Pensive Tuesday: Gardener's Pratitya-samutpada

A long and difficult-to-pronounce word that means something simple for gardeners: causes and conditions.  It's a Sanskrit word for "dependent arising", which means that nothing happens without something else causing it, and if conditions aren't correct, that thing won't happen no matter how hard you try to Make it So. That's my view of it, anyway.

In gardening, I think about this principle a lot in the spring. The old annuals are getting tossed into the compost heap, and new plants are planted. The old mulch is out, the new mulch and compost are going in. Eventually, the old garden becomes the dirt, and the dirt becomes the new garden.

And of course, the best part of spring, when causes and conditions come together in the most beautiful way, is flowers!

Babytoes: "I don't care about causes and conditions: I just like to BLOOM!"

For me, spring's the time to contemplate what worked and what didn't, which plants had the correct conditions, and which did not. And of course, for causes and conditions to come together to form a beautiful garden for the year, there's a lot of hard work. But it's my favorite time of the gardening year, so I'm enjoying my ruminations, and the mulching.

"Causes and Conditions" /MR/2010

When all the bits and pieces and effort come together to make a beautiful new pattern, I know I've done my job well.
And when it all falls apart, I know there's more gardening, and more learning, down the road.