In a society without a thick conception of the good, musn’t happiness always flux in response to whatever the context is. So gardening will soon depart, will it not, since it is understood only instrumentally and not as partly constitutive of the happy life.

Plato in the Republic suggests that the democratic soul is, above all, inconstant in its activities and loves. So too on this.

On the other hand, should things stay bad for long enough, it just might lead to the revival of a culture based in virtue.

It seems to me the dividing line between these two outcomes runs along the path identified in the last quoted paragraph:

One must see a vaster and even more nefarious story of concerted and ferocious efforts to weaken and undermine persistent forms of local culture, whether by dint of official policies that promoted mobility and encouraged indebtedness and gluttony, or more often by the subtle and nearly irresistible seductions of commerce that ultimately demolished every persistence of virtue in its path.

I suspect that most of these new gardeners are purchasing their seeds from Monsanto or Dow, through one of their wholly-owned seed wholesalers. It is generally impossible to tell the provenance of seeds unless the retailer divulges that information, and most do not. So, oddly enough, this bubble of interest in gardening supports the very sort of organizations of seductive commerce that ultimately demolished every persistence of virtue…..

Yet, also oddly enough, one of the gardeners quoted in the WP article is saving seeds:

Frandano in Falls Church has become so canny and thrifty a gardener that he repots tomato seedlings that otherwise would be plucked to make room for others, and harvests seeds from store-bought peppers for garden plants. “I have beans ready to go” from those he saved from last year’s crop, and he intends to allow some beans to ripen on the vine this season to sow for a fall crop. “We’ll eat beans all year long,” he said.

Saving seeds from store-bought produce doesn’t usually work very well (store-bought = hybrid = doesn’t generally reproduce to type, if it reproduces at all). But there is something virtuous about allowing the natural process of plant reproduction to take place, and saving a portion of the harvest for seeds for the next season.

Perhaps virtue is making a comeback. One can always hope….