A modern definition of magic is any technology sufficiently advanced it is not understood by a population. A classic example would be matches to cavemen or cell phones to the middle ages or even planetary creation to modern man. It’s magic. While this leads us down some interesting roads such as technology as magic or religion as magic – I want to look at gardening as magic.
A Generation of Gardeners
We have an entire generation of gardeners raised on a simple premise that any bug is a bad bug. And we can use an easily understood technology to kill that bug. Here’s a spray – mix it up with water – spray it on the garden – the bugs die. Life is good. Here’s some blue powder, mix it with water – spray it on the garden – the plants grow. Gardening is simple technology – you spray, you water and bugs die while the plants grow. Science has triumphed, we understand that technology and there’s no magic here. Some would say this is science working as it should, giving us a new level of competition and supremacy over our natural environment.
The Problem
Except of course that the bugs keep coming back. Other disease problems don’t go away and we can never get over the feeling that something isn’t quite right. That gardening is harder than it looks and that we just need one more magic chemical and we’ll have those perfect roses, that perfect tomato growing next to our weed-free lawn. In the last 50 years, the level of chemical gardening has grown and progressed from one level of chemical to the next. We’ve seen chemicals introduced to great gardening fanfare to be lost a generation later when we discover how noxious the darn thing is and how much damage it is doing to ourselves and our families.
You don’t have to go much further than DDT to understand how great that chemical was at controlling insects but how much damage it wreaked on our birds and wildlife. It wasn’t magic, it was just bad science that only looked at one aspect of the problem. Our chemicals now don’t cause cancer, just hormonal damage that is far subtler and longer reaching. One by one, they are being pulled from the shelves. In fact, in the new legislation all cosmetic gardening chemicals are being removed from the shelves.
A New Level of Garden Magic
Now, you’re about to be introduced to a new level of garden magic. You’re about to lose all those chemicals from the past fifty years and told to “go organic”. And here’s where a lot of folks are going to resist learning; they want their old simple systems, not this new magic they don’t want to or can’t learn. You see, we’re leaving the world of bug- spray-kill for the complex relational world of compost-soil building- plant health – increased biodiversity – reduced infestation. We’re leaving the black and white “kill-it” world for a world of complex relationships and long term remedies and approaches.
This isn’t spray-kill, this is building a new gardening environment so the environment is balanced and takes care of itself. This concept is sufficiently advanced for some gardeners who want to stay with spray-kill-bug that organic gardening can be considered magic in their eyes. And voodoo magic at that; something black, mysterious and not to be considered seriously. You’ll see it in the folks who have squirreled away some powder that kills pests because they don’t want to be without this stuff. You’ll see it in the stockpiles of weed-n-feed and those neighbours who will insist on using it next year. And oh the retailers will hear it when the weeds come along and the kill-it gardening crowd will go nuts trying to find a way to whack the weeds from the end of a sprayer.
A Few Simple Things
In the end, you have to understand a few simple things about organic gardening. The first of course is that it isn’t magic but a slowly revealing understanding of how things really work in the garden. It also has several advantages that need to be understood. When we use chemicals for cosmetic reasons in our gardens we simply don’t know if they are safe or whether the science of 20-years from now will ban them as we’ve banned older chemicals. We know that adding compost and building the natural defenses of the garden won’t harm us. And yes, organic gardening isn’t as easy as the spray-kill systems, you need to learn new skills and learn new ways of looking at the world. We also know it works (once you’ve learned it) to reduce pests, increase yields, increase the nutritional value of food and create marvelous landscapes.
How Old Are You?
One measure of how old you are is whether you will actually learn these things or whether you will resist this learning. Those who are old in spirit will refuse to learn that organic gardening isn’t magic. Those who have decided that their way is the best and only way, who are rigid in their beliefs, will complain and grouse, demonstrate their rigidity and age in those ways. Those who have stockpiled their favourite chemical have already shown us they are not prepared to learn or adapt. To them, organic gardening is magic and they chose not to understand or learn.
A Richer World and The Real Question
I’m not going to tell you that this new organic world is simpler or easier than the old bug-kill world. It is indeed far more complex, more diversified and far richer in health. I’m not going to tell you that bugs will magically disappear and weeds will never grace your lawn again.
I am going to tell you that organic gardening isn’t magic. It is advanced science and demonstrates a deeper understanding of how things really work compared to the old simplistic notion that all bugs are bad bugs. The real question is whether you think it is magic you don’t want to understand or whether you’re prepared to become a garden magician.
I think part of it is the generation who are in their 70′s and 80′s now were young adults during big advances in science and think anything chemical is great. My in-laws thought how cool it was that science could make artificial things so all their furniture was Formica topped to look like wood, and they cooked with margarine, artificial vanilla and artificial chocolate. For the most part, that is also the crowd that asks for a “spray” when calling into the Master Gardeners with a problem.
I loved your paragraph, “How Old Are You?” Thanks for the thoughtful post.
Jan
@prairiepetunia -
Jan – while I think you may have a point with older generations being more conditioned to chemicals, my own take on it is more inclusive in that I’m not totally willing to say that age is the determination in hard-headedness and being unwilling to change. I hate to say it but sex is more likely a determination (guys will resist this more than women will).
Good Post Doug, I have been on the organic gardening kick for close to 70 years now and I know it will work.
As for learning new things and ways, I am continually learning and trying new or different ways. No problem for this old buck. Started Blogging this year and now building my own blog.
My advise to all gardeners young and old it to get on the Organic Gardening Wagon and Go. Lot of fun and yes some hard work but enjoying the outcome is worth it.
John
@John at JWLW -
Thanks for the thought JWLW
Here is where you hit the heart of it, Doug: “And yes, organic gardening isn’t as easy as the spray-kill systems…” because many people equate magic with ease. Those who are old enough to think an easy spray is magical probably remember their parents hand-picking insects. Of course we know that the spray-kill systems, as you call them, cause other problems down the line that take time to address, so they really aren’t as easy as they seem.
Do you think that some also choose sprays because it makes them feel powerful? I frequently help people at the garden center who are determined to spray something, anything!, on their plants, even when I tell them that the insect causing the damage has come and gone. I end up putting a bottle of insecticidal soap in their hands because I figure that that they can’t really run amuck with it. I think that these customers just need to feel like they have some power over nature.
So how do we convince these folks that it’s a partnership, a relationship, not a matter of dominance?
@C.L. Fornari -
You know CL, I hadn’t thought about the use of sprays as “power” and the ability to enforce your will on nature in those terms. So you’re saying that a “spray” – any spray be it organic or chemical gives the illusion of power over the “bad guys” in the garden (whether the bad guys exist or whether what the person is seeing is in fact, a bad guy). “I have a spray – I’m a powerful person” kind of thing. Interesting – I don’t know if that’s true in all cases but (and I hate to say it) I can see it in some guys who want to control their world.
Sigh… I’ve been reading about future studies and how as our information society matures and the networks are enabled – the most successful companies in the world will be those who live on the edge of chaos – on the edge of innovation. Indeed, a successful society will have all the conditions of slightly out of control at all time. And living on the edge like that or living in uncertain times (watch the news and decide if we seem stable or not) may indeed bring with it an urge to exert control over our environment to any degree we can. So you likely have a good point. I’ve never thought about it in exactly those terms but it’s food for thought. Great comment – thanks!
Chaos Gardening… now there’s a book that hasn’t been written yet.
@C.L. Fornari -
You know I’ve considered something like that – “Chaos Gardening – the garden as I *really* garden rather than how I tell you I garden”
Doug and CL:
You have hit on a good one, now what you have to decide is who or both of you will right it.
John
Doug: Great stuff you got here. I head up a community garden in Albuquerque (near downtown) I will share this info with our garden members come Spring (or any that I chat with prior to then). Keep the good info coming, of course we do not allow any un-natural chemicals in our garden. Last year was our first year for this garden and we did a bang up job! Take care and thanks for all the great news!
Skipper
@Skipper -
You know, I’ve never really been involved with a “community garden” but I’ve toured some and admired those who work and live that movement. Good for you and I’m delighted to share what I know (not much about Southern gardening I’m afraid)
This is one of the many reasons that I dumped Mark Cullen for Doug Green. Doug once again you are right on point. And incidentally this provides merit to the concept of talking to your plants is a good thing because they like it. Soon will be time for the corn gluten!