Post-Harvest Post-Mortem

The best part about having a garden is enjoying the fruits of your labor. So far, I’ve picked crisp Black-seeded Simpson lettuce, tender green beans, peppers with varying degrees of heat and some monster radishes (I didn’t know they could get that big!). Still to come are corn, okra, tomatoes and pumpkin.

Those are my successes. But lest you think my green thumb is undefeatable, I would like to say that my acorn squash, sunflowers and beets were a definite no-show. Why, I can’t tell you. Was it the age of the seeds? The location of the sowing? A hungry (and uninvited!) avian visitor?

Beats me. All I know is that the only things growing in those particular spots are weeds. Lots of them—which made me think about other time when I have “sown a seed” and watched it bear—nothing. No flower, no fruit. Nada. Zilch. Zero.

This outcome can show up in life as well as in our landscape. And when our efforts produce a bumper crop of nothingness, we need to figure out what went wrong instead of simply plowing over the non-producing space and moving on.

So put on your straw hat and ask yourself these questions:

• Was it the condition of the “soil”?—Before you start a new venture (be it personal or professional), you need to do some serious prep work. Check out the health of the ground itself. For example, if you are starting a business, make sure you are “planting” it in the right location—accessible to your market but not full of rocks (your competition).
• Was it your lack of attention or the reverse: too much of a good thing?—Water, sun and fertilizer are essential components of a healthy garden. Skip any one of these and you have seriously compromised the health of your plant. Overdo it, and your plant suffers as well. If your “plant” failed to thrive, did you put enough effort into it? Or did you start out strong and gradually lose interest, hoping it would succeed despite your lack of effort and attention?
• Was it the right “seed” at the wrong time?—In life, like in gardening, timing is everything. Some plants need the heat of the mid-summer sun while others prefer the less intense spring and fall temperatures. And some plants (think garlic) do quite well when left to “winter over” under a blanket of snow. You may have done all your research, get the best advice, and put forth the right amount of effort, but it still didn’t turn out the way you hoped. It might just be that this isn’t the right time for it. Other obligations or even the economy might well be the factors that put the kibosh on your plan. If that’s the case, figure out what is the optimum “growing season” for your effort and sow it again—when the time is right.

If you’re one of the fortunate ones who has produced a bumper crop of successes, share your achievement with the rest of us by clicking on the COMMENTS link below. Tell us what you “planted” and how your harvest turned out!