[Seasons: Spring XXIII]
What nature does in the Fall, gardeners and farmers do in the spring: we sow seeds in the ground.
Nature does it excessively. Humans are more selective.
Nature is not choosy about location, depth, or geometric spacing. Humans plant in rows at specific depths.
Nature sows and waits months. Humans sow and wait days.
Except when it comes to carrots. Early spring is when I sow carrots. I make six passes down the length of my bed with my four-row seeder. That amounts to 24 rows, every half inch a seed, for a total of nearly 600 carrots seeds per foot. In a perfect world, that would be 60,000 carrots per 100 foot bed. But I contend with a host of factors that conspire against that number, namely, weeds, dry weather, and birds.
Humans are more selective and less patient than nature, but when it comes to carrots, the disparity shrinks. Germination rates for carrots is dismal and precise seed location is a low priority.
Nature has something figured out that I only get a taste of from growing carrots: giving generously, without discrimination and minimal control, is the way to growth. It’s the only guaranteed means to life.
