Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

I’ve always been struck by Robert Frost’s poem, “Mending Wall,” about the spring ritual of two neighbors meeting to repair the stone wall that divides their properties. There are so many things about the poem to ponder. To read the poem yourself, go here:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44266/mending-wall

Is meeting to repair a wall necessary?

Will one’s pine trees really eschew the other’s apple orchard?

Why do walls make for good neighbors?

Today, craftsmen came to repair the fence that encompasses our patio. It’s been here 15 years and needed a redo. No, there was no neighbor to work with me, no philosophical musings. Only two workers who will be paid. Still, the work reminded me of Frost.

Perhaps good fences make good neighbors, as the poem says. But perhaps they also inspire gardeners to put their best feet forward with or without neighbors.