Covid-19 has caused much disruption and, pain, BUT one unintended consequence is that I’ve spent more time in my garden. At first I was too energetic and planted some pole bean seeds too early in March. Only one stem survived a late frost. I later planted more seeds and vegetables so we had a hearty supply of beans, tomatoes, peppers, kale, etc. during the summer.

As I was weeding my pole bean area at the end of the season I noticed that only one stem was actually still alive and producing, AND it was in the original row that I thought had all been killed by the frost. It had produced many vines that climbed up the strings and spread out at the top.

See photo at right for the beans I got during just one day of picking. I’m calling it a miracle – something to remind  us of the resilience of nature and give us humans  hope that we can survive hard times.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Speaking of lessons from the natural world, Our zinnia flowers were also growing well. Normally, I would bring these inside and make a bouquet for our entryway. Of course no one is visiting during Covid to see their glory. At first I figured I’d just pass them out to neighbors, but many of them have flower gardens of their own. I decided to anonymously drop off about 50 zinnias at random homes that we pass on our daily bike ride which includes low income areas of Covington. Since I didn’t know how long it would be before the recipient found their flower, I got a bunch of single flower water tubes. This was the harder part of the project, but I hoped the flowers would bring some unexpected joy to people I didn’t know.
PS: I also distributed some extra beans.