Why a Radish?!

6 months ago my Dad was still alive! He was the most influential person in my life...he knew so much about so many things. His escape from the madding crowd was growing vegetables. The first seeds of the growing season he would sow was always radishes...he loved them!!! Sometimes I wonder if he didn't think that the humble little radish represented his life...seemingly boring on the outside but with a mischievous bite on the inside! After a long illness and several months being bedridden he has passed on and is now sowing seeds in my mind of what to do with my life.

It has been a while since his vegetable garden yielded any crops. Long gone are the carrots and cabbages, the butternuts, pumpkins and gemsquashes. Knee deep in a matted mess of grass and weeds the brittle bean poles and rusting fence are now just ghosts of vegetables past.

Just weeks after his death I realised we were in the middle of the growing season. I felt a sudden sense of urgency....I had to resurrect the vegetable garden! In some twisted way it would keep my father's energy alive....I wasn't ready to let him go.

Frantically I started to clean the vegetable boxes first, ridding them of the weeds and debris that had accumulated. Fresh soil was added and mixed and within a day the first seeds were ready to be sown...RADISHES!

The rewards of a bit of effort and the vivid image of my dad working this soil keeps his energy in this garden!