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Gardening Virtually: A garden of Friends

© Carol Wallace

Even if I never set foot outside in winter, I garden for several hours a day. The results show each spring, as new seeds sprout, and new plants unavailable in my little village of Chinchilla, PA arrive at my doorstep. I tuck them tenderly into the newly warmed soil, thinking fondly of the people who sent them

I've never seen these contributors to my garden. They are all familiar names, but faceless. They are friends, though. I spend my days hanging over the world's longest back fence, discussing garden topics with the other citizens of the Gardens and Gardening mailing list.

When my husband poured kerosene over the stumps of newly pulled yews, thwarting my plans for planting rhododendrons, I turned to my friends on the list. I received many letters of condolences. I also received a lot of sound advice. The rhododendrons were purchased, and heeled in for the winter, the soil now gets turned regularly to dissipate the kerosene. I will have a new garden come spring.

When I had a yen for blue columbine, I mentioned this on the list. Within two weeks, my mailbox was full of seed packets from generous gardeners. My rose garden is entwined with clematis that I won by answering a trivia question proposed by a list member who raises them.

My soil is more fertile thanks to the advice of these generous people. My brain is also more fertile, as it teems with the new things I learn every day.

We share ideas, we share plants. We share even more. When my cat died, I mentioned burying him under his favorite tree. (I tried to keep the post garden-related.) I received many letters of sincere sympathy. We are a community which eagerly awaits the birth of babies, the outcome of a hospital test, the report of a special birthday gift.

Gardening is a gift. It is an act of creation. The people on my gardens list have helped me to expand that gift, to make it grow even greater than the actual land that I cultivate.

While some may think that to garden virtually means that you are not really gardening, I know that my own Internet experience has brought me not only a better garden, but made me a better gardener.

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