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THINKING ABOUT FLOWERS AND TOMATOES AND HAPPY THINGS
The contrast between two recent events crossed paths in my mind.
At an all-day computer seminar, speakers could barely complete a sentence without including references to newer, more accurate, time saved, efficiencies gained. They raved about new hardware and software that obsolesced previous versions.
A few days earlier, as I perused the literature table at a Master Gardener meeting, a collection of tree brochures from the University of Minnesota extension service caught my eye. The brochure titles promised useful information on topics I talk and write about.
What was disconcerting at first glance was the dateline on the brochures. Most of the information was from the 1970s.
My initial reaction was to reject these "ancient" horticultural handouts because what possible value could 30-year-old information have for me or my readers or students?
I've become conditioned to ignore computer-related information that is more than six months old. It is outdated. It no longer has relevance, right?
And yet, as I pushed a few paragraphs into the decades-old tree brochures, I realized the information was as relevant today as it was when originally published in the 1970s.
I concluded that perhaps gardening remains a popular activity precisely because it is timeless. The gardening techniques practiced by our parents and grandparents are still reliable techniques for 2004. The plant cultivars planted and nurtured by our parents and grandparents can still be planted and nurtured by us in 2004.
Most gardening principles and techniques have not changed in decades or even centuries.
In my professional life, I work as a marketing consultant. I would be a rich man if I had a dollar for every time I have heard a speaker say the only constant in business today is change. We have become conditioned in our careers and professions to expect upheaval and constant change in organizations and work routines.
Are we attracted to gardening because it is an avenue for tuning out change as we arrive home at the end of a stressful workday? How else can we explain why so many gardeners rise early on Saturday mornings each spring and devote 8 or 12 hours to what is often hard physical work tilling, planting, transplanting and pruning?
Many of my gardening friends have commented that they are able to "lose themselves" in their gardening pursuits. They contemplate new garden designs or planting strategies at work or before they drift off to sleep. They build up such anticipation for their projects during non-gardening hours that when they exchange their briefcases for spades and gardening trowels, all thoughts of computers, classrooms and profit-loss ratios disappear. They purposely strain their muscles and nick their fingernails implementing their latest mental blueprints because it relieves stress and problems that can otherwise dominate one's consciousness.
As I was clicking through websites on therapeutic horticulture, I came across a practical 10-point list of reasons for gardening. The list said gardening gives you a future to look forward to. Because plants grow slowly, you always have some reason to pay them a daily visit. Seeds may be germinating, flower buds opening, or fruit ripening; something is always about to happen when you play with plants.
Gardening also requires faith in the future. It's an act of faith when you plant a seed and believe it will turn into a marigold or a pumpkin. Gardening forces us to look toward a positive future. In the garden, we feel closer to our chosen deity.
Another benefit: gardeners live longer. More than 80% of all humans that reach the century mark have been active gardeners for many of those years, according to the author. Perhaps it's because the plants provide us with an extra portion of oxygen, or maybe it's just because working with plants teaches us patience, and calms jangled nerves. This activity safely challenges the respiratory and circulatory systems, helps to keep muscles and joints functional, and keeps us mentally alert.
You can share your garden, the gardening, and the results. Few pastimes are more rewarding than gardening with children and grandchildren, or with an amiable and attractive friend, for that matter. When you share the flowers, fruit and vegetables from your backyard, you help make this a better world and brighten someone else's day. You can even share your knowledge and experience.
The final benefit: It's fun to play in the garden. That's reason enough. You've earned the right to have some fun.
I suppose the true test of gardening's capacity to relieve stress is to measure what we think about while we are gardening. If we think exclusively about soil and compost and fragrance as we garden, then gardening does indeed provide an escape from our work world.
What about if all we think about as we dig in the dirt is computers, classrooms and profit-loss ratios? Are we still relieving stress by gardening? Maybe.
And finally, what about gardeners who never think about computers, classrooms or profit-loss ratios? All they think about 24/7 is flowers and tomatoes and happy things? I can only conclude that they will probably live to 110.
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PUTTING DOWN ROOTS:
A Delightful Blend of
Gardening Wisdom, Wit
and Whimsy
$10 + $2 for shipping
by Cliff Johnson |
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