What My Garden Taught Me—the Hard Way
园艺给我的教训——历经磨难才学会
Jared Garrett
贾里德·加勒特
It was April and the last snow of the season had come and gone. The back yard of my home in central Utah was beginning to show signs of life, with the green of grass warring with the yellow of budding dandelions. My garden plot was looking good. Really good. I had taken pains to put it to bed properly at the end of the previous season, and I had been planning this year's garden for five months! Five months of sketching designs and plans, layouts and trestles for beans. And now the time was fast approaching.
那是在4月,这个季节的最后一场雪来了又去。我在犹他州中心老家后院里的一切开始复苏,青青的小草和黄色的含苞待放的蒲公英争相斗艳。我的菜园规划得看起来好得不能再好了。为了把它收拾妥当,便于今年种植,我上个季末可费了不少心思。我为今年种植这个菜园都已经准备了五个月了!五个月来,我不停地草拟设计方案、菜园布局和豆类蔬菜生长用的支架。现在这一刻就要到来了。
I turned to my wife. "Hey," I said, all innocent and completely ignorant of the pain I was about to commit myself to, "why don't we plant some corn?"
我转身对我的妻子说:“嗨,我们为什么不种些玉米呢?”但我完全不知道也没有意识到种玉米要付出多少心血。
"Great idea." She prattled and closed her eyes in thought. "Is it hard to grow?"
“好主意!”她信口说道,接着她闭上眼睛想了想,问:“玉米好种吗?”
I shrugged. "No way. Everybody does corn."
我耸耸肩说:“没问题!人人都种玉米。”
Three weeks later I was ready. I had tilled the plot again, mixing in some nice manure and keeping it watered to get the worms excited. On a perfect, sunny Spring day, with a packet of seeds in hand, I dashed outside and planted four rows of corn in the southern end of the garden. I splashed some water on the five by ten foot area of future cobs and then moved north up the plot to put in some beans and zucchini.
三周后一切准备就绪。我又把地耕了一遍,并在地里施了一些好肥料,保持土壤水分充足,好让蠕虫活跃起来。在一个阳光明媚的春日,我拿了一小包种子冲到外面,在莱园的南头种下四行玉米。我在这块五英尺宽、十英尺长的即将结出玉米的地里洒了些水,然后向北走去,种了些菜豆和西葫芦。