Gardening

Walnut tree flower by Peter Petraitis
 

Anyone, except the rare green-thumbed savant, who has planted an urban garden knows it takes work. The initial work is just observation. Logging the light on the imagined garden plot is essential. Buying the right seeds/plants for the right light saves time, frustration and money. While logging the light, preparing the soil for planting saves time. I'm a fan of cow manure, rotted leaf mulch and a little new soil. I stay away from commercial fertilizers whenever possible.

 

I planted a random wildflower garden this year with a bag of pre-mixed varietal seeds. It is about 2-3 inches high now. I see little cosmos babies, and there are already full-grown violets, blue and white. The rest will be a surprise. Around the base of the red maple in front of the house I have boxed the sidewalk-cut to discourage irresponsible, law-breaking dog owners from using it as a depository for dog feces. One such phantom vandal had taken to toileting his huge dog there daily. I felt like I was tending a horse barn. No more.

 

Using large amounts of processed city water is unnecessary, if planting is done wisely. A bucket under a drain pipe is a common site in my neighborhood. I have found that plants do just fine when left on their own in an area that gets at least some shade every day. I'm not growing leafy vegetables of fruit trees. Mine is an urban garden, a collection of postage-stamp areas. My goal is to beautify, to provide insects with some habitat and reduce the amount of pollution and carbon dioxide. It's a minor contribution, but millions of minor contributions could make a significant difference in the environment.

 

Plants, like animals, in my opinion, have their own lives, quite independent of mine. They are not simply there for my enjoyment. They are life forms. I try to afford them some respect as a caretaker by reading up on what they need. The same applies to the animals which have symbiotic relationships with the plants in my garden plots. I don't use industrial insecticides or weed killers. These things are poison for the whole environment. I love watching the bumble bees weave their impossible flights around my property. Peskier critters can be discouraged with all kinds of gentle methods. Again, it's just a matter of practical education.

 

My battle with intrusive skunks under my deck and porch earlier this year made me more appreciative than ever of my place in my environment here in the city. Solving that problem nonviolently and non-toxically increased my optimism for my own ability to live in an urban environment as a relatively responsible person. So much of simply being human in this northern urban environment is destructive to it: Petro-chemical heating and electricity, petro-chemical transport, mass-produced food, plastics, etc..

 

Gardening is a practice of learning more about that urban life. Its results bring something to my environment. It is an extension of my internal process of development within my human social environment. Gardening is a practice of learning, of paying attention, of nurturing, of contributing. It is a practical form of what I consider my humanism.