Gardening with Peyton

by Carolyn Williams

It’s May, and rain has been falling all day. A gloomy day in a gloomy month, and yes, it’s been gloomy in our world for all of 2020. At first we heard of the strange virus appearing in China, and then Italy, and now we all suffer the same fate, of watching and waiting to see what happens next.

I am of a “certain age,” with an underlying health issue, so I am definitely homebound. I am at least 6’ apart from the world and trying very hard to stay healthy; same as many of you. And it is here that my story begins …gardening with my 12-year-old grandson, Peyton.

Peyton, his brother, and his mom had come to our house earlier on one of those really hot spring afternoons to swim in our pool. I stayed in the garden across the length of our backyard. All of a sudden Peyton uttered those words dear to any gardener’s heart. Toto (that’s me), “I want to start a garden!” OMG! Thus began the journey of teaching Peyton to garden, long distance and with no direct contact.

First I ran around gathering up seeds, pots, bags of gardening soil, and compost. Yelling excitedly across the garden, I started talking about the very basic process of beginning a garden plot, trying to think of things that might give him a chance of growing some veggies before the summer heat exploded. Funny how my mind can get so excited that it just bubbles over with all kinds of explanations. It all had to come out, just in case he changed his mind before I could pass on all those thoughts!

Second, we worked out a plan where his brother, who is working on his driver’s permit, would chauffeur him and his mom out to our house, where I would have potted up different plants and put them out on our driveway. It was a “win win” for everyone. His brother got in driving practice, his mom got them out of the house, and I got to leave lovely little plants for Peyton. We waved at each other as they headed back to his new garden plot. His dad bought some left over plants at Home Depot, consisting of one tomato plant, and strawberry plants, plus a small garden frame to put together. It was a start!

Interestingly, I found several plants of an earlier planting coming up. They were either zucchini or pumpkins. And so the mystery plants were potted and sent out to join the others. One of the seed packets given to him was of pumpkins, and some MG neighbors had also given me a left-over fabric grow bag pot from their garden, which also went Peyton’s way. Now his pumpkins are really up and thriving. He has offered to pot one up and put on his driveway for me.

In between our potting and plant exchanges, I have been writing him email detailing all the gardening processes I have learned over the years. I realize that I have this small, strange window of opportunity that is usually filled with school, after-school friends, homework and sports. Along with my favorite gardening fertilizers, he gets my favorite advice. But most of all, he gets my love of gardening, and my love of being able to pass along what I learned many years earlier from gardening in the summers with my grandparents. And it’s a wonderful feeling, even in this crazy world of germs and viruses, that I have found a very simple way of helping one other person, by gardening with Peyton!