Reflections of a Year in Quarantine

Reflections of a year in quarantine. It’s been one year. One long year of quarantine. A year ago, the news was grim. The world around us was shutting down. Uncertainty was rampant. Offices were closed. Events were cancelled. Restaurants were shuttered. Schools were shut down. And the governor kept issuing executive orders shutting more stuff down.

Like everyone else, we were worried. But, March has always been a busy time for us, so we turned in earnest to our garden. It was all we had. As it turns out, gardening is what got us through the year. By the time everything was closed, we had already made the decision to quarantine. We had our seeds. And our bulbs. We had our projects. And our gardens. With all this stuff, we felt we could do it. And, we did.

Benefits of Gardening

Google “the benefits of gardening” and you’ll get a bunch of hits extoling the virtues of getting your hands dirty. Reduce stress. Strengthen your heart. Fight disease. Stay happy. Stay healthy…the list goes on.

We didn’t have any of these things in mind when we first started gardening. Remember, growing things has always fascinated the madman . And, I grew up on a small farm. When we moved into our house, it just seemed natural that we would garden. A vegetable garden for food. A flower garden for beauty. An herb garden for seasonings and teas. Back then, the madman was in charge of vegetables. I was responsible for flowers and herbs.

Relaxation

Our gardens were our relaxation. We came home from work, changed and headed outside. There was something calming about getting out there with those plants. It seems it doesn’t work just for the madman. Studies show that gardening reduces cortisol levels. Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone. The more stress, the more cortisol. In fact, just strolling through a garden has calming effects. That’s why hospitals and nursing homes have incorporated gardens in their exterior landscaping.

 Over the years, we began to look forward to coffee strolls through the beds. It seems that no matter what was bothering us dissipated as the stroll progressed. Back then, we didn‘t know or care about cortisol levels. But, in 2020, there was plenty of cortisol to go around. So it appears that without knowing it, we were actually helping ourselves.

Exercise

Another benefit of gardening is exercise. The CDC lists gardening as a moderate impact physical exercise. We had plenty of that over the past year. In March, we set out to tackle the new Moon Garden. Remember, this is gardening in Connecticut. No patch is without unwanted rocks or plants. Before we covered the ground with cardboard and mulch to create the new bed, we had to get rid of a few things. The holly bushes we had planted on purpose. But, the wisteria was an escapee that we tolerated because it was so pretty in bloom. Not sure where the bittersweet came from, but the madman vehemently denies planting it – since it is so invasive, I tend to believe him. And the rocks, as we said it’s Connecticut. Halfway through the bed preparation, we began to question the “moderate” exercise bit. Our muscles were seriously screaming.

Beyond preparing a new bed, gardening has always been good exercise for us. 2020 was no different. By the end of April, it was official – but, to paraphrase Gary Oppenheimer, founder of AmpleHarvest.org, “gardening was not cancelled.” We still had bed preparation, planting, weeding and, oh yes, watering. Remember last summer? It didn’t rain, but the Row of Death didn’t care. Nor did anything else. These plants needed water. Every day, we would haul gallons out to the most demanding plants. Admittedly, we missed some of them for fear of running the well dry. But, we and the plants did our best.

Fresh Produce

We burned off a lot of calories, but our plants showed their appreciation by feeding us. In fact, we are still eating stored beets, potatoes, onions and carrots as well as frozen tomatoes, peppers and beans. Too bad the drought slowed production of the berries: they would taste so good now. But, the madman did learn the value of irrigation, and, as I’ve said before, he’s working on strategies to improve our irrigation system for 2021.

As last summer went on, I noticed the madman humming a tune as he lugged water. Strange, I thought, that’s work and he usually hates work. Somehow we both seemed to be in pretty good moods despite our quarantine. According to the National Institute of Health, gardening does improve one’s mood.

Happy Pill

We could thank serotonin for our good moods. Serotonin, sometimes referred to as the happy hormone, triggers a function in our brain that controls mood. Research has shown that an increase in the brain level of this neurotransmitter is equated with a good mood. But, no one can go buy a serotonin pill, so where does it come from? Your body must make its own. Exposure to sunlight and exercise stimulate our bodies to produce this happy chemical. Gardening, right? We’re outside. We’re working. But also, science has shown that contact with Mycobacterium vaccae, an organism living in the soil, also triggers the release of serotonin. How could we go wrong? Our garden was our happy pill.

As much as we missed our family, our friends and the outside world, we listened to health experts and stayed home. Although we had no human visitors, we were not alone. We had our friends, the wildlife. And, in March nature was beginning to wake up (no offense to our winter visitors).

Visitors

The bees were the first to come. Much to our surprise, honeybees showed up in great numbers at our birdfeeder. It seems the weather was warm enough for them to venture out of the hive looking for food. But, as more flowers opened up, they lost interest in the feeder and spent the rest of the summer gathering pollen in the garden, where they were eventually joined by native bees and insects.

Before long, the migrating birds started to show up. The Cowbird. The Red-wing Blackbirds. The Grosbeak. And, by May 1, we saw our first Ruby-throated Hummingbird. As the weather warmed up, woodland animals, frogs and toads became more active. At the risk of sounding hokey, we woke to the sounds of nature outside our window. As we worked outside we were accompanied by the whirring, buzzing, humming and tweeting sounds of nature. And, in the evenings, we were entertained by the comings and goings of nature as the stars came out.

Others, too

We were not alone. All across the country, people turned to some sort of gardening. Seeds were the new toilet paper and seedlings were selling like hot cakes. Whether to fight food insecurity, alleviate boredom or escape ZOOM meetings, people turned to the reality of gardening. Research shows this trend will continue. In fact, we are seeing certain varieties of seeds are difficult to find.

A study from Griffin Greenhouse Supplies found that 80% of new gardeners will probably continue to garden in 2021. By region, this number drops to 78% in the Northeast. But the madman says, remember the drought? Around here new gardeners had it tough in 2020. 2020 was one of those years, everything was tough.

As Petra Mayer said in National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Saturday on May 9, 2020, “I might not be able to control the news, the weather, or whatever my sourdough starter is doing in that jar – but I can press a tiny radish seed into the dirt, give it food and water and watch it grow.”

We hope everyone will continue to garden in 2021; we know we will.

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” – Margaret Atwood

But, now it’s time for hot chocolate.