Based on the emails I received from various seed companies and plant vendors this last week, they are overwhelmed with orders, and I think it’s fair to say that gardening, as a pastime, is on the upswing. My local garden center was, for a week or so, doing curbside pickup for customers anxious to get going on a few garden projects. I was told that business was brisk the last time I lined up in my car to pick up a few perennials I had paid for over the phone. With these businesses now shut down temporarily due to the stay-at-home order, many of us have turned to mail-order as a way to keep gardening this summer.
I’m excited at the thought that perhaps more of us are making the decision to grow things, whether it is a food crop, or a bed of summer flowers. Whatever is happening on the gardening front, IT IS GOOD. I want the next generation of children to learn how to grow strawberries, lettuce, and carrots. I want a 28-year old to grow his first tomatoes and peppers from seed and harvest them all summer long. I want my 85-year old mother to plant her summer crop of zinnias, because home is the safest place for her to spend her time.
GARDENING IS LIFE.
It is food.
It is beauty.
It provides a routine.
It is a way to give thanks.
It is a way to cope with grief.
It is a classroom for your children.
It is a way to tire your muscles so that you can find rest.
It is hope.