Jill Severn portrait
Jill Severn
Let's define “working class” today as anyone who earns a living through a job. That may or may not be a great job that pays a decent salary. People in this situation, even those with good jobs, face two major obstacles to gardening successfully: time and money.
If you work 8 hours a day and sleep 8 hours a night, you have 8 hours left to attend to everything else: kids, partner, friends, community, housework, laundry, shopping, cooking, learning, thinking, etc. Very few people can do all of this and still have time to mow the lawn. It's no wonder that workers' yards are overrun with weeds and their owners live in constant regret over things left undone.
The lesson that gardening books should teach is that the fewer hours a week you work to earn a living, the better your garden will be. Time is truly a garden's best friend, especially the gardener's.
Many full-time workers give up on vegetable gardening because they don't water their plants or the broccoli flowers before they remember to harvest.
Of course, there are exceptions to this dismal analysis: many working people have thriving gardens because they make it a priority to make time for them in their lives.
Parents who want to garden combine gardening and parenting by getting their kids to help them. They get their kids to do fun things like help plant strawberries with the promise of delicious fruit, dig holes in the soil to plant nasturtium seeds, and cut flowers to make bouquets. A competent parent might even be able to convince a young child that weeding is fun, but convincing a teenager would probably be a challenge.
Some people plant a garden right outside their front door so they can see it every time they come home, and pick broccoli on their way to the kitchen.
But there's also the issue of money.
Gardening supplies, including plants, are not immune to inflation, which can sometimes cause a bit of friction between family members.
I met a man who has been growing and collecting rock garden plants for years, and his wife, in dismay, says, “He thinks he needs more plants.” He will continue to do so, and she will put up with it, in dismay. They have been married for decades.
The problem with money is twofold: garden items are getting more and more expensive, and there's just too much of it.
Sure, there are things every gardener needs: shovels, rakes, trowels, seeds, twine, stakes to support plants, and most gardeners probably add a dozen or so more before they can catch their breath. The fact that the prices of all of this are rising is a common complaint.
But you really don't need products like this one sold on Amazon: “Potato Grow Bags with Flaps 10 Gallon, 4 Pack Planter Pots with Handles and Harvesting Window for Potatoes, Tomatoes, Vegetables, Black and Grey.”
The “harvest window” is a flap on the side that you can lift to see the state of your potatoes and somehow get in and harvest them. Assuming it has soil in it (and I hope it does), I'm imagining how to harvest without making a mess. Also, I wonder why any sane person would buy this product.
There's soil under your feet, potatoes growing in it, and no shipping fees.
To state the obvious, gardening can be a consumer trap for the uninformed gardener.
There are also many products out there that make things grow and kill things, and they are expensive and mostly unnecessary.
Gardening on a budget is a challenge to our DIY skills and a challenge to learn to rely more on the bounty that nature provides rather than what the private sector provides.
To further ease the financial issue, neighbors can share plants, tools, and compost deliveries. They can also share their harvests. By sharing our own goodness with other humans, we increase the abundance that nature gives us.
We all need to do the best we can with the time and money we are given, and if we persevere, we will continue to find ways to do more with less and achieve more with our neighbors, family, and friends.
Gardening at its best is an act of love for our bountiful earth and for the people you garden with and for whom you garden. Making time for gardening can be difficult, but the rewards are enormous.
Jill Severn writes from her home in Olympia. She grows vegetables, flowers, and a small flock of chickens. She loves chatting with fellow gardeners. Email her at jill@theJOLTnews.com and let's start a conversation.
