August 28, 2008
Second Nature, A Gardener's Education by Michael Pollan (1991)
Michael Pollan’s Second Nature has been called one of the best books on cultivating the soil, and not only because of its practical tips, facts, and ideas about gardening.
To begin, Pollan describes two gardens, his grandfather’s and his own first attempt: “Both of these gardens have had a lot to teach me, and not only, as it turned out, about gardening. For I soon came to the realization that I would not learn to garden very well before I’d also learned about a few other things: about my proper place in nature (was I within my rights to murder the woodchuck that had been sacking my vegetable garden all spring?); about the somewhat peculiar attitudes toward the land that an American is born with (why is it the neighbors have taken such a keen interest in the state of my lawn?); about the troubled borders between nature and culture; and about the experience of place, the moral implications of landscape design, and several other questions that the wish to harvest a few decent tomatoes had not prepared me for.”
Pollan’s early experiences in Grandpa’s very structured garden led him to create his own when, as an adult, he left the city; it was his desire to yank up a handful of carrots and bring tubers to the table. In “Nature Abhors a Garden,” Pollan meets (and mostly defeats) a persistent woodchuck. The chapter “Why Mow?” tells us that Americans spend over $30 billion per year to keep their lawns pest and weed free and trimmed to crew-cut perfection. Most neighbors will only tolerate a messy lawn for so long; even Jay Gatsby sends his gardener to mow Nick Carraway’s lawn when it is “not up to West Egg standards.” Why? Ultimately the American values of freedom, expansion, and inclusion translate into a largely fence-free landscape that is unlike that of Europe, which is characterized by walls. Our grassy plots stretch from Connecticut to the desert west, unimpeded by borders.
Until I read Pollan’s chapter on roses, my knowledge and appreciation of them was limited. Pollan’s history of rose cultivation was fascinating and informative, another lesson in international history and culture. I was relieved to be able to toss aside the roses I disdain (modern long-stem floral wonders) and embrace the roses I could come to love, the old roses of Vita Sackville-West’s English countryside. Other topics in this section devoted to summer are developing a green thumb and battling weeds.
Turning to fall, Pollan focuses on harvest, the potential for early fall frosts to lay claim to those heavy-hanging tomatoes, and the amazing way perennials begin to shift their attentions inward while annuals “throw themselves at the thinning sun, open-armed and ingenuous.” In “Planting a Tree” Pollan describes the historical and cultural relationships humans have had with trees as he contemplates which of his own to plant. This is one of the most beautiful, profound chapters of the book. In “The Idea of a Garden” Pollan narrates the struggle his town faces in deciding what to do after a tornado flattens Cathedral Pines, an old-growth forest of white pines. The debate brings the questions of our place in nature and our attitude about beauty to the forefront as the townspeople consider (sometimes not too politely) whether to reforest the area or let it decay at the center of town.
Finally, as winter arrives, Pollan buries us in seed catalogs. A totally guilty pleasure, this chapter! Closing the book is Pollan’s garden tour, a mini history of his own experiences.
If you want a step-by-step manual on how to keep black spot off the roses, run, run like the wind, and get out your Rodale’s. We all need the Rodale’s for something. But, for a real gift to the gardener you love or for yourself, pick up Second Nature.—MV
