In honor of my father, Leander Thomas Taylor Sr., and the abundant seeds of wisdom he planted in my life. And to my Heavenly Father who waters the seeds growing me in more ways than I could ever imagine.)
Let me start by saying I AM NOT a Master Gardener, nor an expert in gardening by any means. My father taught me all that I know about gardening. It all started when in 2008, David and I took a trip to Italy for my birthday. I’d fallen in love with Italy from watching Under the Tuscan Sun. While in Italy, we so loved the taste of the food there. The tomatoes, the sauces, the basil, the olive oil….everything tasted so fresh! When I came home, I decided I wanted to plant a garden. My mother had recently passed in 2006 and my father was living alone. Who better to teach me how to plant a garden than my father! Having grown up in rural Mississippi, my father had always had either a small farm or a garden. I thought this would be a good way to give him a reason to have to come visit me from Mississippi in Dallas. And so the adventure started. I called my father and told him I wanted to plant a garden but didn’t know how. So, on Easter weekend (because you must put the seeds in the ground on Good Friday!), he had my brother drive him to Dallas. He brought with him seeds and fertilizer from Mississippi. He’d told me what tools to have for him, basically a rake and a hoe and how to prepare the soil by adding good rich soil and “turning it up” with the rake and hoe. And so my journey into the wisdom of the garden began.
Note: “The Good Friday garden is an old Southern tradition that seeds planted on Good Friday will thrive”. “Usually, you want to plant after the last freeze date, which, here in the South, is around Easter," said consulting entomologist Sunny Ryerson. "Considering the religious background of the tradition, there is also a belief that planting on Good Friday will ensure renewal of life just like the resurrection of Christ represents a new life cycle."
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