In a Mirror Dimly

There’s a lot of gardening misinformation out there.  And there’s so much people don’t know.  So what makes my information the Truth?  What makes my experience and knowledge the Gospel (Good News)?  

I was reminded of what’s out there when a rather Good (deep, thought provoking) blogger, Francis Berger mentioned he had expanded his vegetable garden and was inundated with weeds.  He was asking what to do, short of napalm.  Some of the responses were encouraging and considerate: this kind of hoe or that many inches of wood chip mulch (ugh) and how to keep at it a bit everyday.

My observation was the same old one: “They don’t know!”  Sure, we all have some knowledge of where the seeds should go in and what the vegies should look like when they’re ready, but it appears that gardening skills are rather unknown to most.

But why should I figure I’ve got it all figured out?  I have no specific education, no degree, no legal qualifications.  I just have what I’ve gleaned through my years of reading and my hands on experience.  

It reminds me of the verse in I Corinthians 13:12.  

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. (RSV)   

This was written about 1,950 years ago when mirrors were made of polished bronze and they didn’t work very well, things were dim, unlike the mirrors we have today.  My gardening knowledge is only partial and dim and sometimes I get it wrong and try to learn how to correct it.  We live in a fallen world where things often go wrong. (Yesterday I found my pepper plants were full of aphids -- never had that before)  I'm still learning day by day.  But in the meantime, my help may be a good starting point of what’s out there.

I feel I may have one other modest quality: Discernment.  This is a bit different from knowledge or wisdom.  It’s an ability to figure out what is right or wrong;  what is good or bad.  There are so many mistruths out there.  Even lies that have been told for many decades.  

Like the lie of Enriched White Bread.  That sin should have been exposed many years ago by the nutritionists, but it hasn’t.  So instead, people are over fed and under nourished and the population suffers from diabesity caused in part by the lie of empty white bread. 

Silver Hills Sprouted Wheat Bread originates from the Fraser Valley.

Perhaps my discernment has led me to picking up the better practices and abandoning the poorer ones.   I’m not an expert.  Just someone willing to share his journey.  My gardening information is a bit like: “One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”  Just hopefully not white bread.

Happy Gardening.