Self-Realizing Soil 1

Self-Realizing Soil May 22, 1975

To date I have refrained from comment on the arrival of Spring in these parts. I didn't want to spoil our luck. May has been cool, to be sure, but we have had an extraordinary run of fair weather.
In fact my garden, which is normally a swamp this time of year has been tillable for weeks. And the delayed arrival of our hardy insect pests has made working there a pleasure.
But "working" is scarcely the word for what I do in a garden. We have a little game we play each Spring called, "I'll Scratch Your Back If You'll Go Easy On Mine", Yet, despite my half-hearted husbandry, the yield is usually ample for our needs.
Still, there must be an easier way to plant. I keep looking for it, but all the gardening tracts I read seem to have been written by minds warped by the work ethic.
So I have been experimenting with a technique which shows great promise and may be of interest to othere easygoing gardeners. It is an idea picked up at an educational conference which I had the misfortune to attend some years ago.
Our topic for the day was 'THE SELF-REALIZING PERSONALITY", and though the occasion did little to sharpen anyone's teaching skills, it did set my mind to wandering, at least, and stirred up some innovative thoughts on farming.
It occured to me at that time that, if the earth could be inspired to realize iss full potential, the battle for the bean was practically won.
But it was not until I began to read about the remarkable results obtained recently by gardeners who talk to their plants that I was able to put my theory to the test. After that, the hoeing was easier.
First let me say that those characters who converse with their greenery are barking up the wrong tree. They treat surface symptoms without giving thought to root problems. Like on of our local banks, I am going one spep further. Here's the way it works, if you'd like to give it a try.
Every day you should have a little talk with the soil itself. Flatter it. Give it confidence. Say, for instance, "My, you look friable today."
But don't stop there. When you've softened the hardpan a little, shower it with horticultural exhortations, such as: "Think vegetables. Think flowers. Banish all thoughts of weeds and predatory insects. Be fruitful."
My theory is that if we can persuade the earth to give birth to sturdy plants, they can probably fend for themselves with a minimum of labor on our part. Just an occasional friendly word.
There is a chance, of course, that owing to certain limitations of personality or background, our conversation may not prove as stimulating to the soil as it sounds to us. So I include here a supplementary audio-visual campaign you may also wish to try.