What the Garden Teaches About Patience In July
July 17, 2026
Patience in the garden is not passive. I am learning that again with the tomatoes. We are getting three or four tomatoes a day, which is more than our small family eats in one day, so that part feels generous. But we have also had tomato moth caterpillars damaging tomatoes, and that has been disheartening. I first noticed it as a black hole in a green tomato. I had never dealt with this problem before, so right now I am learning as I go: inspecting the plants, picking off what I find, and removing the damaged tomatoes when I see them.
The garden is teaching me that you cannot walk away from something living and expect it to keep producing without care. You have to have daily eyes on it. You have to water. You have to notice. You have to see what changed from one day to the next and be willing to learn what that change means. That is true in more than the garden. Protecting what is producing requires presence. Not panic. Not perfection. Presence.
With love and intention,
Jennifer
