To everything (turn, turn, turn), There is a season (turn, turn, turn), And a time to every purpose, under heaven—Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger set Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (with a few alterations) to music in 1959. The song gained popularity with The Byrds’ 1965 cover. It’s The Byrds’ version that runs through my mind whenever I try to plant a garden.

When I was growing up, we had a HUGE vegetable garden. My mother is a gifted gardener. She can grow anything: beautiful flowers of any kind, lush vegetables, berries, fruit trees, flowering trees. You name it, she can grow it. My sister inherited this gift for growing things from my mother.

I did not.

I thought I’d try my hand at growing herbs. On a  vacation, I’d seen an herb garden planted in an intricate design. I planted herbs in my own intricate design. I figured even if they didn’t all grow in the design I’d planned, at least I’d get the benefit of some of the herbs for cooking. I watched and waited, waited and watched. Not a single plant ever grew.

Not one to give up, I thought, “Maybe it just wasn’t a good spot for herbs.” Being more cautious this time, I planted a few chives, cilantro and sage. I rejoiced when the chives grew. They were a little sickly looking, but, hey, I was willing to take anything. The cilantro surpassed my expectations, growing lush and thick. None of my sage plants grew at all.

Two out of three was pretty good!

Then we had a hard rain, which washed my sickly looking chives away. Sadness.

Oh, well, there was always the next year.

Much to my surprise, the chives had replanted themselves and were growing beautifully at the other end of the garden. The sage finally put in an appearance. I guess they just wanted to take their time. The cilantro came back up on its own, having gone to seed in the fall.

I may have a black thumb when it comes to gardening, but I find that things sometimes prosper best if we leave them alone to grow at their own pace in their own season.