. 

In other words, don’t forget the Miracle Gro for your inspiration!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 6:00 am and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.