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CH APT
G ar d e n
h o lo g y
Psyc
Let’s start with the premise that not all people want to garden as much as
we do. Truth is, the best-intentioned gardeners tend to look a little nutty
to non-gardening neighbors—especially if the gardeners are exuberant
or have an unusual approach or style.
That said, there are predictable reasons why good people who would
love to garden, don’t. These reasons go way deeper than our merely
having been raised on fast food and TV, and how surfing the Internet is
more enjoyable than sweating out in the yard.
A lot of people see gardening as just a series of repetitive, mundane
exercises, like Sisyphus endlessly rolling his rock up the mountainside,
only to watch helplessly as it crashes back
down to the bottom, then trudging back
down to start rolling it up again.
It is far easier to just hire the work out
to someone else, and stay inside where it’s
comfortable.
Some of these reasons not to garden
are practical, starting with how so many
folks are overworked or overstressed
with other areas of their lives, includ-
ing jobs, family, pets, and myriad other
distractions, especially on nice week-
ends. After all, there are lots of other
hobbies besides gardening!
Being pulled in many directions is
enough stress in itself—why, other
than to save a little grocery money
by growing stuff at home, should
people take on the additional chal-
v e lenge of gardening? It’s easier to
al, repetiti
rn
med to ete
l Sisyphus was doo
Only th e mythica
toil.
JE A N PI A G ET A N D P LAY
While studying educational psychology,
I was immersed in the teachings of Jean
Piaget, who noted a distinct difference
between cognitive and formal activities:
the first involves what you do; the other,
how you do it.
But what intrigued me the most was
the concept of assimilation, or the abil-
ity to comprehend new experiences in
such as way that you integrate them
into your life, so they become part of
who you are.
The beautiful thing about this is
that when people “play”—which can
be defined as “performing activities
that have little or no regard to real-
ity”—they are acting out fantasies.
Because this helps people adjust to
new concepts more easily, play is
almost pure assimilation!
Gardening sh
ould be simpl
e, enticing, an
d easy to shar
e.
On top of all that, there seem to be way too many rules for how to do
even the simplest things, and we are afraid that if we do it wrong we will
look stupid and risk the ridicule of neighbors.
It is easiest to simply not get started in the first place, or to give up
quickly when the going gets rough.
So what to do? Well, if you are a new gardener, this book covers the
basics in the most basic manner. If you are an experienced gardener,
but have non-gardening friends, give those friends something simple to
start with, something that has easy, obvious results, like a pot of hardy
herbs, a handful of bulbs, or a cactus, with the gentle advice not to treat
it kindly. Hook ’em with something small they can build on.
caption tk
Gardeners Anonymous
Gardening is a form of gambling, as I see it. Every time we sow a seed, we
voluntarily participate in a risk-taking activity, an indulgent diversion
that involves putting up an investment in time, money, supplies, and
effort, hoping for a payout.
Me, I cheat. Who’s to know if I don’t follow the rules, in my own little
garden casino? Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. Sometimes I gamble
that I won’t drop dead from a heart attack digging in the humidity.
But the act of gardening is not a compulsion with me—I can stop
S C H A DEN F R E U DE H A P PE N S
Ever see something slapstick that makes whacks their head with a rake handle. It’s
you suddenly laugh out loud, but you catch secret glee when a disliked neighbor’s lawn
yourself because it isn’t really funny to the turns brown after being over-sprayed with
person it happens to? weed killer.
The Germans (and psychologists) call This, like so many other emotions, is
taking pleasure at someone else’s misfor- neither good nor bad, it just is. In the
tune Schadenfreude, and it happens to garden, as in the rest of life, schadenfreude
the best of us. It’s chuckling when some- happens.
one drops a basket of tomatoes, or lightly
ames.
re than mere plant n
Labels convey mo
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beha ore M r the wa em
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—Ez foun u
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So we toil endlessly to provide ourselves with the
basic survival needs of food, water, shelter, and clothing, until
we manage to move up a notch by finding ways to provide a little security
to make sure those needs will be met tomorrow and the next day. The
yearning for a predictable, orderly life and world are the main reason
why a lot of gardeners simply maintain what they have, in a metaphori-
cal attempt to keep the wilderness at bay.
The third tier has to do with social needs: emotionally based relation-
ships, social clubs, religious groups, sports teams, and so on. It is where
we form friendships, find a supportive family, and find intimacy and
love. This is where most gardeners get stuck, trying to “fit in” and be
acceptable to our neighbors and society.
The fourth level is about finding esteem—the internal need to be
respected, and to have self-respect. It’s the very normal human need to
feel like we are accepted and valued by others.
Even more intermediate levels of needs suggested by other research-
ers include “cognitive” needs, in which a person desires knowledge and
understanding, and “aesthetic” needs, which include a need for beauty.
But the top level, according to Maslow, is called self-actualization,
or the full realization of one’s own maximum potential and possibili-
ties. This is where we feel strongest, and able actually to do things that
are not necessary to the other needs. When the other needs are satisfied,
we are freed up to step outside the box, to embrace new realities, to be
spontaneous and interested in solving problems.
This is where we are most able to accept ourselves and others without
Transcendent Thinking
The one most intriguing—and rarely
achieved—level of personal develop-
ment—one not touched by Maslow’s
theory—is called self-transcendence.
Usually sparked by a sudden or
dramatic event such as a near-death
experience, this level, often marked
by humility and deep empathy for the
misfortunes of others, is where the
most divergent thinking occurs.
Transcendent gardeners are least
likely to be bothered by fitting in,
and more likely to advocate for
change in society in order to help
more individuals—or the world
Caption tk
itself.
GARDEN EG A L I TA R IA N ISM
L I F E , L IBE RT Y, AND T H E PURS UI T
O F H AP P INE SS IN T H E GA RDEN
Digging Deeper
Without deviation from the Understanding a handful of other Gestalt
norm, progress is not possible. principles can help us understand what we are
—Frank Zappa doing—and why.
A garden is always in relation to human
thought. More than a mere physical place, a
garden is a concept of possibilities or potential.
The gardener is free to choose among all possibili-
ties from moment to moment. Through these choices one
constructs a garden.
A garden cannot be found in the details, but in the whole. The
“left-brain” science of horticulture muddles us with details. Most
folks get bogged down because further and finer analysis of what
we are doing makes it more complicated—the closer we look, the
more we find to see. A garden is much more than the summation
of its parts; plants, structures, and all the other parts are mere back-
ground noise to the overall intention of the gardener.
Our previous experiences influence what we think and do. For the most
part, gardeners are likely to stay in a comfort zone of what we already
know or were taught. When we stray from that we set ourselves up for
disappointment and criticism from others. Truth is, it doesn’t matter
what you do, or how you do it, people will talk about you anyway, so get
over it, so you can move forward.
Lastly, whimsy and humor are relief valves for the anxiety that comes
from trying to do as we please. Doing something a little odd—a bit of
yard art, a funny way of pruning, an unusual lawn shape, whatever—
gives a lift to the spirit while helping us feel better about not being in
lockstep with everyone else.
er.
single flow
arts with a
Sharing st
WOR LD VIEW
What’s your garden worldview—in other choose to modify your garden to better fit
words, how do you see your garden and its with what is around you.
place in the world? However, by adopting better gardening
Some gardeners prefer neatly orga- approaches—even in the face of criticism—
nized landscapes, keeping everything you may actually influence folks around
clipped and coiffed to reflect control you to change their ways a little to reflect
over their surroundings. Like people who a better world view.
conscientiously make up their bedroom
even when nobody will ever see it, it gives
them a sense of order, a grip on the rest
of the day.
Others go for more relaxed cottage
styles that seem cluttered and random to
outsiders. Still others are involved with
Zen-like mystical elements of Oriental
gardens, or the sharing aspects of natu-
ralistic gardens filled with wildlife.
If your choice of neighborhood doesn’t
reflect these various styles, you may end
up having anxiety about what your neigh-
bors think. And, along with taking daily
doses of anxiety medication, you may
There are
as many k
gardeners inds of gard
. ens as there a
re
The Gestalt approach—or, should I
say, the Slow Gardening approach—helps
us find common ground and peace between horticulture science
and gardening just for the love of it. It includes ways to get more garden-
ers “into the fold” by relaxing—or even outright mocking—some of our
cherished gardening rules, and allows a garden to be seen as a whole,
instead of a lot of details.
Slow Gardening isn’t merely about growing your own food or saving
the world. It’s about doing what you savor, and savoring what you do.
And when you savor things, you cherish them and usually want to share
them with others. This puts gardeners in direct contact with other
re
horticultu
dents while touring
arden tips with stu
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The autho ic a.
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