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Kathy’s Garden Writing |
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GARDENER FATIGUE Many gardeners welcome Fall. The air is crisp, the foliage is stunning, the pantry is full – AND this labor of love we call gardening will soon be behind us. Gardeners, like other hobbyists, often have a love/hate relationship with their pastime. Don’t forget that the extreme of passion is mania or insanity. A little ditty seems to sum up the feelings of gardeners as the season draws to a close: The kiss of the wind for lumbago The stab of the thorn for mirth One is nearer to death in a garden Than anywhere else on earth. Danger indeed lurks in this pastoral idyll. Lumbago or a thorn scratch is nothing compared to the serious risk of tetanus, whose largest victim group is middle-aged gardeners. In addition to the possibility of lockjaw, statistics cite lawnmower and chainsaw accidents, splinters, and deep puncture wounds as other gardening hazards. Then of course sunburn, poison ivy, and even skin cancer threaten the incautious gardener. Truly, gardening is not for the faint of heart -- or weak of knee. If one were to count how many steps one takes, or bends one makes, while carrying out gardening duties, an Olympic world record might well be shattered, qualifying gardening as an extreme sport. And then there’s the aesthetic factor. Come Fall, hands with broken nails and ground-in dirt and calluses no longer have to be hidden at social events. There’s actually time to attend social events. Ruddy skin returns to normal tones; and sun-ravaged hair recovers its sheen. The gardener walks erect once again, with no offensive weeds to pull along the way. New-found leisure time seems luxurious, to spend in all sorts of pursuits set aside during gardening season. A stack of unread books awaits; and correspondence beckons. All those much-discussed films of summer can finally be viewed. The holidays come and go, with decorating and entertaining and relaxed merry-making. In short, the off-duty gardener can once again join the general social discourse. This more balanced approach to life holds until January, when increasing daylight beams a reminder of lost pleasures; when time stretches dully through snow-covered days and frigid nights; and when seed catalogues pour in along with restlessness. Then the gardener forgets the dangers and fatigue and monomaniacal pursuit of his pastime, and longs once again for those blissful days spent toiling in the earth. Well, you know the rest of the story … For us gardeners, a few months of R and R, and we are once again eager to pursue the manic side of our bipolar lives. “Gardener Fatigue” may well describe not only the gardener’s state of being after an exhausting gardening season, but also the disposition of those who have to live with us year round, as we swing from obsessive immersion, through relieved balance, to restless boredom. Kathleen Arcuri Published October 5, 2008 – The Danville Daily Item |