Maybe “harvest” is too grand a word for my little garden, but here we are in mid-September and my very long string beans and my cherry tomatoes have given me another wonderful bounty. I’ve come to think of the way I garden as “benign neglect”, meaning that I plant things, care for them, but then step aside and let them do what they want to do. It’s a little like raising children. Or writing a book. Effort and then no effort. Waiting. Thinking of other things. And the best part is that it’s always surprising. For example, a few weeks ago I realized that nasty vines were invading my roses. I put on my gardening gloves, yanked out as many as I could reach, got stuck by the thorns in the process, but now have two rose bushes that are so full of blooms I can’t keep up with them.

Patience is not one of my best qualities, but my fall harvest tells me wait, keep an open mind, and maybe, just maybe if I’m lucky, something unexpected will show up.