I found the following video fascinating. It covers many topics of interest to modern homeowners and gardeners, foodies and historians.
I want to take some of the quotes- there were so many! The simplest, most zenlike is that there is no garden without the gardener. Watch the video… which topic struck you as one to think about?
- In discussing the present caretakers of the historical kitchen garden of Versailles, the distinction of a modern landscaper versus a gardener is made. The idea is that landscape architects do not see themselves as gardeners. Can you see how this may be a conflict when a garden is designed? Or landscapers are hired to plant around a home? What kind of considerations may need adjustment?
- The point is made of making the garden support itself. This is often considered crass, whether making a blog or making a garden. Yet, it is something the think about. Do our gardens make the best use of the space, does it provided food?
- Varieties of plants: are modern ones better or worse than heirlooms? How often do we engage in a kind of plant snobbery, when the taste of fruits or vegetables, their vigor, or the choice of what we grow ought to rather rely on what works best in our gardens? Who best to make that judgment than the home gardener, himself?
- Are we addicted to herbicides and pesticides because of our ideas of what “looks good”? Can we exchange the artificial forms of “beauty” for something more ecologically balanced?
Those are some of the thoughts I had, inspired b listening to the lecture.
