In An Anxious Winter, The Garden Still Offers Consolation

[TTL News 318]

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Deep into this pandemic winter, it can be hard to remember what a refuge gardens were last spring and summer.

In those frightening early days of COVID-19, victory gardens and household vegetable plots sprang up all over. Seed companies reported shortages. Hardware stores saw a run on garden tools. Millions found comfort, release and a sense of safety outdoors with their hands in the dirt.

That feels like a long time ago. We dreaded this winter, and we weren’t wrong: January was the deadliest month yet from the virus. Political violence shook Americans’ sense of security and shared purpose. Businesses and household incomes are struggling. And the human interactions that might help us process all this anxiety and grief are discouraged.

Yet the garden is still there, hunkering down too. And it can still help. Even in winter, it can provide solace, inspiration and perspective. Fresh air. And an assurance that spring is coming.

“From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens — the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house, and the garden of the mind’s eye,” Katherine S. White, an editor and writer at The New Yorker and an avid gardener, wrote several decades ago.

As we round the bend into February, and with the hope that vaccines will bring real change, all three of those gardens offer a promise of light.

 

Read more here.

Has the pandemic made you decide to try and develop a green thumb?

[Ann 270]

Has any one ever tried this?

[Kevin 342]

I have not, but it sounds like a good idea.

[Chris 2,223]

That’s an interesting life hack for sure.

[Linda Roorda 129]

On 2/10/2021 at 3:44 PM, Ann said:

Has any one ever tried this?

What a neat idea!!

[MsKreed 1,204]

Neat idea!

This also looks interesting (and a free way to reduce waste):