Digging In: A Way of Life

By Jennifer Smith

How does one become a gardener?  With my first house I decided, perhaps influenced by my mom who’s an avid gardener, to plant a garden. Later in life I thought nothing of adopting a park for a few years as well as several plots in Ault Park, where my parents were also tending to a few gardens. Gardening in public spaces has become quite the family affair. So when I was looking for a new challenge, I was drawn to studying horticulture and garden design at the University of Cincinnati. 

Would I have taken that route if I had not already been gardening for 11 years? I doubt it. If a young person doesn’t have an avid gardener in their family, or family trips aren’t spent touring amazing gardens, what would inspire them to pursue garden design or professional garden caretaking as a career? Would they know that professional gardeners are celebrated in books and magazines? Would they know that nursery men and women chart the course for new garden designs and trends? Would they know that people in the gardening world are making tremendous strides in supporting pollinators, restoring habitat and making cities more livable and greener? Would they know of people like Dan Pearson, Claudia West or Rebecca McMackin? If these amazing people, plants and gardens aren’t part of a young person’s life, sphere of knowledge and experience, what would inspire them to be the next Beth Chatto or Beatrix Farrand? 

Perhaps the answer starts at home. Parents long for a way to lure kids away from the screens and spend more time outside. It’s no surprise that too much time online causes depression and anxiety in adults and children.  An absence of nature, time spent indoors, exacerbates depression, anxiety and poor health. 

One way to get back on track with mental and physical health is with a family backyard garden. In the backyard, where all the rules of gardening design can be tossed out the window, gardens can become these amazing learning spaces where kids can get dirty, play with plants, discover bugs and snack on fresh beans and berries they grew themselves. The backyard garden becomes a place to explore nature, soil science and entomology while flexing creative muscles. 

We also need to offer more support to our schools and the marvelous teachers who want to start school gardens. A thoughtfully designed school garden program combines math, science, horticulture, art and history into the garden experience. While students work in the garden they learn discipline, responsibility, and how to follow orders and processes — such as how to plant or harvest seeds. They also have an opportunity to interact with each other on a different level, not one based on academics and grades, but a mutual goal of creating a thriving garden.  I’m sure teachers have thought of many ways to integrate a school garden into their curriculum if they only had a garden! And it’s more than a garden they need; it’s support from the parents in fund raising and lending a hand in the garden during the summer months. To cast an even wider net of hands-on plant experience: adding a greenhouse to the school campus opens the door to winter gardening, greenhouse management experience, plant propagation, seed starting, even learning about desert and tropical plants: all worthy lines of study with viable careers. 

If we want to see more pollinator gardens and less expanses of lawn, restored natural areas, rooftop gardens, and more organic heirloom fruits and vegetables, we need to set the foundation for garden and horticultural curiosity with our kids, now. It’s never too early, or late for you adults looking for a new career path, to make gardening a way of life.

Jennifer Smith is an award-winning pollinator garden designer with Wimberg Landscaping.