“Our surroundings, from our clothes to our countryside, are the products of our inward life — our spirit, our vision.” Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America Our son’s AI experiment, 2025. The “Green Warden” arrived in a text from my son. He’d been playing around with AI and the idea that I like to garden. After answering a few questions and feeding in some images, this is what the genie produced, complete with a backstory. Apparently I’m a superhero who “can grow anything,” which precisely illustrates how AI can fail — it creates myths, while nature lives in the truth. Not enough sun or too much sun and your plant will die. Same with water. Same with temperatures — both air and soil. Nature is about the interplay of elements, seasonal rhythms and rituals that carry the comfort of tradition and the permanence of place. When I’m harvesting potatoes, or shucking black-eyed peas, I’m tapping a lifetime’s worth of textures, scents and sounds. The smell of tomato plants, the okra itch, the cicadas. That’s me in the ‘80s, smiling because I was told to. No one worried about the sun, and this converted pasture helped feed our family. I was taught to see the garden as a battleground, where we fought everything from heat to varmints and we harvested by the bushel. Hard work, in other words. So when I picked the shovel back up as an adult I wanted the experience to be as much about pleasure as about putting food on the table. What follows is more general philosophy than precise step-by-step, and is framed by two questions — how can I make this easier and how do I live in harmony. Here are the Mother’s answers as I heard them. MAKE PEACE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS …WITHIN REASON. SMALL BEDS ARE EASIER TO MANAGE For about a decade, we gardened in large beds designed primarily to fit the overall aesthetic of the landscaping. Three years ago we decided to move things around, creating several small beds closer to the kitchen. About half are raised and half are roughly 2X10 rectangles. Surrounding footpaths limit weed and pest migration. Since I’m not standing on the soil I’m cultivating it’s less compacted and easier to turn. SUN AND WATER Position vegetable beds so they get morning sun and late afternoon protection. All ours sit on the east side of the house. Nature does the rest. No elaborate shade structures, no crispy plants. Drip irrigation Vegetables want water every day during the summer. Our drip lines are on timers and run overnight to cut evaporation. The only time I hand water is when I’m blasting plants for insects — speaking of which… PEST CONTROL The yellow pears have gone wild. The brownish leaves closer to ground signal spider mites. There are entire subreddits devoted to the trimming and shaping of tomato vines, but that’s a lot of work. And it’s not like we’re harvesting for the farmer’s market. I go out in the morning, pick a handful, trim some of what the spider mites have claimed, and move on. That’s pretty much my garden-wide philosophy, and there’s usually enough for everybody. However we do help plants fend off some of the more problematic pests. Spider Mites Could you f*ck in a hurricane? One of the easiest ways to control spider mite infestation is by blasting the plant’s underside with water to disrupt the breeding. They’ll still reproduce but this slows things down. Leaf-footed Bug Problems from birth. First the nymphs cluster and stick their needle noses into the crop, sucking out the juice. Then they mature, growing bigger and hungrier. Fill a wide bowl with water, a bit of dish soap and go out at dusk. Position the bowl under the nymphs and shake the plant. They’ll fall into the water and instantly suffocate. Not necessarily recommended, but so very satisfying. Nymphs taken care of with a simple handclap after they clustered on an open vine. Cabbage Looper Nasty leaf-eating caterpillars. Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) is species-specific biological warfare, and it works. APPRECIATE THE PERSISTENCE About a decade ago, I spent hours creating a mini minefield with carpet tack strips in an attempt to keep squirrels away from my plants. That very afternoon, at high heat, I watched a hungry juvenile methodically tip-toe to the goodies. That’s when the epiphany hit — squirrels need the tomatoes to live. I just like the taste. They’ll always have more time and more motivation. I know some folks harvest early — at the first sign of coloration — but our guys like big green tomatoes as much as big red tomatoes. Netting ? My experience has been they’ll still find a way in. Pepper Spray ? Sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t, never for long. I even tried ringing plants with coyote urine , which stunk so bad I didn’t want to be in my own garden. Internet marketing. I call bullshit. We adapted by shifting to several varieties of prolific producing cherry tomatoes. While I miss the beefsteaks, I don’t miss the heartburn of raising something for several months only to find the fruit half eaten and discarded. DISTRACT AND DIVERT Start with the question “what do ____ like better than my _____?” The rabbits love seedlings, so I planted a couple rows of beans with leftover seeds adjacent to the raised bed of greens. It takes the edge off their hunger before they reach the chard. When I’m thinning okra a few weeks after it sprouts, I move several to an adjacent bed. Rabbits continue to eat the leaves, but it kept them out of the harvest row until those plants were out of reach. ALL KINDS OF NEW LIFE It also turns out rabbits love raised beds as much as we do, the tilled soil apparently the perfect place to hide babies for the month or so between birth and leaving the nest. Momma bunny’s taken out strawberries, dill, and a few feet of onion starts. There’s still plenty left. PLENTY FOR EVERYONE This time of year, the sun’s coming up at 630. I brew a cup of coffee, sit outside, and watch the landscape come to life. It’s the most magical hour of my day. *These are family pictures, obliged that you don’t reuse without asking for permission. I’ll leave with a few links, where I shop and what I read. Here’s hoping you get your hands in the soil! Happy July 4th from Happy Heat. Alan Berg, Publisher Places I Love Shoal Creek Nursery The Natural Gardener Hill Country Water Gardens Barton Springs Nursery Helpful Links The Natural Gardener Monthly Tips Joy Max Jardin Central Texas Gardener