what is slow gardening anyway?

What is slow gardening anyway? Well, it seems to me it's a fairly new term. It derived from the slow food movement and now is being extended to all aspects of life, such as slow living.

As a newish term, and probably inherent in its meaning, it is evolving. It both reflects and contributes to the current debate as we struggle with shifting paradigms forced on us by global warming and other unfortunate consequences of global capitalism, its creed and its greed.

So I will try to say what slow gardening means to me.

Slow gardening isn't about specific actions - it's about how you do it. It means doing gardening mindfully, reflectively, enjoying the process instead of focussing on outcomes.

It's about having patience, recognizing that germinating and growing takes time. It's about composting, nurturing the whole ecosystem contained in the garden, the worms, the insects, the birds and animals.

However, there are some actions which seem to be incompatible with it. I never use sprays to kill insect pests, and don't see the need for fertilizers when you have perfectly good compost to continually improve the soil.

I can't stand the noisy tools people use. OK, if you're a professional gardener, your income depends on using timesaving devices. But have amateur gardeners forgotten how to use a broom, for goodness sake??? Must they use those noise-polluting blower things???

Who needs a noisy power saw? If secauteurs wouldn't do, I would use shearing things. If the branch was too big for the shearing things, then I would use a pruning saw. It takes time, develops my muscles and can be incorporated into the meditative, reflective peaceful and happy-making process of slow gardening.

I noticed a line on a bottle of shampoo which definitely expresses a non-slow philosophical stance: "Wildly Exciting is our Normal". Makes me feel exhausted just thinking about it.

Smell the eucalypts, listen to the cicadas.

the politics of gardening and The Diggers Club

What has slow gardening - or any other gardening for that matter - have to do with politics, climate change and global capitalism?

If you want to learn more about the politics of gardening, you can do no better than to look at the quarterly publication of The Diggers Club, to which I have subscribed since its inception nearly 20 years ago. I call it a publication, because I don't know what else to call it, since it is a plant and seed catalogue, newsletter and magazine. I have learned so much from The Diggers Club. It has had a formative influence on my developing values such as not using chemicals since they will harm beneficial insects, and minimizing my water usage.

Over the years articles in this publication have covered all the important political issues which impact on (slow) gardeners. Recent topics have included:

- the worldwide movement Seed Savers which aims to preserve the biodiversity of food plants,
- the scary terminator seeds developed by Monsanto and
- the dangers of eating genetically modified food.

The current issue - Autumn Garden 2008 - deals with the issue of water restrictions in Melbourne. We are in the midst of a drought and high temperatures. Water reserves are lower than in previous years. The state government has placed serious restrictions on watering gardens. We can water only twice a week for two hours. This does not affect me since I do not depend on water and am trying to establish a dry garden. But it does affect the many people who grow their own fruit and vegetables, as you can imagine. This is a crazy and unfair law. Growing one's own has enormous benefits - economically, environmentally and socially. It is a cultural and historical tradition everywhere.

Clive Blaizey's response to this dilemma is brilliant. He vaguely hints, obliquely suggests, the possibility that we counter this injustice with civil disobedience! No one polices the amount of water used inside the house. Using the shower water ("grey water") for the garden is encouraged. And sometimes you really do need to have a long shower.