Spring has returned and at this time of the year my favorite song is Sympathy For The Dibble. Gardening is back with the sun and the magic of spring bring thoughts of renewal, husbandry and joyful labors come in waves. Cicero once posited that, ” if you have a garden and a library you have everything you need.” Food and shelter – and many other needs-aside – the spirit of the quote rings true. It is facile to use gardening as a metaphor for life because those connections and evocations are readily available on the surface but I feel like doing it anyway.
Gardening is a vibrant subculture in which plants are exchanged among the like-minded, soil recipes are traded and local nurseries are reviewed among members of the mud brigade. The social aspect of gardening can not be denied. If you engage in manual labor with another gardener (digging, hoeing, weeding etc.) friendships are deepened and a vision of hopeful outcomes is shared. A sangha is formed. For my Buddhist friends, the act of gardening satisfies many of the steps of the eightfold path: right effort, right concentration, right livelihood, right intention and right mindfulness are at ones fingertips as they play in the dirt. Gardening is more than a hobby, it becomes a spiritual exercise that feeds the soul.
On a lighter note, gardening offers all the fun stuff that comes with the best activities. There’s gear, tools, clothes for the sport, gloves and the joys of the seed catalogue. The gardener is as equipment driven as a golfer who evaluates wood and irons, tees, shoes, pants, hats and carts. My little garden is my country club and after a log gardening session I enjoy an Arnold Palmer in my personal 19th Hole… a spot under my orange tree. Happily, I pay no greens fees other than the time is takes to water the lettuce and spinach… greens that I actually get to eat. Gardening has really become meditation in action and I seem to find the highest levels of mindfulness when there is dirt to play in, If you can’t afford golf, sophisticated woodworking tools or expensive tennis rackets, gardening may be for you. Of course, if you are able to do all the activities that make you happy, that is a good lie to play.
I am so happy for another spring with birdsong and brassicas and I think of the old Chinese proverb, “life begins the day you start a garden.”
Enjoy the sunny days.
Olio Folio 