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The Friday Newsletter |  Daily Gardener Community

Curated News

Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage saved for the nation

Art Fund's director Stephen Deuchar announced today that the appeal to save artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage for the nation has successfully reached its £3.5-million target in just ten weeks, with a final total of £3,624,087.

Tilda Swinton said, 'When Derek initiated the project of making of this little house on the shingle the unique and magically empowering space it has come to be, not only for him but for so many of us, it was at a time of intense uncertainty and fragility in his own life. That our casting the net of our appeal to keep this project alive has coincided with the phenomenal global challenge to the community with which we are currently faced - and that that net has still come in so full of bounty - has only served to prove how invaluable this vision of future is to us all."

Goals For Your 2020 Garden

What are you curious about in your garden?
What are you hoping to learn this season?
How will your gardening change during the pandemic?

Your greatest accomplishment might be the result you didn't plan to learn.

Maybe you've always been a flower gardener, but this year you feel compelled to grow some edibles, and you discover the joy of growing your own garlic.

Last year, you grew your own tomatoes to great success and ended up sharing some with neighbors. This year you want to help out the food shelf.

Maybe you didn't like pulling weeds for your mom, but now with the pandemic, you suddenly find that tending to the yard is calming and anchoring. Now you want to have a garden of your own.

Our gardens are classrooms. And those classrooms are filled with many teachers or Upah Gurus.

Upah Guru is the Hindu word for the teacher next to you at any moment.

The Upah Gurus in your garden this year might be the seeds you just ordered, a mystery plant that you inherited, the hydrangea that refuses to flower, the rose that won't give up.

This year, they say there will be more new gardeners than ever as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions.

Calling All Gardeners: Share Your Expertise

Don't consider yourself an expert? Think again.

One of the things that can happen to gardeners is that we can underestimate our own expertise or experience in the garden.

But any experience is helpful to a gardener just starting out. To new gardeners, you can be a gardening Upah Guru.

New Gardeners Need Encouragement

Remind new gardeners that their primary job this year is to simply be a good student of gardening. They don't need to get straight A's in the garden. Let them know that no one is putting that pressure on them to replace the produce section of the grocery store. One of the biggest commitments new gardeners can make is simply to learn more about gardening. Encourage them to focus on the teaching - whether that is from books or podcasts or neighbors - because the teaching is what makes us better gardeners.

The Benefits of Gardening go beyond food: physical, mental, spiritual

Any gardener knows that being active in the garden is a form of exercise - just like walking, running, or playing basketball. It is legit exercise.

As a pastime or a passion, gardening is a return to nature. It is connection with the natural world. It is grounding, and it is centering. It is good for us, physically and emotionally.

After Walt Whitman suffered a debilitating stroke, he recovered by spending time in nature. The two years he spent walking the woods were his primary therapy, and he forever credited nature with his recovery.

This is why I end every episode with, "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day." It's not just a slogan. I really believe those words.

Botanical History On This Day

1513 Juan Ponce de León and La Florida, as the Spanish explorer claimed new land for Spain and christened it “La Florida” in honor of Pascua Florida, the Festival of Flowers.

1647 Maria Sibylla Merian, the brilliant German naturalist and illustrator whose paintings forever linked plants and insects, was born—later enchanting even Peter the Great with her Surinam masterpieces.

1711 Job Baster, Dutch naturalist, shell collector, and pioneering goldfish breeder at his estate Zonnehof, was born, eventually lending his name to both mollusks and the journal “Basteria.”

1819 American Farmer, the first successful agricultural journal in the United States, was published in Baltimore, bringing practical advice and rural news to working growers.

Unearthed Words

A chorus of April voices—from Millay to Whittier, Southey to Lucy Larcom—capturing the foolishness, fickleness, and sudden radiance of spring. Read the April sayings and verses

Grow That Garden Library™

Read The Daily Gardener review of The Overstory by Richard Powers

Buy the book on Amazon: The Overstory by Richard Powers

Today's Botanic Spark

1891 German Dadaist and Surrealist Max Ernst was born, later sketching castle gardens, inventing frottage from plant textures, and confessing he would rather have a single wild strawberry than all the laurels in the world.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener

And remember: For a happy, healthy life, garden every day.