Inspiration Before Information: Finding Your Way Back to the Garden
I recently heard a talk by Venessa Van Edwards, a behavioral researcher and bestselling author who studies human behavior and communication. She said something that really caught my attention:
Humans need inspiration before they need information.
That idea has been germinating my head ever since. And, naturally, a sprout of a thought about gardening came out of this quote because gardeners are some of the most information-hungry people I know. Give a gardener a new plant and suddenly we need to know its hardiness zone, soil pH, water requirements, light requirements, pruning schedule, preferred fertilizer, native habitat, companion plants, pest problems, propagation methods and—just for fun—the botanical name. We don't just grow things. We know things, AND grow things.
But what makes us want to grow them in the first place?
The Spark
Think about the moment you fell in love with gardening.
Maybe you saw a tomato growing in someone's backyard and thought, ‘I could grow tomatoes.’ Maybe you visited a garden with a rose climbing an entire wall and decided you needed one of your own. Maybe you brought home your first succulent because it was adorable and, several years later, you somehow have 47 of them. Or maybe you tasted a homegrown carrots for the first time and realized that the grocery store had been keeping a very important secret from you.
Something inspired you.
A beautiful garden. A delicious meal. A childhood memory. A friend who grows amazing vegetables. A trip to Italy. A bouquet of flowers. A sunny windowsill. A desire to spend more time outside. Whatever it was, the inspiration came first.
Then came the questions.
How do I grow this?
When do I plant it?
How much sun does it need?
What kind of soil should I use?
Why are the leaves turning yellow?
Is that a bug?
Is that a good bug?
What is eating my kale?!
And down the rabbit hole we go.
The Garden Information Rabbit Hole
Once you are inspired, there is no shortage of information waiting for you. In fact, there may be too much. Gardening information is everywhere—books, blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, social media, gardening groups, extension offices, plant tags, nursery employees and that one neighbor who has been growing tomatoes since 1974 and has very strong opinions about fertilizer.
And here's the tricky part:
Gardening information can conflict. One source says water in the morning. Another says evening is better. One gardener swears by coffee grounds. Another gardener looks horrified when you mention coffee grounds And then you move to a completely different climate and discover that the plant doesn't care what the internet told you.
We sometimes treat gardening as though it is all about knowing the right answer: the right plant, the right fertilizer, the right watering schedule, the right pruning technique.
But gardening isn't a multiple-choice test. It's a relationship with plants, place, seasons and—sometimes—a healthy dose of trial and error
Gardening is wonderfully complicated because where you garden matters. What works beautifully in Texas may not work in Arizona. What thrives in Maine may melt in Arizona. And what someone describes as "full sun" may mean something very different when your summer temperatures are flirting with triple digits. The information is important, but information alone isn't what gets us outside with a shovel. Inspiration does.
And Then Comes August
Your tomatoes look exhausted. The flowers are having an existential crisis. The soil is approximately the temperature of a pizza oven. And you are standing there holding a garden hose thinking:
‘I JUST WATERED THIS YESTERDAY!’
Welcome to summer gardening.
There are moments when your beautiful garden escape starts to look more like a scorched landscape, and the thought of watering one more plant feels like a personal betrayal.
And that’s when we need to find the Spark Again:
Step away from the list of chores and reconnect with the reason we started gardening in the first place. Go to your local nursery. Look at what is growing and thriving. Talk to other gardeners. Join a community garden. There is something about being around other people who are happily digging in the dirt that can reignite your own enthusiasm. Visit a botanical garden. Walk among plants you don't have to water. (This is an underrated gardening activity.)
And, perhaps my favorite way to find inspiration: travel. Go someplace cooler. Visit a botanical garden. Wander through a different landscape. Look at plants you've never seen before. Notice how gardens are designed in different climates. Take pictures. Ask questions. Let yourself be inspired without immediately worrying about whether the plant will survive in your backyard. You can figure that part out later. Because once you're inspired, you'll want the information. You'll come home and start researching. ‘Can I grow that here?’ ‘How much water does it need?’ ‘Where can I buy one?’ And just like that, the spark becomes a project.
Inspiration Is Part of Gardening
Information helps us become better gardeners, but inspiration is what gets us started. And when the garden gets hard—when the heat arrives, the pests appear, the plants struggle or something you've carefully nurtured decides to dramatically collapse overnight—we may need to return to that original inspiration.
Remember what made you want to garden. Remember the first plant that made you excited. Remember the first harvest. Remember the first flower you grew. Remember the feeling of putting a seed into the soil and wondering what might happen.
Then go find something that inspires you again, because sometimes the best thing we can do for our garden isn't to learn more - it’s to fall in love with it again
A GardenWise Thought
Inspiration plants the seed. Information (and hard work) helps it grow. Sometimes, when the garden feels like too much work, we simply need to find something that makes us want to dig in again.
