Five days after Christmas, my sister decided it was time to return to her home, largely because she missed her garden. Curious to see this lush space she spoke about so fondly, I accompanied her. We arrived late at night, too exhausted to inspect the plants, so the garden had to wait until morning.
At dawn, checking on the plants was the very first thing we did. I was stunned to find them still thriving despite having gone unwatered for nearly two weeks. There had been no rainfall for close to a month, yet the garden held on. Some plants were clearly struggling, a particular pepper plant had dried up completely, though it still bore fruits on its branches. Seeing it in that state saddened both my sister and me. It felt unfair that such a beautiful plant had withered simply from lack of water.
As I looked around more closely, I noticed the impressive variety she had planted. There were herbs, medicinal plants, vegetables, a type of squash called Candy Roaster, eggplants, basil, different kinds of spinach, and fluted pumpkin. She had also planted peas, but the harsh weather proved too much for them. Only two pods survived. Now that I am here, though, we are hopeful and plan to try planting peas again
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Breakfast time came quickly, and we needed peppers for the eggs we were about to make. My niece helped harvest them, carefully placing the ripe ones into a basket. Their bright colours were striking, a small but joyful reward from the garden.
I am genuinely elated to be here, witnessing how well my sister’s garden is doing despite the odds. Because of it, I have decided to stay longer than planned, I want to help plant some okra. We are also considering bell peppers, though I need to research whether they can thrive in our climate. If they can be properly cared for here, we will gladly add them to the list of crops to plant next season.
ps: in another post, I’ll talk about the benefits of the squash and some of the medicinal plants we have here.
