My problem
While gardening is fun there is also this aspect of gardening that brings you a lot of heartache. I don't know about you or your micro-climate but I am sure that you also face various issues with gardening. The midsummer madness in the Indian weather conditions almost always means two things - water scarcity and plants wilting and dying due to excess heat no matter how hard you work to save them. Of course there are other added woes that gardeners face all the time, but I won't get into it here today.
**The dilemma **
I sit here staring at my garden, the pain in my heart increasing with each question that comes into my head. Which child do you save and which ones do you sacrifice? To any gardener his/her plants are like babies that were birthed in pain so if you had to answer the questions I asked earlier what would you do? I don't pretend to have the answers to this question, I only know that very soon (maybe in a couple of days) I would have to face the reality and come to a decision.
Today, this morning we ran out of water, our tanks were running dry. We called the local suppliers and we were told that our ground water levels are alarmingly low, water would be pumped just couple of times a week. This wouldn't be a problem for us as we are just two of us at home, the hubs and I (for most part of the week), but we have something in the area of 1300 or more plants to take care of. We could buy water from private sellers at exorbitant rates but for how long and how many times? Do we have the funds to last us through the summer?
This brings me to my earlier question - which plants can I sacrifice and which one would I keep? What would I base my decisions on? Would I base it purely on utility value (such as veggies) or on price or rarity of plants? If I base it on utility I would lose the plants I have collected over the years. If I go by rarity and price I would have to spend more on food and since I have been slowly moving more towards a plant based diet this would burn a huge hole in my pocket.
**What do I do? **
I could come up with other means of watering my plants like drip irrigation, which hasn't really worked for me as my plants are potted in different sized pots and placed in spots based on their sun or shade requirements. The hardware doesn't really work too well as I had discovered earlier and man it is uber-expensive to set up a new system here. I would have to take professional help which may be a financial drain on me, the cost for buying water all through summer would also be impossible. Do I have a solution to my problem? Maybe, maybe not, depends on how I approach the problem. Right now there is the question of emotional attachment and paucity of funds and that brings me back to the earlier questions I came up with.
** A parallel of sorts**
I remember during the corona pandemic I heard a discussion between my son and his friends, all doctors. They were discussing the ethics of which patient they need to let go and which one to let fight for life. This was a common situation when there were hardly any beds to spare in the hospitals and people waited for others to die so their loved ones could get some help. The wars rooms were at war within. One young man who was in charge of assigning ventilators for patients spoke about how it pained him to make decisions based on age and other physical conditions. He concluded by saying who are we to decide, we are just doctors not God. The pain in his voice troubled me for months to come. My situation is not even comparable but it does hurt to make these decisions.
I have a brain wave as I write this, who am I to make such decisions? Perhaps I should let nature answer me, I think nature will decided which ones can survive and which won't, it make not take too long if the rain (usually a few thunderstorms) don't happen soon enough.
We humans switch on our air conditioners and relax in the artificially altered temperatures in times like these. I wish we had something like this for plants. Why doesn't someone come up with solar powdered temperature controls for plants at minimal costs?
I have decided to let go of these coleus plants, I will put one cutting each into a big container and keep the collection alive until the rainy season starts. Maybe I will combine a few other plants together to reduce the water usage, but that might not be the answer to my problems, but it could help in a small way I guess. Every tiny drop makes a mighty ocean, right?
Regardless, now I wait for that day longingly as I collect soda bottles to make temporary drip irrigation contraptions. I will show you a simple one I've made in my next post, but for now I must say goodbye and wish you make a wonderful day for yourself. I hope you don't have to make such painful decisions.
