Firstly, one of my earliest set of political revelations was whilst visiting a Capability Brown garden.
The main thing that struck me was that, in order to create the aspect desired from the main house, Brown had moved a whole village over a hil so that all that could be seen of it was the spire of the church poking picturesquely over the brow of said hill.
A whole village, full of people, moved out of their homes to improve the view.
To be part of the view.
Hey ho democracy and socialism.
Secondly, gardening takes times. Quick solutions to big problems are rarely available. If you want an avenue of oaks you need to have had grandparents who planted an avenue of oaks just where you wanted them. If you don’t like your soil balance or composition you can change it slowly over time using compost, additives, microbes, minibeasts and fertilizer (maybe) or you can dig up the entire garden and truck in a load of soil over night but you can’t change the soil overnight by adding compost etc.
Gardening requires attention to detail and a view towards the big picture. It requires good things now and good things in the future and the future is constantly reseting itself as you reach it. Gardening requires periodic maintenance to get things right and keep them there. Big stuff is hard work and will cause destruction and disharmony whilst you do it. Pulling something up is easier than growing it. Rooting out weeds is harder than anything.
Etcetera etcetera so on and so forth and so on.
Basically, gardening is a big metaphor for politics.
(It is why at heart I’m in favour of electoral reform and localism – because governments promising radical top down “reform” are probably just digging a pond in the wrong place to satisfy they 25% of the population they represent and wil be howling impotent when the other side fills it in in 5 or 10 years.)
Thirdly, I think there is something about the way community gardens (including any family garden) are designed, created and maintained that talks about the way people can best interact.
Fourthly, gardens speak to me of the dignity of work. Work is only dignified if the worker has a share in the outcome.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2012-03-29 11:11 am (UTC)The main thing that struck me was that, in order to create the aspect desired from the main house, Brown had moved a whole village over a hil so that all that could be seen of it was the spire of the church poking picturesquely over the brow of said hill.
A whole village, full of people, moved out of their homes to improve the view.
To be part of the view.
Hey ho democracy and socialism.
Secondly, gardening takes times. Quick solutions to big problems are rarely available. If you want an avenue of oaks you need to have had grandparents who planted an avenue of oaks just where you wanted them. If you don’t like your soil balance or composition you can change it slowly over time using compost, additives, microbes, minibeasts and fertilizer (maybe) or you can dig up the entire garden and truck in a load of soil over night but you can’t change the soil overnight by adding compost etc.
Gardening requires attention to detail and a view towards the big picture. It requires good things now and good things in the future and the future is constantly reseting itself as you reach it. Gardening requires periodic maintenance to get things right and keep them there. Big stuff is hard work and will cause destruction and disharmony whilst you do it. Pulling something up is easier than growing it. Rooting out weeds is harder than anything.
Etcetera etcetera so on and so forth and so on.
Basically, gardening is a big metaphor for politics.
(It is why at heart I’m in favour of electoral reform and localism – because governments promising radical top down “reform” are probably just digging a pond in the wrong place to satisfy they 25% of the population they represent and wil be howling impotent when the other side fills it in in 5 or 10 years.)
Thirdly, I think there is something about the way community gardens (including any family garden) are designed, created and maintained that talks about the way people can best interact.
Fourthly, gardens speak to me of the dignity of work. Work is only dignified if the worker has a share in the outcome.