Slow Gardening By Shauna Dobbie
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s a slow person, the idea of Slow Gardening has struck me as an ideal subject. First described by Felder Rushing, who published a book on the subject in 2011, it is more an attitude than a method of gardening, and it encourages folks to slow down and relish what they do in the garden. The idea follows the slow food movement from 1980s Italy. Proponents of slow food, the opposite of fast food, eat food that is locally grown in season, prepared traditionally and enjoyed with loved ones. Slow food led to slow everything: slow fashion, slow ageing, slow parenting, and so forth. To be a slow gardener, you need to garden a little bit here and there all the time rather than going crazy on the weekends. Rushing recommends certain tricks to make it a little easier, such as reducing the lawn and making edges easier to navigate with a mower by cutting them in gentle curves. Other pursuits he recommends to make it more enjoyable, such as photographing your garden, growing cutting flowers and keeping sitting places in the garden. He also recommends against using power tools, like electric or gas trimmers and blowers, and chemical pesticides and feeds. These items were made for the convenience of people who view gardening as a chore, who want it dispatched as quickly as possible. To be honest, Felder Rushing was recommending gardeners garden the way they do and calling it Slow Gardening. And he was aware of it. In his book, he says: “no matter what you do or how you do it, your neighbours are going to talk about you anyway. So get over it and start gardening according to your own standards—this is the essence of Slow Gardening.” But then he goes further, inserting his personal preferences into what should be done. He recommends putting the sun to work by making sun tea and by drying clothes on a line, which seems a little counter to the do-your-own-thing mantra. (I have seasonal allergies and I’ll be
12 • 2020
Slow Gardening
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From a handout by Felder Rushing.
low Gardening isn’t lazy or passive–it actually involves doing more stuff, carefully selected to be productive without senseless, repetitive chores. By focusing on seasonal rhythms and local conditions, it helps the gardener get more from the garden while better appreciating how leisure time and energy are spent. More than mere tips for easy gardening, it’s more about thinking “long haul” and taking it easy. Life has lots of pressures— why include them in the garden? Some ways of slowing down in the garden: • Spread out your chores; do a little all along instead of overloading weekends. • Stop planting like farmers, all at once; plant a little at a time when the season and weather are right. Plant raised beds and containers continually all year. • Develop a long-term, relaxing garden pursuit such as bonsai or topiary, garden photography, growing cut flowers, collecting or hybridizing cultivars of a favorite plant, a manicured but small “hobby” lawn, composting, or beekeeping. • Garden for all the senses—wind chimes are as important as nice fragrances. • Right plant, right place—choose pestresistant plants well-adapted to your local climate and soils, plant them well, and let them grow without being pushed. Try untested new plants in a small area to see how they grow for you. • Have something in bloom every week, if not every day, of the year. Include plants that bloom in the evening, and notice the moths that visit after dark. • Carefully select and display sculpture or other garden art, for all-year inspiration. Have local artisans create art or working bits. • Grow your own—propagate enough plants for you and friends or neighbors. • Grow your own fruit. Dry some or make preserves to share with others. • Lose some of the lawn, making it smaller
damned if I’ll sleep on line-dried sheets.) But Slow Gardening according to Felder Rushing is self-help. It’s the kind of book or website you peruse to confirm Issue 3
and neater, with edges and corners easier to mow with less backing up. Lighten up on fertilizers and pesticides, enjoy a few wildflowers. Let a small area become a “meadow” lawn. • Let some hedges grow informally, instead of keeping everything tightly sheared. Or create a hedgerow with mixed plants and wildlife. • Design your landscape for peoplecomfort. Include all-weather seating, dry paving, shade in the summer, and wind protection in the winter. • Install a fire pit and waterfall, and use them as part-time relief from television. • When practical, use quiet hand tools over noisy power equipment. Keep digging and cutting tools sharp and efficient. • Get personal with your weather—use a rain gauge and outdoor thermometer. • Enjoy and put the sun to work—hang a clothesline, make sun tea. • Garden to encourage year-round wildlife. Include a well-stocked bird feeder. • Compost—or just a neat leaf pile, letting it work on its own schedule. • Take it easy on vacation—visit public botanic gardens, and walk around older neighborhoods to savor what is grown locally by hands-on gardeners. • Shop at a farmer’s market for in-season, locally grown produce. • Take advantage of area garden lectures, seminars, and shows. • Browse good gardening sites on the Internet. Check out recommended links. • Ponder the mysteries of the universe in the microcosm of your own back yard. • Keep a garden journal, including online with digital photographs. • Share relaxing garden techniques and easy, rewarding plants with children. Do better. As Steve Bender, senior garden editor for Southern Living magazine says, “Maybe you can’t change the whole world. But by slightly modifying the way you garden, you can change your own back yard. And that’s a start.” your biases and maybe come across some new ideas that you can use. Slow Gardening won’t change the world, but it will make a bunch of gardeners feel happy about what they do. d localgardener.net
