After watching a documentary a couple of weeks ago on the commercialisation of childhood, it dawned on me that everything, everything, is up for grabs. Even my kids are now viewed as junior consumers. Marketing minions lurk about in the shadows scheming up ways in which they can harness the “pester power” of my five-year-old daughter, or expose my three-year-old son to as many brands possible during a single day. We live in hyper-consumerist times.
Thank goodness that some bastions of sanity and decency remain who blithely reject the gospel of our age – the notion that he who spends, wins. Gardeners have always doubted the wisdom of this doctrine. From Gerrard Winstanley and the 17th century Diggers to the elderly neighbours who swap plump tomatoes and geranium cuttings, there exists within the gardening community a long tradition of generosity, a philosophy of “freely given, and gratefully received”.
This sense of generosity can take many forms. The most tangible is the gift of some seed, a cutting or some divisions. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve visited gardens and come away with a complimentary “little something” for my own garden. Many, many plants within my borders were gifts from friends and family. Plants even arrive in the mail. I’m currently gearing up to plant some flour corn seed that a local reader from Haden has been breeding over the course of many years. It arrived in an envelope earlier in the year along with some garlic bulbs to try out.
But the sharing of cuttings and seed isn’t the only way in which gardeners are generous. Information and advice was freely shared amongst the gardening community long before the invention of Facebook and MySpace. My experience is that beside the actual process of gardening, passionate gardeners love to “talk shop”, regardless of whether they are professional or amateur. I’ve had some fantastic, wide ranging conversations with fellow gardeners that have almost invariably left me feeling inspired and better informed. When I’ve encountered a horticultural conundrum in my garden, and turned to a fellow gardener for advice, suggestions have always been generously given, and gratefully received.
In celebrating this tradition of generosity, I’m not suggesting that gardeners ought to become complete tightwads. We need good nurserymen and women with knowledge and passion who are willing to do much of the legwork on behalf of gardeners. Not everyone has the time or inclination to deal with the propagation, nurturing and supply of quality, garden ready plants. Besides, plants are either excellent value for money, or in the case of something like a fruit tree, downright bargains.
An apple tree will cost you less than $50, for example, but if well nurtured, this small outlay will repay itself many, many times over with tonnes of fruit for you, your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, and even their children. There’s a famous old ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ apple tree in a Nottingham garden that has been producing fruit since 1809. It was blown over in the early 1900′s, but was propped up and is still going strong. Find me a more rewarding investment than that. Let’s support and reward our local nursery people. But let’s also continue to embrace the tradition of generosity.
The two happiest, most content groups of people I’ve ever come across are longboard surfers (I’ve still got my 10 footer tucked away in the shed), and gardeners. My theory about surfers is that though surfing is essentially a solitary pursuit, they’re happy as a result of their intimate connection with nature. Surfers harness natural rhythms on a daily basis. But in tandem with this connection to the natural world is their connection with each other. Genuine surfers have a real sense of camaraderie.
The same principles are true of gardeners. Like surfers, the essence of being a gardener is to work with nature. Gardeners work with the soil and seasons. But what we tend to overlook is the sense of community that exists amongst passionate gardeners. To us, it’s more than just exterior decoration or a way to boost property values. Gardening tends to be solitary, but it’s also communal – we share and partake in each other’s gifts and knowledge. This tradition of generosity is a gift in itself. We ought to celebrate it, relish it, and most important of all, pass it on to future generations of gardeners.
First published in The Chronicle 12th September 2009. Photo by Justin Russell.
