Tovah Martin

There is, as yet, no cure for covid-19, but there is a cure for the spiritual malaise that months of quarantine, financial worry and fear of infection have engendered. And, best of all, it is located no farther away than our own yards.

“Gardening is a much deeper experience than we ever thought before,” says garden expert Tovah Martin of Roxbury. “Covid-19 has made us really appreciate our spaces. We have suddenly been forced to focus on our little domains, to notice the minutiae, to think about what we want them to be.”

Martin, author of many magazine articles and books on gardening, two years ago penned her latest book, the Gold Medal award-winning The Garden in Every Sense and Season, an almost prescient look at what working with Mother Nature can do for our own happiness.

“I think a lot of us, because we have been forced to spend more time in our homes, are really beginning to notice things around us, to be more linked to the natural progression of the seasons.”

She said those in Litchfield County are fortunate to have space around them and the ability to sink their hands into the earth to nurture new life. “Being here, having time to look and really see, going outside and feeling the sun on your skin—it turns (social distancing) into a positive. “That’s the beauty of gardening,” she continued. “Everything you do pays you back. The little gesture of putting that tiny, little seed in the ground—we’re all desperate for positives, for something that will be meaningful. The more you link with nature, the better.”

Social distancing has given Martin a chance to follow her own advice. In the introduction to The Garden in Every Sense and Season she writes, “So often (gardening) is like a tsunami and we are caught up in its rush until we drown. … We tend to forget that the garden is a very close, personal relationship and we don’t stroke it enough. I was that person. I was the weed warrior with the gimlet eye focused solely on stray chickweed and opportunistic witch grass. I was blind and I was deaf.”

Now, more than ever, she is becoming “mindful” of her garden. “I’m always monitoring,” she said. “One of my favorite things to do is go out at noon and hear what I call the ‘daily buzz.’ It’s amazing what you can learn. I’ll find out that a certain wasp works on just one flower and that another flower in the same species attracts different wasps. I get to see what time of day they work on things, and the way different times of day affect the odor from different plants. In observing your garden, you’re learning about the bigger world. This is such a sterling opportunity for parents to go out and explore with their kids.”

Martin’s gardens are always evolving. “I always come home from visits to other gardens with ideas that I translate to my own property. More and more, I’m claiming territory, taking out lawn and putting in plants, berries, vegetables, meadow. … I’m always trying to do things, editing it.”

And she likes to think of it as a gift to her neighborhood. “My garden goes right up to the street. I on-purpose gardened in front—it’s a handshake, my dialogue, with the neighborhood. It’s meant for the appreciation of all the people who walk their dogs by. I think about that when I work on it.

The Garden in Every Sense and Season takes readers through the year in 100 meditative essays. Now, she says, is the time to do the things that linked her to Nature in such a positive way.

“You might take time to learn about bird songs,” she suggested. “While the kids are home, plant that tree. Maybe in future years, they will remember that this was the year that you planted it. Any pansy you stick in the ground will be fulfilling on many levels. Every little thing you do will have an impact on nature—and what you are doing helps other creatures through their stresses.”

”The Garden in Every Sense and Season goes through the garden sense by sense, plugging in what I’m learning,” she said. “That’s my big, huge, pay-off. I learned I can do thus-and-so to serve birds and bugs and be a better steward of the world. In so many ways the berries I grow sustain the birds over the winter. Every tree I plant—when the first branch can support a bird, or a nest in the crotch of limb, it explodes my sense of worth. It really feels good, and we can do all these things and do a lot for creatures a lot smaller than us.”

Not everyone is a horticultural expert like Tovah Martin but she argues that a garden is not a competition. “You can always find something to do—that’s the beauty of a garden. It needs you. It’s all about caring and taking care of. Your garden doesn’t have to be gorgeous—it’s not your neighbor’s garden, it’s yours."

Those interested in following her schedule and activities can go to her website (link below) or her Facebook page.