January / February 2000

Resolutions Testing Your Soil Cleaning the Air Remember the Pollinators Houseplants for Healthy Living News of Note Gardeners on the Go Native Texas Plants Herb - Rosemary Veggie - Turnip Pests! Product Profile Books Home Cooking Great Garden Junk Resources Close to Home   Gleanings from the Editor Beck on Nature Notes from the Brazos (greyed articles available in printed version - subscribe now!)

Gleanings from the Editor     I remember when I was a little girl contemplating the year 2000. I carefully added up the years to see if I might possibly still be alive when that momentous time rolled around. It was hard to imagine. It looked to me that even if I were still alive, my advanced age (54) would assure that I would be completely senile and couldn’t enjoy the advantages a new century might have to offer.     And now here it is. Amazingly I am still alive and not completely dotty yet. Like so many others, as I look forward into the new century, I also look back. In thinking of what we need to bring with us and what we need to leave behind, I am reminded of what I like best about gardeners and gardening.     I think one of the things I like best about gardening is other gardeners. As a group, gardeners seem to exemplify many virtues, not the least of which are generosity and competence. Those are traits I value and which I think need packing in our millennial bag.     It worries me that so many people, both young and old, don’t know how to do much besides consume. They don’t know how to grow, cook or preserve food. They don’t know how to make a dish to serve food in by forming it from clay, carving it from wood, or pounding it out of metal. They can’t sew a shirt or hang a picture.     Oh, I don’t want us all to go back to subsistence farming, but I do wish we were more competent to take care of our basic needs if called upon. This is not a Y2K issue. It is simply uncomfortable to live in a world where we have to depend on someone else to do everything for us. I really believe that a great deal of the satisfaction that we get from gardening is a result of the feeling of competence and of being at-home with nature that comes with working the soil, growing plants, and harvesting them.     Mastering even the simplest skill gives such a feeling of satisfaction. My granddaughter and her grandfather spent one afternoon at whittling. Elissa carved a knife from a piece of wood. She worked very hard at the project and was so proud of her work. Although she was only 5 at the time, she paid attention to instructions, concentrated on her task, and was absolutely delighted at the results. Now, on every visit, she rushes outside to look for another project.     Gardening doesn’t require complex skills. It does require some skills and some dedication to caring for the soil, the seedlings, and the adult plants. Competence in the garden may not translate into competence in every area of life, but it does reassure us that we can go part of the way toward sustaining ourselves.     The other characteristic I often find among gardeners and would like to see more of in the world is generosity. It is hard to find a gardener not willing to share a cutting, a source for seeds, a bit of garden lore or information. In my front flowerbed alone I have iris from a man in town, daisies from my mother’s garden, purple verbena from a woman down the road and a gorgeous yellowbell I got from a man in west Texas through the Seeds of Texas Seed Exchange. Wanting to share the amazing gifts of nature just comes naturally to gardeners.     But it isn’t just generosity with plants that I want to see more of in the coming days. It is a generosity of spirit that is too often lacking, and I think somehow it is related to competence.     If we don’t know how to do anything, to take care of ourselves, we get scared of other people. If we only know how to consume, we become anxious that someone else might be getting our part. People who are uncomfortable with their own competence seem to be more impatient, less sympathetic and more judging of other people.     I know when the mechanic can’t quickly figure out what’s wrong with my car, I get fidgety, annoyed and start thinking what a dolt he must be. I know I can’t possibly fix the car, and it makes me just a little angry and anxious that I am dependent on a stranger. If that were true in every aspect of my life, I would spend too much of my time being angry and anxious — and suspicious.     Diversity in nature has become an important cause in the past few years. We are realizing that even the most seemingly insignificant critter or plant can serve an important function and should be protected. I hope in the new century, we learn that about people as well. Even the most peculiar have their place and deserve to be nurtured. That is part of the generosity of spirit that we need to pack in our millennial suitcase.     Finally, we can’t leave behind our sense of humor. If gardening teaching us nothing else, it should teach us to laugh. Surprises, mistakes, accomplishments, and disappointments all have their joyous side. Look at the pansies in the yard right now. They all have smiles on their faces! Happy new year!