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Kathy’s Garden Writing |
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INTRODUCTIONS Can I do this? Shift from solving people problems to solving gardening problems? I’ve spent the last 30 years as a psychologist, learning about the human condition, a most rewarding career. But I am now ready to move on and immerse myself in the natural world, an alternative therapeutic experience for so many of us. What credentials do I have to enter this new field (no pun intended)? Perhaps I should tell you about my life-long interest in gardening, a reason for my move from suburban Philadelphia where planting an asparagus patch in my front lawn was frowned upon, to rural Columbia County where I could garden naked if I chose (although you’ll be relieved to know I haven’t tried it yet). Or perhaps my career change was preordained by my genetic heritage, by my mother’s family’s York County farm roots and my father’s hard-scrabble New Hampshire ancestry. However, it’s hard to be sure that great-grandparents count as a significant influence on one’s predispositions; truth be told, no one in my family since the 19th century has been remotely interested in gardening, let alone farming. So, with no apologies or psychological analyses, I am going to try my best to write a gardening column that will entertain you as well as offer some of the interesting tidbits I’ve learned along the way. We will go exploring together and discover some new things, about plants and how to grow them, about related topics like the local vineyards springing up in the area, maybe even about some of the creatures that inhabit our gardens. Let’s start with the most important part of the garden, compost. That’s right, you can brag about your ten-foot sunflower, or your ten-pound pumpkin, or even your $10,000 professionally-designed landscape. But what really matters is that brown crumbly stuff we add to our soil each year, to enhance its texture and fertility. Compost is the universal equalizer. Without regular applications, the most promising garden is going to flounder. As I’ve learned in my work as a psychologist, it’s not the outside glitter that counts, but the substance of character. And this has to be built up gradually. There are no quick fixes, for impoverished soils or souls. I should have known that the soil here on my Endless Mountain hilltop would need immediate attention when I learned that a nearby village is named Red Rock, and that “Stoney Acres” is the local gardening center. And of course the science of erosion has concluded definitively that topsoil washes downhill. But I eagerly began my gardening adventures here with only those ten-foot sunflowers and ten-pound pumpkins in mind. Guess what I’ve been doing ever since? That’s right – making compost! So what is this elemental elixir? The recipe comes to us directly from Mother Nature, who fortunately didn’t patent it. It’s simply a mixture of decaying organic matter, infused with the magic of microbial activity. Another time, we’ll discuss the specific how-to’s, a kind-of “Compost Making for Dummies.” And what about building character? Maybe Gertrude Jekyll had the answer -- make a garden. This famous English gardener tells us that “A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches trust.” But please don’t forget to add the compost! Kathleen Arcuri Published May 13, 2007 – The Danville Daily Item |