Gardening: Schooling in Lessons on Life

Is gardening part of our schooling in lessons on life? Do we get closer to understanding the importance of such things as patience and closer to desiring virtues such as hope as we tend the garden with its weeds, dirt, and all? Most most gardeners would likely say “yes”.

Take Lavender. It seems funny to focus on a single plant when thinking more broadly about “gardening”. But growing Lavender is a good case study for me, at least. Where I do my gardening, the climate is fine for growing Lavender. But getting it to return each year is perennial practice for me. 

I am not always successful at growing Lavender as a perennial. Other gardeners in my area get it to grow large and healthy, and then it returns. In my garden, some of my Lavender returns; some does not. Regardless, the effort involved in growing this plant is instructive.

So what lessons have I learned? Well, they are almost too numerous to name, but some of the major ones are detailed here:

Lessons in Less is More

My garden classroom, with Lavender as one textbook case, seems always to contain lessons of Less is More. As one example, I pack plants together tightly in each bed, desiring a full look at the outset. This works for some plants. They cram together dutifully, not seeming to mind the lack of space I have afforded them. But Lavender acts as a true teacher. Pack it together too tightly, and airflow around each plant will be hindered. Sun will have a hard time reaching parts of the plants. And both poor air circulation and a lack of sun spell trouble for Lavender. My desire for “more” will drag me right back to “less”, with some plants thriving and returning, and others failing. I learn that moderation should always be my watchword.

Another lesson of Less is More comes in response to my desire to act. Action is not a bad thing. Watering plants is one action all gardeners must undertake. But overwatering Lavender spells disaster for this plant which loves a dry growing medium. What is more, although I like to add fertilizer from time to time, Lavender prefers a thin growing medium. Pulling the reins in on my watering and feeding is vital to having this plant thrive. “Doing” is fine, but “overdoing” can be problematic. 

Lessons in Patience

My desire to have full patches of Lavender from Day 1 results in additional lessons on patience. High-quality plant stock often comes in small forms. Patient gardeners savor all phases of plant growth, as small plant plugs take hold, stay healthy, and grow strong and large. But gardeners who rush things often grab the biggest plants, unwilling to wait. Sometimes these do well; other times, they have been “forced” and simply do not. Patience may indeed be one of the best qualities to try to possess.

Lessons in Hope

Patience is made easier when there is hope, and the hopeful gardener digs into the soil, adds plants, and tends those plants with hope for the future. Small Lavender plants are placed in the ground in the hope that they will grow large. Or as a better example, bulb-based plants require hope on the part of the gardener. Who would freeze their fingers to dig bulbs into near-frozen ground in autumn to plant spring-blooming bulbs? Could this be anyone other than a person with hope? No. Lessons in hope abound in the garden. 

Lessons in the Rewards for Hard Work

When engaged in some of the backbreaking work of gardening, gardeners think far into the future. They know that eventually their backs will feel better, mud will be cleaned from their boots, the memory of the hard work will fade… and the rewards that come from engaging in that hard work will be theirs to enjoy.

Preparing to plant a drift of Lavender is far from the hardest work in the garden. But digging a hole large enough to plant a tree, or preparing a brand new garden bed… well, these aren’t easy tasks. But put the effort in, and there will be tangible evidence that hard work pays off. A tree takes hold and grows, a new garden bed improves the landscape… the rewards are worth it.

Still, not all hard work reaps benefits. For me, even with well-spaced planting, patience, and hope, my Lavender does not necessarily return yearly. This is nothing that affects every gardener in my region; it is simply something particular to my yard. But once again, a life lesson gets learned: I learn that many things, including this, are out of my control. This does not mean I cannot grow Lavender. I can treat it as an annual. I can overwinter it as a houseplant. I can try to take a little control and figure out what might be done with my garden beds (perhaps focusing on the soil's alkalinity) to ensure its success as a perennial. But I learn that total control is not mine.

Garden as Classroom; Gardening as Schooling

Schooling in life’s lessons takes place in any location imaginable. At work, for example, we might learn a lesson on patience… one lesson in isolation. But when it comes to gardening, lessons in moderation, patience, hope, the rewards of labor, and control come as more of a package, or a full “course” in our studies. These lessons are accessible to the youngest gardeners—toddlers who dig in the soil and do their first planting. These lessons are likewise accessible to “old” gardeners of every age beyond the toddler years… gardeners who have already internalized many of these lessons but require refresher courses along the way. I am in the second category. And oh, how I need my garden classroom.

Gardening is, indeed, schooling in lessons on life.