The sun shone hot and bright during the official opening of the Therapeutic Garden at the Fayette Senior Services Center on Wednesday. It was just the kind of cosmic encouragement the small flowers and vegetable plants will need to bring to fruition several years of planning and fundraising to benefit Fayette’s seniors.
During the tour, FSS Director Debbie Britt explained that the garden’s name reflects its dual purpose of serving as a place of both physical and spiritual wellness.
Those able to toil in the soil — the raised beds were designed for accessibility — will reap the special rewards that come from getting their hands good and dirty and filling their nose with the sweet smell of mulch.
Others will find the benches and the pending pergola a place to relax and watch new life burst forth in all colors of nature’s rainbow, while listening to gentle splashes from two fountains of ... youth?
Most of the garden is edible; before long, all those tomatoes, green beans, peppers and other goodies will be going to the center’s café and to the local Meals on Wheels program.
And with garden guru Walter Reeves there to help cut the red ribbon with his green thumb (made possible by his mother, Frances, a key supporter), it’s off to a great start.
I think all gardens are therapeutic. Just think of what you can do and learn there.
The day after New Year’s, for instance, you start off with a pile of old stuff left over from the previous year and plow it all under and start over. No malingering over what did or didn’t work out last time.
You can prune dead wood and chop away whatever has the potential for obstacle. Then you get to decide exactly how much of what goes where, based solely on your tastes.
If you want nothing but flowers with your college colors, so be it. If you never get tired of tomatoes, bring it on. Your garden of eatin’ awaits.
If you’re patient, you can watch the tiniest seeds turn into bushels of bounty. If you’re fastidious, you can yank each interloping weed by hand, showing the garden who’s boss. If you’re demanding, you can deadhead whatever is past its prime.
And where else but in the garden can you sling some manure and get rewarded for it?
There are, of course, no fruits without labor. Just ask Dan Gibbs, the Fayette garden’s project manager, who’s probably hoping someone has planted some aloe to soothe the scrapes he and other volunteers incurred during the last month of nonstop construction.
But as any dirt worshipper will tell you, planting a garden doesn’t just grow crops, it also grows character.
The ultimate therapy of gardening come in savoring the sights, scents and flavors that help make summer so special. And it doesn’t end when fall comes and flowers fade.
Maybe the best solace of all is knowing that life springs eternal.
Jill Howard Church lives in Fayette County. Reach her at jillptcblog@aol.com
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