Dr. Ted here! I admit it; gardening is tough. I remember when I told Dr. Morter (Dad), 

“When I have my own place, I’ll never have animals to feed, gardens to work, nor grass to mow!”  

I often joked that I’d have Astroturf for a lawn and never a garden. And now, well, I just laugh. With six types of mowers on call at any given time and three tillers from 7′ wide to mini tillers, I have found and embraced my bliss.   

Probably the biggest challenge with a garden is weeds, and here’s why. They never give up! I remember a movie I saw back in my younger years called Little Shop of Horrors. Remember, “Feed me, Seymour!”? Just like the plant in the film, weeds never quit – ever! And the only way to keep ahead of them is to give them what they can’t stand. Yes, it turns out that too much of a good thing can be harmful…at least for weeds. 

The best way to manage weeds is to overdo it with compost. Now, it’s crucial to know that compost is good for the soil and all plants, including weeds, but it will choke out the weeds if you really lay it on thick. And, as I was working the soil yesterday on my knees, I smiled with gratitude remembering the lessons I learned from Dad. He could lay lessons on thick.

Lessons like…

“Keep on learning and growing.”

“Never give up on anything.” 

And “Change direction when necessary.” 

Build your foundation based on truth and knowledge, and good things will prevail. Grow yourself to be the best at whatever you choose to be or do. 

But, which will grow the fastest in your life? It’s easy for weeds to win because we unconsciously feed them every day. Maybe just a little for some of us, but we feed them nonetheless. And weeds will take over if given a chance – they can come out of nowhere! 

So what grows in your garden is what you choose to feed, and it’s the same with daily circumstances in my life. I have to ask myself, “What am I feeding?” “What are my thoughts?” What is it I truly desire?” 

I hope to get ripe tomatoes as soon as possible. And the only way to get those tomatoes to grow to maturity is to stop the weeds and compost! I choose to focus my thoughts on positivity, goodness, and thankfulness – the compost of my life. I see ripe tomatoes, and I don’t see weeds. And, when I compost my life with so much positive and loving thinking, the weeds of negativity can’t grow!