雨中的菜園（Garden in the rain）

Abstract in English: I go to the garden as usual even if it may be raining later on. The garden's vegetables such as green pepper, cucumber, gumbo, bottle gourd, white gourd, pumpkin, string bean, etc. are very healthy and good. Since most of them are bearing fruits right now, they need to be nourished more often than before. While I am applying fertilizer on the plots, it starts to drop very light rain. At that moment, Don’t you know what picture appears in my mind? It is nothing but this small garden lying on the corner of a cloudy and misty mountaineous land quietly and seclusively. My heart is also filled with peaceful and solitary feelings. In the mean time, my body seems to become a eagle flying in the vast and endless sky alone but freely. As coming back to the reality, I take three bottle gourds, six green peppers and twenty-eight cucumbers with a raining scene of the garden to home.

每天晨起盥洗完畢之後，總會沿著社區庭院的步道散步，同時走到網球場，觀察一下正巧座落於其外的菜園，盤算一下當天的菜園勞動內容，今天也不例外，正在結果中的番椒、胡瓜、秋葵、茄子、玉米、瓠瓜等似可再施追肥，同時鬆土和除草。
九點左右來到菜園，天空雲層很厚，灰濛濛地，看來會下雨，隔鄰菜園老師已先來到，認為今天不宜施肥，否則蔬菜根會爛掉，這一番話頓時讓我猶豫起來，於是先將栽種玉米的畦塊周邊雜草拔除，由於土壤濕軟，野草很容易用手拔起來，一邊拔草，一邊看著玉米頂端的雄花（很像一粒粒稻穀，殼卻散開）不時有蜜蜂飛來，每一主幹中間段則結出一到三顆果穗（即雌花），穗頂並吐絲，看起來真是漂亮，只是果穗細長瘦小，想起蔬菜達人說的「玉米非常吃肥」的話，決定施以高效有機追肥並鬆土，只要雨勢不大，應無大礙（見右上照片）。
隨後對栽種番椒、花瓜、秋葵、茄子、刺瓜、瓠瓜的畦塊也施以追肥，通常是用右手抓一把一把的顆粒狀肥料以適當距離向畦塊中央撒下，然後用長柄小鐵耙伸進去（蔬菜已長得十分茂密之故，見左上照片）將土面略微耙鬆即可，比較麻煩的是瓠瓜，生長速度極快，莖葉在棚頂上攀爬，並侵佔苦瓜、絲瓜、南瓜、冬瓜的棚頂（見右下照片），可以想見它們的根在棚下畦塊裡蔓延的情況，白色的根甚至冒出畦面，該如何施追肥呢？我是施在畦塊貼近畦溝的邊上，先用鐵耙把土鬆開，施完肥後再覆土，但仍不免傷及畦邊的根，是否會影響結果，只有等著瞧罷。

就在這時候，天空終於飄下綿綿細雨，相較於已浸透上衣的汗水，雨絲實在微不足道，反而襯托出靜悄悄的菜園（隔鄰菜園老師不知何時離去了），躺在一片出奇空濛的山色裡，竟是如此地與世隔絕，一種很自在的孤獨感油然漫上心頭，竟讓我想起了「天地一沙鷗」。獨自一人站在菜園裡約五尺見方的水泥塊上良久，環顧著一片碧綠的蔬菜，點綴著黃、白相間的花朵，棚頂下、支架裡則懸掛著累累果實，香蕉樹在菜園角落昂然而立（見左下照片），這雨景實在太美了，我拎著採下的三顆瓠瓜、六粒青椒、六條大黃瓜和二十二條小黃瓜，心滿意足地走回家去。