Removing the Weeds Now for Future Growth
By Lizzie Robbins | Eccelsial Cultivator, The Neighborhood Garden Project
Fall has arrived in Houston, though it doesn’t feel like it. With hot days and warm nights, my cucumbers, tomatillos, peppers, and pole beans are thriving. But I know the season is changing. It is dark by 7:30. The sky is bright blue, and the air is drier than the summer months. It will soon get colder, and eventually, the first frost will arrive.
Winter will come, and although we are blessed with an extended growing season in Houston, it is still essential to prepare our gardens for the cold season, just as we prepare ourselves to enter a new season.
While weed growth slows in the fall, it is also the time that weeds go to seed, preparing for extensive growth in the spring when the ground warms once again. Weeds will patiently wait, building their root network, and then seemingly appear out of nowhere! Removing weeds at the root in the fall, before they go to seed, is vital for a healthy future garden.
For humans, our habits and patterns of life solidify during times of inertia. Winter is meant to be a time of restoration and reflection. What weeds in your life need to be pulled during the fall while you have the energy?
On the first day of fall, I began a 40-day yoga challenge with my yoga studio community. It’s demanded that I pull some weeds in my life. I was ordering takeout too often — it wasn’t good for my wallet or my health. No shame in takeout! I know that I am at my best when I am cooking the majority of my meals. Not only is it healthy, but it’s also therapeutic — I love to cook. My challenge has also prompted me to reassess my sleep habits. In order for my body to recover from all the yoga, I need more sleep! (I probably always did, but now I can’t ignore it). These weeds of ordering too much takeout and not sleeping enough aren’t just about my physical health, but my whole self. For me to show up as the most loving and courageous person I can be, I need to feel my best.
These weeds are distractions, not inherently bad in and of themselves, but they take energy away from what I am intentionally planting in my life: supportive exercise routines, devotion to my health and wellbeing, discipline to make time for what matters, and the creativity grounded in total possibility. Those things are more important than washing the dishes (again!?) or FOMO from another night in bed with my book at 9:00 pm.
What needs to be removed from your life this fall? Let yourself become attuned to the flow of the seasons so that you can prepare your garden and your life for the slow, quiet of winter. If you do the work now, you’ll make room for the rest that comes from a well-tended spirit.
