Nongardeners often tell me that “Gardening must be SO relaxing.”
It can be relaxing.
It can also be extremely stressful.
Because plants, like any living thing, are part of the circle of life. They are born. They live.
They die.
At all different stages.
Some seeds don’t germinate. (I sow extra for this reason.) They die or have died before they sprout.
Some seedlings don’t make it past the first week (or the first month or…). You, as their gardener, could be doing everything right. And they will still die. They simply aren’t viable plants.
Some seedlings die after they’ve been transplanted into the garden. They don’t have the strength to deal with the outside elements.
Or they are eaten by slugs. Or they are attacked by flea beetles. Or hail takes them out. Or…or…or…
In the places where we have winter, almost all of our beloved outside plants die after that first hard frost.
Death is part of gardening. It isn’t a happy part. But it is an unavoidable part.
I mourn the death for a day. Then I plant another seed or transplant another seedling, filling the gap, giving that plant a chance at life.
And the circle of life continues.
