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August 24, 2018 - CAMP Stories by Rich Barnett

Rich Barnett

 

The Thin Line Between Slow and Lazy

I cannot believe Labor Day is already upon us. As I walk around my Rehoboth garden I can only shake my head. The composter has burst its seams, and there are piles of compost and “undigested” yard cuttings everywhere. I’ve yet to deadhead the roses or the Shasta daisies, which means I won’t get a late-summer bloom from either. I never got around to putting in psychedelic-colored zinnias. The coneflowers all died, and the petunias weren’t pinched properly.

Slugs are eating my hostas.

Some regular readers of this column will know that I take great pride in my garden and in my gardening prowess and might be wondering what the hell happened, or better yet, what didn’t happen this summer? The fact of the matter is I fell under the spell of an eccentric Mississippi gardener and writer known as Felder Rushing.

Felder is the guru of the slow gardening movement, which takes its inspiration from the popular slow food movement. At its essence it’s an indictment on middle class uber-tidy, mow and blow yards. Slow gardening is about getting your hands dirty and not stressing over everything being perfect. Do things at your own pace, says Felder, and don’t worry about what others are doing. Gardening should be fun, not a chore. Surely you can see the appeal in such a philosophy? 

As I continued reading about Felder Rushing I learned he has a horticulture degree and has been published in numerous magazines, including National Geographic. He’s been featured in The New York Times and on HGTV. He hosts a weekly call-in show on NPR. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

Felder splits his time between Mississippi and northern England. He’s a fan of bottle trees and has even written a book about them. Mardi Gras beads he puts to use hanging on the branches of crape myrtle trees. He recommends adding a shot of vodka to the water when forcing paper white bulbs to bloom. The vodka stunts the growth of the stems, which tend to get leggy and topple over. And here’s the best: Felder has planted an herb and flower garden in the bed of his Ford pickup truck. It’s a living, moving advertisement for his work. Yes, he drives it. The plants are selected to tolerate heat, high winds, and dry conditions.

What a character. I was hooked.

Excited to embrace the slow gardening approach, I quit obsessing about peeling off the shredding bark on my crape myrtles. Trim the hedge? Naw, its okay to get a little shaggy. To add some Felder-like whimsicality into the garden, I created sculptures of stacked rocks. Crab grass quit bothering me. As a practitioner of slow gardening, I’ve been sleeping later, going to the beach more, and taking an afternoon nap rather than worrying about what I wasn’t doing in the yard.

It was all going well, or so I thought….

One afternoon I was cutting a bunch of bosomy Limelight hydrangea flowers to take to a swank cocktail party when I noticed ferns and wild morning glory vines cozying up with my prized English boxwoods. Something snapped. They weren’t cuddling; they were strangling them. I downed my gin and tonic and in a frenzy began ripping away the ferns and yanking off the twining vines. Free the boxwoods! With bare hands I then pulled out all the prickly horsenettles, aka devil’s tomato, I’d let sprout up among my ginger lilies.

Later while removing the microscopic horsenettle thorns from my hands using the sticky side of duct tape, I realized I’d been lulled into a state of laziness and a false sense of complacency by Mr. Felder Rushing. I’d taken his que será, será philosophy way too literally and as a result had let my garden go.

But no more. I’ve tossed out Felder’s addictive Slow Gardening book and brought out the English gardening gloves. My Felco snips have been sharpened and oiled. For today I pull nettles; tomorrow I peel bark! ▼

Rich Barnett is the author of The Discreet Charms of a Bourgeois Beach Town, and Fun with Dick and James. More from Rich Barnett.

‹ August 24, 2018 - CAMP Cheers! up August 24, 2018 - Volunteer Spotlight - Pat Catanzariti ›

Past Issues

Issues Index

  • November 16, 2018 - Issue Index
  • October 19, 2018 - Issue Index
  • September 21, 2018 - Issue Index
  • August 24, 2018 - Issue Index
    • August 24, 2018 - Cover-to-cover with ISSUU
    • August 24, 2018 - The Way I See It by Murray Archibald
    • August 24, 2018 - In Brief
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMPmatters by Murray Archibald
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMP Out by Fay Jacobs
    • August 24, 2018 - AIDSwalk 2018 - Why I’m Walking by JulieAnne Cross
    • August 24, 2018 - Straight Talk by David Garrett
    • August 24, 2018 - Sundance 2018 Auction
    • August 24, 2018 - Sundance 2018 Dance
    • August 24, 2018 - It's My Life by Michael Thomas Ford
    • August 24, 2018 - President's View by Chris Beagle
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMP News - CROP Serves Sustenance and Love by Debbie Woods
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMP News - Reunion Tour, Bear Weekend, Girls Scouts Honor Fay Jacobs
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMP Cheers!
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMP Stories by Rich Barnett
    • August 24, 2018 - Volunteer Spotlight - Pat Catanzariti
    • August 24, 2018 - Volunteer Thank You
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMP Critters
    • August 24, 2018 - Eating Out by Fay Jacobs
    • August 24, 2018 - View Point by Richard Rosendall
    • August 24, 2018 - The Real Dirt by Eric W. Wahl
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMPshots Gallery 1
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMPshots Gallery 2
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMPshots Gallery 3
    • August 24, 2018 - Millennial Times by James Adams Smith
    • August 24, 2018 - Out & Proud by Stefani Deoul
    • August 24, 2018 - Delaware Legacy Fund
    • August 24, 2018 - Intentionally Inclusive by Wesley Combs
    • August 24, 2018 - We Remember James E. Yiaski
    • August 24, 2018 - Out & About by Eric C. Peterson
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMP Rehoboth Chorus: Just Can’t Stop the Beat!
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMP Arts by Doug Yetter
    • August 24, 2018 - Booked Solid by Terri Schlichenmeyer
    • August 24, 2018 - Amazon Trails by Lee Lynch
    • August 24, 2018 - CAMP Dates - August 25 - September 23
  • August 10, 2018 - Issue Index
  • July 27, 2018 - Issue Index
  • July 13, 2018 - Issue Index
  • June 29, 2018 - Issue Index
  • June 15, 2018 - Issue Index
  • June 1, 2018 - Issue Index
  • May 18, 2018 - Issue Index
  • May 4, 2018 - Issue Index
  • April 6, 2018 - Issue Index
  • March 9, 2018 - Issue Index
  • January 26, 2018 - Issue Index

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