The Cancer Garden

It's a typical Seattle spring day--cold, rainy, with the occasional "sun break," when the sun peeks out just long enough to get folks' hopes up. "Sun break" is a Seattle weather-forecast term that I've never heard anywhere else.

I'm on the cosy couch with Percival the Foster Kitten to keep me company, pouting because it is just too cold to garden. (Although I am going to have to go out shortly and walk Constant, my service-dog-in-training.)

My garden has been an important part of my life ever since my cancer diagnosis, and most mornings I spend an hour or so puttering in the garden, coffee cup in hand, often still in my robe (the neighbors haven't complained yet). I deadhead, pull weeds, murder snails and slugs, and get a dose of real air and sunlight, weak though it is at this latitude.

And it makes me happy.

When the weather gets just a bit warmer, I'll move some furniture onto the porch and sit there and watch my goldfish in the pond and smell the sweetpeas and lavender.

I like old-fashioned flowers: bleeding heart, forget-me-nots, lavender, roses, peonies (left), pansies, poppies, tulips, daffodils, bluebells--pink, white, and blue.

In among the flowers, I plant herbs and food: mint, onions, garlic, peas, blueberries, potatoes, and more. I have a 100-square-foot bed of strawberries that gives me a quart of berries a day for a couple of glorious weeks in June. The berries are already forming, and it looks like a good year for strawberries. (Homemade jam is coming!)

In the backyard, I have a Japanese pear-apple (nashi) that gave me one perfect fruit last year. It looks like I will get a dozen or more this year. Also raspberries, if the dogs don't get them first. In my garden-in-the-sky, next to the bamboo I have pots with carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and beets.

I like to sit up there and enjoy the view over the rooftops on warm mornings.

There is something magical about growing your own food. Even though my garden space is small, in the summer I eat about two servings of fruits and vegetables a day from my garden, and each thing is more delicious than the last. Have you ever eaten homegrown potatoes? Maybe with a little basil, also from the garden? There is no comparison.

The garden nourishes me in ways I can't explain.

More on gardens:

My Mother's Garden

Liz at As The Tumor Turns also posted photos of her garden today.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Jeanne, your garden sounds heavenly. There is nothing sweeter than a just-picked strawberry still warm from the sun. I hear that warmer weather is on the way - you'll be out there getting your hands dirty in no time.

[jana]

I had bone cancer as a preteen. I've now just recently passed the 23rd anniversary of my diagnosis (and all is well!). My garden is still the most important element of keeping myself sane and happy. :)

[Jeanne]

Jana--thanks! I'm with you on the garden: keeps me sane and happy. And right now I'm just starting to get the most delicious things to eat.

Jeanne