Crape Myrtle in the morning light
Holding two white-egg turnips with attached greens in my right hand, I fold the harvest knife with my left and slide it into my pocket. Walking back to the house from the garden, I mutter, “Take that, Monty Don, you pompous twit.”
Why waste my breath on Monty (real name: Montagu Denis Wyatt Don), you might ask? After all, here is a man I had not even heard of until a video of him showing off his spectacular two acres of British gardens went viral this summer. (Yes, I did share the video with a handful of fellow gardeners.) Could it be envy?
Casting stones from a glass house whose library contains books on the impossibly out of touch gardens of Prince Charles is a dangerous activity. Yet, stay with me as I pick up a hefty rock, throw my arthritic arm back into pitching position, and let it fly.
We need to share less garden porn from the Monty Dons and P. Allen Smiths and more stories and videos celebrating real working people and their gardens. Here in our valley, in that slanting patch of land between narrow ridges, people fed themselves long before the current crisis. They grew okra and beans and tomatoes and potatoes. They did not make a fuss, indeed, might even have been insulted if you called attention to their plot, as if you thought them incapable of creating a garden both tidy and productive.
Gardens in our valley are not for show. They are not tended by armies but by single soldiers. Yet there is a utility and a beauty to them, nestled against a barn or tucked away behind a pig paddock. They exist to feed the families who maintain them. But it is also clear that the caretakers take pride in their weed-free plots and find immense satisfaction in preserving their harvest, whether it be canning tomatoes, shelling beans, or salting cabbage into crocks.
The sight of a well-maintained vegetable garden next to a humble trailer or small clapboard house is both beautiful and inspiring. Far more impressive than the celebrity showplace is the garden with neat rows of beans cultivated by the man who works third shift to keep our modern lives running. Let us share that story, help that video go viral, hold that gardener up as worthy of celebration and emulation.
Totally agree about ‘garden porn’. Not one of those shows give any inkling of the work that goes into maintaining them. I can’t tell you how many times I hear from customers who watched such videos and decide to start this massive gardening project. After spending thousands of dollars on supplies they get overwhelmed with the work and rarely get to the point where they have a garden that produces much other than weeds. I try to be the voice of reason, encouraging them to start with a small plot and see how that goes. I tell them to start by growing a few things they like to eat.
I was fortunate to have grown up in a home with a kitchen garden. I learned from my Grandmother and then Father how to plant, maintain, harvest, and preserve. Since their long ago lessons I’ve learned a few tricks of my own to reduce my labor. I hired a young man to help with the yard work this summer. He had lots of questions about what was growing in my small veggie/herb garden. I enjoy passing along to the next generation, the lessons I’ve learned.
I too was fortunate to have grown up with a serious garden out the back door. We didn’t have a milk cow – but several feeders, some hens, many acres of truck crops. Enough to keep my siblings and I from much mischief all season long.
Our daughter now has a little garden of her own. The grandchildren enjoy helping water it and ‘hunting’ the bounty. Most reassuring of a future worth anticipating is the joyous squeal of a four-year-old who just found a zucchini hiding in the foliage. When one has some skin in the game the payoff is better.
And if you’ve a picky eater – get them into a garden where some sweat equity will help them appreciate the bounty. (Some gods old fashioned exercise is good for the appetite as well)
BTW- congrats to Brian on a mention of the Nephew new farmer piece at FPR.
Thanks, Clem. FPR Puts me in the roundup every 2-3 posts. Nice to have this modest blog keep good company. Love the idea of the granddaughter’s excitement at finding produce. I think I may have “squealed” yesterday upon finding my first eggplant of the season.
Good for you, Jody. Always nice to have someone actually interested in these arts. They need to be practiced in order to flourish.
Neatness on a small scale is a garden.
Neatness on an industrial scale is a desert in the making.
Nice. Is that a Michael original?
It is. I was going to give a longer speech, but then the Gomez Davila kicked in.
I had to research this before reaching understanding.