on becoming a gardener

I am a Gardener, I garden. Like, I think, I breathe. I don’t DO gardening. Gardening is not an occupation.  It is a way of being.

Our first garden way back in the mid-nineties was a scraggy bit of lawn out the back of the house with a practice cricket pitch for the boys.  The cricket pitch got most of the attention. There was an attempt at some shrubs and flowers out front and some hanging baskets on the front porch.  That’s where the turtle dove laid her eggs and we watched the chicks hatch, grow and then leave without notice.

In those days I was not a gardener; I just did some gardening. It was an occupation in the midst of financial hard times, raising kids and getting to work.  In those days, amidst those pressures we really didn’t have much money to spend on the garden.  Of course, I was missing the point, not realizing you don’t have to have big money to be a gardener.  As I said I was not a gardener then, I was doing some gardening.

There are shows on TV about building in tight spaces, living in high rise buildings, small streets and so on. It is fascinating to witness at times how people in those restricted places have created space somewhere, allowing their inner-gardener to flourish. This facilitates a little bit of magic, enhances the space, enables the gardener to expand their way of being, not to lock out the world but to filter out some of the dirt and noise.

At the other end of the spectrum there are gardening shows on TV which allow us to walk into massive gardens over large estates with all types of trees, flowers, water features and so on.  These are great too, but only when the general public are allowed to run free within, or walk quietly hand in hand or cuddle in some quiet nook; where children can shout and laugh, touch and taste. Then the gardener can rejoice that they have enhanced the way of life too of the visitor. Such that their life is all the richer for the sharing.

It is difficult to confront the reality that so many people living in cramped quarters have virtually no space they call their own. On the other side there are so many people who have the space, even a little, that beckons their inner-gardener yet the beckoning goes unheard.

The garden is a parable.  It carries a further, deeper meaning about our life.

Firstly, an area is required: ideally this is a grassed area that is created into a lawn.  However, a slab of cement will also do, to provide a base for some flower pots, decorations and perhaps succulents.  This foundation for your garden represents your own foundation as a person. As you allow your inner-gardener to create and develop that space – large or small as it may be – your relationship with your inner self is likewise strengthened and enhanced.

How boring would it be to have only one type of flower, tree or bush in your garden?  Beautiful though it may be.  The gift of a garden is in its variety, with different types of flowers, trees and bushes around the place.  Such variety speaks of the people you invite into your life in whatever way. Some may call on you personally, others only through phone calls, Facebook or Messenger.  But they are connected to you, and you to them.  Your life is all the richer if it is peopled by individuals or groups from differing backgrounds, ethnicity and experience in life. 

Likewise, as you garden, you develop differing structures depending on the space available to you.  There may be garden beds, veggie patches, hedges, shrubs, hanging plants, plants in pots big and small, planter boxes and so on.  Therein lies an image of your life and how you structure and re-structure the way you live: what you do with your time, hobbies, work, family, study, travel ….  Becoming a gardener enables you to more aware of your priorities and how you spend your energy. It will also challenge you to continually assess your life structures.

A garden is a living reality; it changes, develops, adapts according to the time and seasons, the rain and sunshine, the cold and heat, the flood and the drought and perhaps the cyclone or typhoon. So it is with out lives, unless we choose to stagnate, isolate and wither on the vine.  The gardener integrates with the environment created and the environment created acts as yeast upon the life of the gardener creating a deeper and more perceptive person.

Hence gardening is not an occupation, not simply a matter of doing some things in the garden. It is a way of being and as such does not lay a burden of constant demand upon the gardener rather requires ongoing development and growth of consciousness. Application is required in gardening just as application is required in living life with integrity.  It is not like turning a hose on and off, moving it around the garden, then switching off until the next cycle.  As the Holy Book says, there is a time for planting and a time for uprooting what has been planted. There is a time for everything under the sun.

Time is life, life is time. We are heart and soul, action and deliberation for every moment of time. We cannot “switch off” for a certain period of time and pretend we are still living an integral life.

Thus do we understand application: it is not so much a burden upon us as a gateway to further growth. Research is a tool for entering the gateway and growing into the meaning of everything there is, both in the garden as in our total lifestyle. A life without study and research is like a garden without water. Our spirits will wither and bear little fruit of goodness and care for neighbour.

So here we are using the same words and phrases for the garden and the life of the gardener.  All life is one – unless a person chooses to live in a weed patch of contradictions. Know what I mean?

Suddenly we stumble upon that word: WEED. What is the meaning of weeds in the garden, in your life?  The term “weed” in this essay casts a wide net.  It refers to any type of plant that pops up uninvited, unintended – or perhaps wrongly intended by the gardener – and is usually seen as an invader, intruder or nuisance.   

They represent of course the seeming uglier side of you: failings big and petty, low self-image, tendency to be grumpy or bitchy, holding onto unreasonable biases and discriminating practices.

At the same time, they may well represent other persons who pop into our lives uninvited, unintended or wrongly intended.

There are some – not so much reflective gardeners as compulsive practitioners of law and order – who feel the need to kill, poison, pull out and stamp upon every item they did not personally place in the garden, as well as items they have invited into the garden but admiration for such has grown to aversion.  A gardener takes a more nuanced approach, bordering on tolerance rather than obliteration.  Naturally, bindi prickles that seek to overrun the lawn in spring deserve obliteration.  Yet there are so many other “weeds” that come unheralded and offer another side of life.  They have their own shape, colour, flower plus a little bit of magic.  So, we manage our weeds rather than simply deny them an existence.

There are times I have noticed unusual weeds, sort of outsiders, unlike other weeds and uninvited plants. They remind me of refugees who have been ousted from their own terrain and somehow have landed in my terrain. Well, it is not really MY terrain, I am only the custodian. These unusual plants – different as they are – made their own contribution to the garden, or to our society. (Garden, Society, they are one and the same, aren’t they?) So I give them their own space, water and fertilize them as with all other plants and they thrive. It’s amazing really the changing of texture and character they do add.

There are some plants that exhibit beautiful flowers or leaves sculptured in fascinating shapes, but can be a bloody nuisance. Bloody because if you inadvertently take hold of them your hands will be bloodied by their harsh thorns.  Best not to introduce them into your garden: while showing some beauty they are quite disruptive.  You know the people I refer to.

A gardener creates a safe space for birds, bees and butterflies, and within flower beds an environment for small spiders of great complexity, resilience and ability.  That speaks of the surprises and gifts that life brings to us unheralded when we are open to nature and the goodness of others.

A tended garden creates a space for silence and quietness. It refreshes both mind and spirit and provides perspective for the whole of life.  

There is risk in being a gardener just as there is risk in everyday life.  Seeking to shut out risk will only stymie all of our endeavours, in and out of the garden. Plants may die unexpectedly, soil may become contaminated, there may be insufficient water, the summer will be too hot and the winter too cold.  We cultivate the garden as we cultivate patience and understanding, not seeking to forestall every risk but ready with an open mind and heart to meet the challenges that come our way.

See what I mean?  Am I now talking about being a gardener or living life?  They of course are one and the same.