Sunday Opinion: Garden Making

I know have I made more than passing reference to how a great garden makes beautiful music.  There are those natural notes volunteered from the birds, the water running, the bees, the kids, the thunder, the conversations with friends, footsteps crunching on the gravel, a shovel sinking deep into the soil.  There is rhythm and beat supplied by the repetition of plants, materials, or shapes. There are individual melodies created by a specimen tree or gorgeous pot that come into play.  There is movement- from the grasses, the dogs, from the seasons, from the weather.  The wind is an expressive instrument creating sounds not so unlike the music from a clarinet empowered by the breath of an individual musician. There is a gardener in charge who writes the score, and plays.   

I cannot remember the exact moment that I became a gardener, but I am sure it was not a particularly momentous occasion.  My Mom giving me a package of seeds?  A salesperson who persuaded me that I could in fact grow orchids?  A painting? A memory?  Who knows. I find those moments that really changed or influenced my life are barely worth mentioning-beyond the fact that I was ready to hear.

How I garden is my take on a constellation of events created from my exposure to nature.  My exposure to people, places and events matters much.  My relationship with the soil-basic, and visceral.  Musical.

Water from the hose-I love the sound; I like the taste.  My hose is a lifeline that stretches between me, and my plants, and makes for a gardening life. I cannot really explain this, but Linsey Pollak can.     http://www.wimp.com/coolestmen/

I am afraid to try to grow vegetables.  The failure rate is high.  Vegetable gardens seem depressingly ugly and disease ridden.  Every bug on the planet would respond to the invitation to come to my yard.  But Linsey Pollak, he makes me want to try to grow carrots.  If for no other reason than to enable the music.  It is no mean accomplishment in this world-making something grow.  Linsey Pollack grows lots.  Put his info right next to your seed catalogues.  Be determined to make some music.     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWbj7FYEi3M

Still interested?   http://linseypollak.com/

 

Comments

  1. Deborah, I love your blog and read it faithfully. You provide inspiration and great knowledge about all things related to gardening but what gets me really excited every time I see that you have a new post up is lines like this: “I find those moments that really changed or influenced my life are barely worth mentioning-beyond the fact that I was ready to hear.” What a great line and what a wonderful reflection on human nature.

    • Deborah Silver says

      Dear Chad, thanks so much for reading. It encourages me to keep writing. I am really pleased to hear from you that now again something I write strikes a chord. Thanks again for this letter, Deborah

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