Planting Garlic and Letting Go of Control

There’s a gardening adage I came across recently: “Plant garlic on the shortest day of the year and harvest on the longest.” Poetic, isn’t it? It speaks to the rhythm of the seasons, the patience of the process, and the promise that what you plant in the darkness will eventually grow into the light.

This year, that timing works perfectly for me. Between traveling and a general lack of planning this fall, my garden has been, well, theoretical at best. But today, as the shortest day of the year greeted us with its quiet stillness, my daughter and I stepped outside to plant the first seeds of our 2025 garden: 24 cloves of garlic.

I had it all mapped out—literally. Armed with my shiny new garden planner, I carefully sketched the layout, spacing each clove exactly eight inches apart. Precision was the name of the game. My daughter, however, had a slightly different interpretation of the instructions. Her rows turned out to be much wider than my carefully measured grid, and my plan—perfect in theory—was already delightfully off-kilter.

At first, I’ll admit, I felt a twinge of annoyance. We’re barely getting started, and already this is sideways? But as I stood there, garlic in hand, I couldn’t help but laugh. Because gardening—much like life—has a funny way of reminding you that control is often an illusion. No matter how carefully you plan, the universe has its own ideas.

So, we adjusted. We planted the first purple and red cloves, and I updated the planner to match the reality of our slightly imperfect rows. There’s something freeing about letting go of rigid expectations and embracing the beauty of what’s actually unfolding.

This is why I love gardening—it’s as much about cultivating patience and flexibility as it is about cultivating plants. Those little cloves of garlic, nestled in their uneven rows, are a reminder that it’s okay if things don’t go exactly to plan. Growth happens anyway.

As we finished up, I felt a small surge of hope. The 2025 garden is officially underway, and with it comes a new season of possibility. If the first lesson is that control is overrated, I think we’re off to a good start.