My Struggle with Patience in the Garden

Gardening is not fast-paced. It’s quite the opposite. It takes many months to go from seed to harvest. Most of the time, you will see little day-to-day progress. Instead, progress is seen across the weeks and months. A plant may not show growth from one day to the next, but from one month to the next, it can grow twice its size, start blossoming, or ripen. Unfortunately, I am not a patient person. Actually, I doubt that many of us are patient. It’s probably the result of living in modern society.

Technology allows us to be perpetually connected with people on the other side of the world, to get instantaneous results when we have a question that needs to be answered, and have items delivered to our house a day after ordering. Those are all great, but if there’s anything that doesn’t meet our expectation of speed, it’s easy to become impatient and frustrated. Someone isn’t going as fast as you think they should when driving? We tailgate and pass as soon as we can. A cashier takes longer than we want in a store? We either bolt to the next register when possible or are short in conversation when it’s our turn. Things that used to be treated with patience are no longer.

I think that’s why gardening maintains a vital place in our fast-paced society. You really can’t rush gardening. If you try to speed up the process, it won’t work. Roots won’t have the necessary time to establish, plants will wither if it’s still cold in the spring, and the fruit won’t mature if it’s harvested too quickly. So, what am I struggling with in our garden?

Seed Starting & Germination

My struggle with patience in this year’s garden started immediately. I wrote about my process of tracking the start dates for all the seeds we bought. I generally wrote down the earliest date for each seed, counting back the weeks from what is typically our last frost date. I didn’t take into account the possibility of not being able to transplant the starts into the ground because of excess moisture or low temperatures. I also didn’t consider the ramifications of seeds taking off and needing to figure out a plan until we can transplant them outside.

You can probably see where this is going. As soon as that start date arrived, I (generally) was ready to start the seeds. In my head, if I were late by a day or two, that plant was certainly going to fail. My focus was very much on the immediate and not on the long-term. Then, if a seed hadn’t germinated at the beginning of its germination window, I assumed it had failed. In reality, seeds can take the entirety of the germination window (and sometimes even beyond) and still be okay.

Tilling

Oh, the process of tilling. I will likely be writing a standalone post on the repeated tilling we’ve done. We started digging the beds in March, which was plenty of time, and got the first four established quickly. What we didn’t account for was grass regrowing before we could plant. Beds that we thought were in good shape have been overtaken by grass that hadn’t been killed. We’ve had an incredibly rainy spring, which has resulted in an out-of-control yard that didn’t give our garden beds a break. We’ve had to mow the beds on the lowest setting before re-tilling them, which was a bit frustrating. A positive is that we’ve learned the best way to use the cultivator to kill as much of the grass as possible when tilling. This has resulted in healthier soil that looks ready to be planted in.

At the time of this writing, though, we still need to finish the first bed, do another pass on a second, mow down the grass and re-till beds 3 and 4, and establish 3 or 4 others. That’s where the need for patience comes in. It’s tough being patient with this process because we’ve already put in a lot of work and needing to redo that work is a bit frustrating. There’s a lot of the “trust the process” going on here. Yes, it’s been a lot of work, and there’s still more to be done, but each time we till a bed, we make more progress. More grass is killed, and the bed becomes more suitable for planting.

Weather

I think weather may seem like a bit of a copout here because almost every outdoor project requires patience with the weather. Very rarely does the weather cooperate with our plans, and this is absolutely the case in Western PA. If you want it to be sunny, it’ll rain. Looking for rain? It’ll be blazing out. This year’s garden has been one long battle with the weather and it not doing what we need.

Mid-March was mild and allowed us to get an early start on tilling. That was followed by a lot of rain in late March and throughout most of April. That led to grass retaking the garden beds. Finally, in May, we’ve been getting the weather we need to address all the beds. My patience was certainly tested during this time period. When it was raining, all I could think about was how quickly the May 15th (average last frost) date was approaching. I also saw all the work that still needed to be done: beds re-tilled, new beds started, seeds sown, and starts transplanted.

The craziest part is that this impatience has now gone in the other direction. We are actually in a good place with some seeds sown and most of the beds taken care of. We’re also now on the right side of May 15th, where we aren’t late with our planting. I’m now finding myself so excited that I need to be patient and wait to plant the rest of our stuff. Would it be problematic to plant everything else now? Probably not. The nighttime lows aren’t problematic. But there also isn’t a reason to rush at this point. What a difference from a week ago.

Lessons to Learn

As I mentioned in the intro, it’s my belief that everyone struggles with patience. I think it’s part of the human condition and the result of the first sin. The Old Testament provides many examples of the Israelites’ battle with patience and trusting God. I think that same struggle has been passed down through the generations, and the struggle to be patient is perhaps harder than ever when we live in a world that is constantly pushing for better efficiency and quicker responses. There’s very little opportunity to sit, dwell, and ponder over things. I think about how philosophers, theologians, and inventors from centuries past would simply sit and think about their subject, working through problems. As Christians, we would say that it is the Holy Spirit leading us in these moments. We rarely give ourselves the freedom to sit and be still. I’m perhaps more guilty of that than anyone I know. I am always looking for the next thing to do or the next step in the process. In my mind, very rarely is that next step sitting and waiting.

I think that’s why gardening is both incredibly tough but also very rewarding. It’s tough because very little of it is in our hands. We can’t do much to speed up germination or plant growth. Sure, we can give them nutrients to aid in the process, but the plant still takes a certain amount of time to reach maturity. Attempting to expedite that process can actually cause more harm than good. The reward that comes in the end when you’ve picked the perfectly ripe fruit makes everything worth it, though. And while the growing process is taking place, if we can simply learn to find peace and comfort in the quiet and slow, I think we’ll learn to handle our fast-paced environment a bit better.

We’ll never be able to keep up with modern society, and I don’t think that should be the goal. If you’re a believer, you’ll know that our faith journey can be a slow one. Sometimes, it feels like two steps forward and one step back. There are even times when it feels like the opposite: one step forward and two steps back. But being patient on the journey and letting Jesus refine us as we draw closer to Him is incredibly important. Salvation is very quick, but sanctification is a slow grind at times. It’s like gardening: germination can happen in a few days, but the process of getting the plant to full maturity is slow.

I’ll leave you with this. John Muir is one of my favorite people in American history. He was a 19th-century writer and naturalist who helped establish multiple national parks, founded The Sierra Club, and his influence helped to establish the National Park System. He’s important to this conversation about gardening and patience because he lived during a time of rapid growth and industrialization. When he was born in 1838, there were 26 states. When he passed away in 1914, there were 48. During this period of population growth, he wrote about the importance of nature and getting away from society to find peace. One of my favorite Muir quotes is: “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” It’s pretty easy to see what he was talking about. I think there’s something deep within us that makes us want to connect with nature. For Muir, it was escaping to the mountains. I love doing that too, but I think we can also find a similar reprieve from society in natural places closer to home, like our gardens. If we allow our gardens to become places of peace of tranquility, where we don’t take our phones, but instead be content with talking to our plants and watching them grow, I feel that we can let some of the stressors of modern society wash over us. If we do, all of a sudden, the impatience we feel with gardening may take a backseat to the calm the garden provides us.

Do you struggle with patience when it comes to gardening? If so, how do you combat it? Likewise, what does your garden mean to you? Is it simply something that provides food for you or is it a place or escape?

May 16, 2025 1

Weekly Garden Update #9 – Finally Getting Seeds in the Ground

In this week’s garden update, the weather and schedule finally cooperated, and we were able to get our third and fourth garden beds completely tilled. We were also able to put seeds in the ground. If you’ve been following our journey, you’ll know that our weather this spring has been brutal. After a long and harsh winter, spring started out cold. It then rained a lot and only recently began to dry out and be warm enough at night for sowing to be a possibility. Some of our seeds, such as mustard greens, were supposed to have been in the ground in early April, so we’re more than a month behind. However, on Saturday and Sunday, we were able to (mostly) get caught up.

We planted (and by we, I mean both of us on Saturday, but it was all Magz on Sunday) onions, carrots, beets, greens, and some flowers. Something I don’t think either of us expected was the difficulty of planning where everything should go in the garden. You have companion planting to think about to ensure that beneficial plants are placed near each other. We also want to succession plant some veggies like greens, beets, and carrots to ensure a harvest all season. That means not planting too much to start but instead reserving enough space to plant more in the coming weeks.

We also want to plant flowers in our garden beds to help control pests while simultaneously attracting pollinators. The plan is to have these flowers intermittently planted with our vegetables to create a garden that is both productive and beautiful.

Not all of our seeds are planted, nor have our seedlings been transplanted. We’re planning to wrap that all up over the next week. May 15th is typically the last frost date in our area, so the plan is to sow the rest of the seeds and transplant our starts in the days around that date.

What Else Has Been Going On?

In addition to directly sowing some seeds, we were quite busy this past week. We began the process of hardening off our transplants by taking them outside and exposing them to fresh air and sunshine. That will make the process of transplanting our starts much easier, as they’ll be less likely to experience root shock.

We also bought and received the fence that I wrote about in last week’s update. We ended up buying it from Amazon because, once again, none of the stores in our town had it in stock. We could have ordered it and had it shipped, but it would have taken nearly a week to get here. We’ll now need to figure out the style of post or stake we’ll use to attach the fence to the ground. Oh, and between everything else going on, the grass has been growing out of control, and keeping up with the mowing has been a struggle. I love our battery-powered mower, but it definitely has its drawbacks when the grass is really long.

May 12, 2025 0

Weekly Garden Update #7 – Making Mistakes, Patience & Construction

Out of busyness, I skipped last week’s garden update. Rather than mail it in with a very light garden update, I ended up taking a week off and coming back this week with a full update. I apologize for skipping last week’s post. We worked on screening in our back porch last week, and it was time-consuming and tiring. In this week’s update, I learned that I’ve made a mistake when it comes to starting seeds, started a bunch of new seeds, and continued learning the importance of patience with gardening.

Seed Starting Mistake

Each day, I check our seed starting trays to see if the plants need water or can be transplanted to a larger growing cell. Two weeks ago, I noticed that a few were a bit laggy and didn’t look as healthy as they did at the start. Since starting the seeds, I had kept the trays on the heat mats and under the lids. I also turned on the grow lights once germination happened. I did a quick Google search and was reminded that the heat mats should be switched off and the lids removed as soon as germination happens. I immediately unplugged the heat mats and removed the lids, but it was too late for some of the starts, and I needed to restart some of them.

When this happened, I was down on myself. I really hate making mistakes when it comes to gardening, especially when starting seeds. Maggie reminded me to be nicer to myself, which is something I always need to be told. It’s incredibly comforting to know that mistakes are okay. I have to remind myself that it has been three years since we gardened, so it’s natural to forget some of the details. And I suppose that if mistakes are going to be made, it’s best for them to happen at this stage rather than when they’ve been transplanted and are a lot further in their development.

Transplanting, Restarting, and Starting

After learning that I needed to restart some of the seeds, I kept looking for opportunities last week in between the porch project to transplant starts, start new seeds, and restart some of the ones that failed. Sadly, it took until Friday, when the weather wasn’t great and we needed a day to rest, to find that time. That afternoon, I transplanted a bunch of tomato, pepper, and cantaloupe starts. I even transplanted a dahlia start that had outgrown its small starting cell. We didn’t buy any larger planting pots for this year’s garden after finding 10 or so of the peat pots from our previous garden. Beyond those, we’ve been reusing plastic containers that would otherwise be recycled.

Then, on Saturday morning, I took the time to restart the seeds that had failed and start some new ones that I hadn’t been able to get to. The ones that needed to be restarted were some tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupes, and dahlias. We also had to restart all of the eggplants, tomatillos, ground cherries, broccoli, and onions. The new seeds we started were our cucumbers, winter squash, pumpkins, and melons. We were originally going to start our beans at the same time; however, I read that they don’t need to be started indoors since they grow so fast. Instead, we’ll wait to direct sow them in the garden. With the newly remembered knowledge about heat mats, domes, the importance of air circulation for starts, and watering needs, we wait.

Gardening Requires Patience

I am not a patient person. I struggle to give things time and want to rush them. This is the case for gardening. At this time, we have a few plants that could be transplanted into the ground outside and other seeds that can be directly sown into the garden. However, the weather has been uncooperative, with cold temperatures at night that keep the soil temp low and consecutive rainy days, which isn’t ideal when seeds are trying to germinate or young plants are trying to establish roots. The rain has also prevented us from tilling the last two garden beds. I know that we’ll be able to get all of this done, but not rushing the process is difficult for me.

Up Next

This week, we wait for the recently-planted seeds to germinate and to see how the starts do after being transplanted. The healthy ones have done very well in the first few days, while the ones that weren’t looking great in the original cells still don’t look too good. We also need to mow our grass for the first time this year, which will include mowing down the areas for the new beds and handling some of the grass that has regrown in the existing beds. Finally, we have plans to finish our screened-in porch when we can get to it and to work in the garden. We had success with setting up our rain barrel and have noticed its impact on the ground around where the downspout originally deposited water. I’m hoping for a pretty eventful week in the garden. Happy gardening to you.

April 28, 2025 0

Weekly Garden Update #2 – Buying Our Tiller

This week’s garden update will be brief, as we haven’t started any more seeds and are in a holding pattern as we wait for the ground to dry out. All of the snow has melted and has been followed by some rain, so our soil is quite saturated.

In last week’s update, I mentioned that we may be starting eggplant seeds this week, but after consulting the seeding starting spreadsheet, we realized that this weekend was a bit too early. We’ll actually be starting them this week, likely Thursday. Instead, the big thing that happened this week was that we bought our rototiller.

Which Tiller Did We Buy?

Buying a tiller or cultivator is a big decision; much bigger than I thought it would be. In the future, I’ll likely write a standalone article that discusses what went into the decision we made, but for now, we bought this tiller:

It is an Earthquake 40 cc 4-cycle tiller (technically, it’s a mini cultivator) that can till up to a 10-inch wide path at one time. Two of the tines can be removed to till a narrower path, and it has a working depth of 8 inches. We bought ours from Amazon, although it is also available at Tractor Supply, Lowe’s, and Ace Hardware. We wanted to buy locally, but the Tractor Supply in our town didn’t have it in stock, Ace was far more expensive than Amazon, and the closest Lowe’s to us is about 30 minutes away. Meanwhile, Amazon was able to deliver it the next day.

It arrived on Thursday afternoon, and it only took about half an hour to put together. Afterward, I had to give it a go and see how it worked. The engine fired right away, and we did a quick trial run in the mulch bed by our back porch and in our yard. It worked extremely well in the mulch bed, which was expected, and did pretty well in the yard, which has never been tilled. We weren’t expecting it to have much success in the yard since the ground was very wet and we hadn’t set the depth on the tiller yet. We’re very excited to have a tiller and can’t wait to get our garden laid out. The plan is to till the garden later this month, but if it dries out before then, we’ll likely start sooner.

What’s Next?

As mentioned in the intro, we were originally planning to start our eggplant seeds this weekend but realized it was too early. Instead, that will happen this week. Those will be the only other seeds we’ll be starting in March. Everything else will be started in April or May. Happy gardening!

March 17, 2025 2

Essential Seed-Starting Equipment

After writing about starting our first seeds for the season, I thought it’d be helpful to discuss our seed-starting setup. Although everyone will have a unique set of equipment, the basic items will generally be the same for everyone. The equipment I discuss below is what Magz and I bought, but you’ll want to determine what best fits your needs. That can be based on how much you want to invest in seed starting at this time, how many seeds you want to start, and how large your seed-starting space is.

Necessary Equipment

Regardless of how big or small of a garden you’re planning, these are the essentials you’ll need.

Heat Mat

Although many people will first think of a grow light when buying seed-starting supplies, a heat mat is equally as important. A heat mat warms the soil to the appropriate temperature for seeds to germinate. They are great because they maintain a temperature of about 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit. They are also waterproof and can be wiped clean, so you don’t have to worry about getting wet soil on them.

They’re very easy to operate since the ones we have don’t have a temperature controller. Rather, you simply set them and forget them. Once you plug them in, they stay on 24/7 until you begin seeing your plants poking through the soil. We bought ours on Amazon in Feb. 2022. They are 10 inches by 20 inches, came in a 2-pack, and cost $27.99 at the time. They’re actually cheaper now than they were in 2022 at $23.99. Here is a link to them.

Grow Light

The grow light works hand-in-hand with the heat mat. You don’t need to turn on your grow light when you first start your seeds. That’s because its purpose is to help the plants grow through photosynthesis, and until the seeds germinate and poke through the soil, the grow light has no job. Instead, you wait for germination and see green through the brown soil. At that point, you can begin using the grow light, which you want to mimic the sun by not having it on 24/7. Ours is set to be on 12 hours and off 12 hours. The grow light will be used until you transplant the plants into your garden. Like the heat mats, our grow light also came from Amazon. It was $25.99 when we bought it in Feb. 2022. The exact light we got is no longer sold; however, here is one very similar and is only $23.99. There are different styles of grow lights, but I prefer the ones that clip on tables to the ones that hang. Hanging ones are great because their light is spread across a larger area, but you have to have the right setup to hang them. Meanwhile, the clip-on ones can be attached nearly anywhere and you can angle the lights to fit your needs.

Dome & Tray

You’ll almost always find these sold together as a set. The tray holds your seed-starting cells and will prevent excess water from running onto the table or surface you’re growing them on. The dome, or lid, works like a greenhouse and keeps moisture inside. This is essential during the germination process as the seeds need consistent moisture. The dome can only be used until the plants reach a height where they are pushing up against it. You’ll also want to be careful when using the lid. Keeping the lid on can lead to mildew or mold problems if your soil is too wet. Mini greenhouses are the perfect environment for mold to grow because the soil is warm and wet, and until the grow light is turned on, there are no UV rays to kill said mildew and mold. So, just be sure to monitor your cells each day. The underside of the lid should have condensation on it and the soil should be damp but not soaking wet. If you notice that the soil isn’t drying out within a few days of watering, adjust the lid a bit to allow some airflow. That will dry it out. Seed trays and domes are very easy to find. Your big box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot will have them, and you can also find them at feed or farm stores, such as Tractor Supply and Agway. They’re very affordable. Here’s one from Tractor Supply for $12.69 that holds 72 cells and includes the compacted soil pellets, so a seed-starting mix isn’t even needed.

Seed-Starting Mix

It’s important to have the right soil mix when starting seeds. It may be tempting to use soil from outside or regular garden soil when starting seeds, but you should resist that temptation. MI Gardener explains it very well in a YouTube video, but the gist is that outside soil and compost will have microorganisms, bacteria, fungus, and bugs in them that can lead to damping off and other diseases in your seedlings. Not to mention, you probably don’t want bugs in your house. Instead, you should use a dedicated seed-starting mix that has things like peat moss, vermiculite, perlite, and coconut coir in it. These give the starting mix a light and airy texture that allows seeds to germinate and grow while also draining well. We look for organic bags of starting mix. Is it necessary? Probably not, but starting mix is so affordable that there isn’t a good reason not to. We bought two bags of Jiffy organic starting mix at Lowe’s. Each was $7.28 for 12 quarts of soil. We’ve used several different starting mixes in our gardens and haven’t found one to be better than the others.

Water Source

This is pretty self-explanatory, but you’ll need a vessel for watering your seeds. In the past, we used small cups to pour the water. This year, we changed to spray bottles and have enjoyed it more. We find the bottles to be better because they don’t spill or flood the seed cells. You don’t want to overwater your seeds, so spraying is a more controlled method. We bought a 2-pack on Amazon that is currently $7.56. Any spray bottle is work, though.

Surface to Set Everything

I’m including this because it can be easy to forget, but you’ll need a good place to set all your supplies. This can be a table, counter, desk, or shelf, but keep in mind that you’ll need to have everything out for several months and there will be UV lights that can be a bit annoying after a while. In the past, we have used a dining table and a collapsible hard plastic table that is nice because it can easily be cleaned. This year, we switched it up and are using a piece of plywood that was left in our basement by the previous owners and a set of sawhorses. It’s working well because the sawhorses keep the seed trays at a nice height and the plywood was free, so it’s not a big deal if it gets dirty. I’d recommend using something you already have. I don’t think you need to buy something new for this purpose.

What Is in Your Seed-Starting Kit?

In addition to everything I discussed in this post, you’ll need to determine the best way to get power to your equipment. That’s going to be unique to your situation. We bought a 50-foot 12-gauge extension cord and a 3-prong adaptor to make sure we had enough length to reach the closest outlet. Keep in mind that the heat mats and grow lights can draw a decent amount of power, so go overboard when using an extension cord just to be safe.

What do you use to start seeds? Is there any overlap with the items we use? We’d love to hear from you and see if we can improve our kit for next year’s garden. Happy gardening.

March 13, 2025 0

A New Project ft. Kyle

When my husband (Kyle) and I bought this house, we were looking for a place that would provide enough room to have a garden. We wanted it to be flat, have good sun, a little shade, and offer room to build the garden we have been planning for years. In our first apartment, we grew shamrocks and a tomato plant with varying results.

With each new place we moved the garden grew bigger. At our place in Meadville, on a steep hill of a plot of land, we bought a Green Stalk system to maximize our vertical potential. In the house before this one, we created a garden of containers utilizing totes we had from moving and five-gallon buckets. It was better but not the best it could be.

We craved something less plastic, more grounded. And so with 2025 spreading out before us, we have been planning a new project – an in-ground garden full of plants selected carefully, but Kyle can share more details about that in his own words.

I’m excited to read his thoughts here as a contributing writer because his passion for gardening has taught me so much in our 11 years together. As I mentioned in my very first post, this blog is a little of this and a little of that. I’m excited to share more about life beyond the yarn and the thread, it should be inspiring scenery for sketching! Which I have not done since we moved but I am craving to do once again. Here’s a snapshot of what we grew in our container garden several years ago. I hope you will join us on this adventure. 🙂