Brilliant.

Was it an organic, pesticide-free garden? Would it have been such a neat and orderly garden if it was? Would you have turned out differently if the rows had been crooked and it were deemed better to have a few carbon-building weeds grow between the rows than have the garden constantly release CO2 to the atmosphere due to constant tilling?

Is the style of garden rows indicative of personality and culture? Early settlers in the Great Lakes region noted how the Native fields were disorderly, with corn not planted in neat rows and columns. But the Native women who tilled them (with occasional help from the men for some of the chores) found them to be important places for socializing — gossip, community-building, raising children, etc.

In late May I can tell an Amish cornfield from an “English” one, because the Amish rows aren’t as straight. One can’t hold horses on a straight line up and down slight rises the way one can do with a tractor. But the Amish are a very family- and neighbor-oriented society. Do crooked rows necessarily mean a more communal society?

These are things that would probably be best discussed, not here in this blog, but while we worked together on adjoining gardens. Alas, I live out in the country and our neighbors don’t have gardens. I commune instead with audiobooks and language lessons while spading, planting, or hoeing.

Very much enjoyed your post. City girl, here. It meant a lot to me.