Balancing nature and gardening
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Balancing nature and gardening
- From: "* G* <s*@hotmail.com>
- Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 19:18:32 PST
The recent discussion about slug, slaters, earwigs etc (or when should a
gardener intervene to stop 'pests' munching and crunching through one's
prized plants) made me think about Michael Pollan's book "Second Nature'
(one of the most entertaining gardening autobiographies around) and in
particular the the woodchuck incident described in the second chapter
entitled "Nature abhors a Garden".
In the book Michael describes his evolution as a gardener and in
particular his effort to come to terms with nature while trying to
build, maintain and develop a country garden.
The question that most gardeners at some point seem to have to come to
terms with is "where should the line be drawn"? It seems however that as
gardeners find out more about nature the line shifts (thankfully in most
cases towards a more organic approach which encourages a natural balance
to develop). But never-the-less at the end of the day most gardeners
choose to remain as 'gardeners' - and the very character of this
activity means a disruption and a moulding of nature - and so some times
gardeners must deal with the consequences of that disruption (hopefully
in a way that will be least harmful to maintaining some kind of
balance).
Michael Pollan's tale of discovering a balance with the woodchuck is
extremely funny. I won't spoil the story for those who haven't read it
(in fact the best part of the story is in the telling of it) but Michael
gradually involves himself in a war of escalation with the woodchuck
until he ends up fire bombing its burrow (the woodchuck escapes unharmed
but Michael nearly incinerates himself). At this point realising the
ridiculous extreme that this act represented he rethinks his position
and comes up with a more "Yin Yang" type approach. The chapter ends
thus: "What I am making here is a middle ground between nature and
culture, a place that is at once of nature and unapologetically set
against it; what I'm making is a garden"
I have to agree!
Susan George
McCrae, Victoria, Australia
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