The Good Sense of a Garden

By Karen Kahle, CGC Executive Director

Wendell Berry once quipped that it may be too easy to underestimate the power of a garden. "A garden," he observed, "is a solution that leads to other solutions. It is part of the limitless pattern of good health and good sense."

I often wonder if what we need to address the complex threats and opportunities of the 21st century is a change of mindset and daily practices—away from the mindset of the machine and the engineer and towards the mindset of the garden and the gardener.

Gardeners spend a lot of time observing the sun, the seasons, the soil and the cycles that life moves in. They begin by creating a rich soil. They attract wildlife to do the work of maintaining equilibrium. They encourage diversity. They work with the plants, finding them the conditions they need. Life wants to grow, and, through trial and error, it finds many different, quirky ways to do so in whatever conditions it finds. But gardeners, as well as tending and nurturing, also move firmly to control the growth of rapacious weeds and to prevent the spread of suffocating monocultures.

This is also what it’s like when humans get together to create or fix something—a play, a piece of music, an experiment, a vaccine. We don’t start with a business plan and a structure chart. We start with a spark, a clue, and then mess around until something emerges.

Machine-mind engineers a solution and expects it to work every time. Garden-mind is alert to the need for constant mitigation and maintenance. With garden-mind, we don’t expect things to work comfortably; we understand the compromises that have been made and are attentive to the things that go wrong. We will tinker a new world into existence, not deliver a perfect blueprint up front.

Gardening also provides proven opportunities for meaningful connections with others. There’s a growing body of evidence finding that nature and gardening can enhance social connection.  Shared experiences in nature, such as in a garden, create bonds that foster a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, problem-solving, shared learning and deep connections between individuals and the garden spaces they experience. Incidental exposure to the natural environment can increase attention to others, facilitate collective engagement and enhance our tendencies to care for, help and assist others. Nature enhances connecting to others, in part, via awe and beauty.

I see every day how our local gardening community is rich with people willing to share their expertise, time and even plants with new gardeners. Master gardeners are valuable local volunteers dedicated to educating and empowering fellow gardeners. Community garden plots bring together people with diverse backgrounds to work on a common goal. Many gardening friendships begin over celebrating a success or bemoaning a gardening misstep. 

The friendships that have been formed here through gardening strike me as one of the biggest benefits of having an organization like the CGC in our city. During the spring, I hear about how friends and neighbors plan their vegetable gardens together, discussing what worked well or needs to be improved from the previous year. In summer, many share extra produce with each other. Come fall, they may organize some kind of recipe making party to enjoy the harvest together. These activities amplify the joy we get out of the garden and strengthen our connections to nature and to our communities.

It’s that desire to strengthen our connections that inspired the CGC to reimagine what our spring event can be. We believe we’re getting back to our Plant Sale roots to once again embody the original spirit of the event as well as our mission: a way to build community around gardening, education and environmental stewardship.

One thing is certain: As our urban environments become home to more and more people, gardens will continue to be a powerful, place-based tool for creating local connections and enacting positive personal and community change. By helping to facilitate their creation and their sustenance—by embracing garden-mind—we perpetuate Berry’s limitless pattern of good health and good sense.

There is room for everyone who wants to participate in our gardening community. Whether you’ve been around the CGC for decades or we’ve only just met, we hope you’ll join us for GrowFest on Saturday, May 4. Because at the CGC, no one grows alone!