Practicing Serendipity

                              or the Accidental Gardener

     My daughter, Keri Lee is always telling me I should blog. She’s says that I am the original “crunchy mama”, from long before it was trendy. Most recently she has enjoyed my “accidental” garden stories of my compost volunteers that are now bearing fruit. She told me she was going to think up a good name for a blog like Serendipitous Gardener, so that got me thinking.

     "Practicing Serendipity" is an oxymoron and oxymorons are fun. Life is full of them, and I think God planned it that way. Some of our greatest joy comes from serious pain. Think childbirth. Some serious pain comes from our greatest joys. Think teenagers. And some of the most rewarding gardening decides to pop up from the compost!

     I have had considerable difficulty learning how to garden in Central Florida. So far my best efforts to grow edibles have failed, but I have enjoyed amazing papayas that sprouted from a friend’s compost heap, pineapples that grew on barely cared for tops placed in the dirt and this year some pretty decent tomatoes that showed up out of nowhere!

     Consequently, I have adopted a whole new gardening philosophy. I am gradually attempting to enrich my barren sandy yard with kitchen scraps and other compostable goodies. I have a rough plan of what I will plant here or there, but if something pops up and it’s not in my way at the moment, I let it grow and see what develops.

     Yes, I do know it’s a stupid way to garden, and you never know what will come of the seed of some hybrid veggie, but it leaves room for serendipity. It has also given me much food for thought and so far a little food for the table, so I am enjoying it. Besides, if nothing special grows on my serendipitous plants, they are still pretty and they eventually add to my compost pile! Nothing is valueless. That is my philosophical gardening thought for the day!