Greenest Before Dawn

I’m enrolled in a Master Gardeners (MG) class, which should serve me as impetus to really learn the material. Over the years, I’ve read a lot and been exposed to gardeners and naturalists; in so doing I’ve accumulated a collection of ideas that now rattle around upstairs. But botany is a field I’ve only visited; I’ve never lived there.

I can see how my defenses go up as I read or listen to lectures. “Why didn’t I know that? It’s so basic!” I think. Or I realize past actions were futile or mistaken. One imagines the laughter or criticism of others, the stomach tightens, and one begins to spin a rigid web of excuses and rationalizations. Wasted effort. Better just to accept one’s imperfections.

It helps to stay away from people who are competitive or fault-finding when you are learning. That’s why classes and schools can be so destructive. A good teacher is a precious. Bad situations — let them go, don’t fight them, go elsewhere.

I appreciate the knowledge in the Master Gardener courses, but I inwardly bridle at the instrumentalist worldview: “Plants exist purely for our use and we are entitled to do anything we like to them. The purpose of gardening techniques is to maximize our pleasure/calories/profits from plants and minimize our work and trouble.”

Fortunately, most plant people seem to have an innate sympathy for plants, a Deep Green consciousness.

A second criticism I have is that the horticulture field seems to be dominated by the engineering/business mindset: “Real gardening is done to maximize yield, in a scientific, methodical way.” This model is totally inappropriate for home gardeners who garden to supply their families with food and for their own pleasure. Permaculturalist David Holmgren said something similar in his new book… I’d like to find the citation. Rather than proceeding from an engineering model, home horticulture should look to history and traditions for inspiration.

A third criticism is that the Master Gardeners material deals only minimally with the ecological or environmental aspects of gardening. OTOH, they apparently promote organic methods much more than in the past. I foresee that permaculture will come to be part of the Master Gardener curriculum just as organic gardening has.

As with the teaching of any craft, MG can degenerate into the memorization of procedures. The best teachers go beyond the basics, help you see the reasons for things, make you see connections you hadn’t seen before.

Still and all, MG is a great experience, a wonderful program. I wish more things in life were organized the way MG is.