Spring Resolutions

Here in the Mid-Ohio valley, crocus, snow drops, and Lenten roses are blooming, and today was sunny with temperatures reaching the 60’s. Earlier this week we experienced snow and pounding rain simultaneously, and tomorrow up to 8 inches of the white stuff is forecast, after which the mercury is expected to plummet into the low teens. We're in that uncomfortable interregnum when it's hard to know how to dress.

This period of uncertainty is the obvious time to make resolutions, not on New Year's when short day length is telling us to slow down and not try to accomplish much beyond drinking lots of hot chocolate. Gardeners share many of the same resolutions. “This year I will…keep up with weeds, not forget to water my plants in pots, plant only one zucchini seed, etc. My advice for those determined to do better: Resolve to experiment, and lose the fear of questioning conventional wisdom and the dominant narrative.

Lurking on internet gardening groups is a pastime of mine, and I've noticed how many beginners seem hesitant to do anything before finding out the correct way. A healthy instinct for certain situations, but leading to paralysis if taken too far. One first-timer expressed hesitation to do anything for fear of “disturbing the soil.” Admittedly, there is a global problem with soil disturbance from plowing, tilling, and drenching the soil with chemicals, but home gardeners should not be scared to pull weeds or harvest potatoes. If you've become convinced that digging holes to plant seedlings is detrimental, it's time to question the narrative.

While the fears of this would-be gardener may seem foolish to me, her intentions were sound. She was proceeding with an honest wish to do the right thing and create and preserve healthy soil. Many of our fears result from good intentions. We are genuinely committed to doing the right thing, in our lives as well as our gardens, and don't want to offend or exclude or be viewed as racist. We care about the state of the world, and wish for the knowledge or understanding to figure out how to improve it. The problem arises that we allow ourselves to be led in the “correct” direction because it's the easiest way forward. We're busy and pressed for time and the internet knows everything anyway. Let's just ask it what's the right way to do things. We end up buying that expensive gardening tool that was touted as a must-have, or cheering for the ‘good guys ’ in a war.

Questioning the narrative—in the political and cultural realms — is becoming less safe. Expressing deviation from correct groupthink can result in loss of friends, colleagues, and livelihoods. Cancel culture is real. Conformity is the safe way to go, though most of us are probably not consciously acknowledging the fact that we are adjusting our speech and behavior in order to fit in.

Have your good intentions been hijacked and made you fear saying, doing, or thinking the wrong thing? Have you noticed that discussion of certain topics is discouraged because the answers are settled and questioning them makes you a bigot, or worse, a fascist? This lull before spring explodes upon the scene is a good time to ponder these questions, and make resolutions. In addition to resolving to sucker your tomato plants regularly and pick the beans before they get big and tough, commit to questioning not only garden advice, but all the disturbing narratives that permeate media these days. It won't be easy, but gardeners are tough and equal to the task.