During the growing season, when I used to work as a high-tech analyst, I would look at and water my garden when I arrived home even before I saw my family. I found that 15 minutes of examining the tomato plants, pulling a few weeds and ensuring nothing was wilted made me a better person. Today I do not have the same pressure or stress of days past, yet I still enjoy going out before dinner to water my garden.
This activity is more imperative this year than prior ones as rain is fleeting at best. Much of the garden is bone dry no doubt to the drought we are now experiencing. And because we have a shallow well, I must be judicious about watering to ensure it does not go dry. Two terra-cotta colored rain barrels are being tapped every day as I haul water much like Gunga Din to my charges with thirsty needs. These watering's supplement those provided by the hose that stretches to the far reaches of my yard.
Pulling the hose to its end, I turn on the water and my hands start to cool as the heat of the hose dissipates from water pulled from deep below in the soil. Condensation forms on the hose’s outside as it quietly escapes through a nozzle pointed at different plants. Each plant sounds different while watered. Thinly leafed plants like peas and asparagus change the water’s sound little as it splats on the soil being absorbed. Large leafed plants such as rhubarb resist the water as it bounces off the leaves with a resounding sound before being channeled down toward the roots. The splash of water on tomatoes and peppers sounds akin to the sound of diverted water off a shower curtain.
Each distinctive noise is accompanied by a moist mist rising off the ground that delivers the scent of the individual plant to my nose. Some plants, like lettuce, have little smell, while herbs like oregano, mint and thyme toss plumes of fragrance toward me. Anise hyssop with its licorice-like smell is the most potent this time of year. Some flowers and leaves catch tiny jewel-like pools of water creating a distorted lens that magnify their structures.
My hands feel cooler the longer I hold onto the hose as condensation coats my hands, wetting my gloves. The hose reluctantly follows me around the garden kinking and catching itself along the way. Space by space the plants are watered, the birdbaths are filled and dinner is about to be put on the table.
