Cathie Draine: Great thinkers might inspire great gardening

By Cathie Draine, Journal columnist | Thursday, August 30, 2007

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Cooling nights encourage me to think of autumn garden parties -- harvest gatherings, garden potlucks featuring a thousand ways to cook zucchini -- and the annual exercise of discussing the gardening year.

This year, just for fun, I am hosting the Greek philosopher and natural scientist Aristotle, the English medieval philosopher William of Occam (Ockham), and a man regarded by many as one of the most creative thinkers of the 21st century, Edward De Bono, M.D., Ph.D., born in Malta.

We gather to discuss ways of observing and responding to perceived problems in the garden. We discuss the consequences of complication and review the efficiency of simple strategies. As hostess, I am looking for common threads in my guests' thinking and experience that might be beneficial models for contemporary gardeners. Thus, my treatment of finer philosophical points might be slightly superficial. But in the interest of great thought and common threads, here goes:

Cathie: Welcome gentlemen and thank you. At this time in western South Dakota, we gardeners face 21st century challenges that invite your experience and comment. Aristotle, you are our most venerable guest, born in 384 B.C. How might your life and experience be a model for us today?

Aristotle: I was the first to have organized cooperative scientific research, and I created the fields of embryology and zoology, and began the field of botany. I was consumed by my interest in the natural world. You may know that I spent my honeymoon examining seashells along the shore. While I don't apologize for my interest in lowly life forms, I did say, "In all natural objects there lies some marvel, and if anyone despises the contemplation of the lower animals, he must despise himself."

Cathie: By that, I would assume that your message is that all life forms in the garden, for example, are marvelous and worthy of interest and understanding -- including, specifically, microscopic life in the soil and insects as well as the plants.

I know that one of your most famous educational settings was the "Peripatetic School," where students and teachers learned and discussed while wandering through the grounds. How might that apply to our gardeners?

Aristotle: It seems to me that observation, familiarity and awareness are the necessary settings for conclusion and action -- especially in the garden. If you garden, know the garden and all life forms in it.

Cathie: Thank you. Our next guest is English medieval philosopher, William of Occam, a Franciscan monk who lived from 1285 to 1349. You are best known in these times for your logical principle, Occam's razor. That fine thought has been taken and expanded by mathematicians, physicists and the medical community, but how might it apply to the garden?

William: I think it is best understood now as the principle of parsimony, meaning that an explanation (or understanding) requires the fewest assumptions. This is often restated as "the simplest solution tends to be the right one."

Cathie: Thinking simply seems "too simple" for many people. There is the common perception that if an action is not complicated and attended by myriad consequences, it is without value.

William: My response is this: "Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate: Do not assume more variables than necessary." Keep it simple.

Cathie: And the razor of Occam's razor - what is that?

William: That is the sharpness of thinking that pares away irrelevant thought. It brings to mind Aristotle's comment: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

Cathie: Then, if one practices Aristotle's observation and awareness to be familiar with the garden, that understanding might function as a gardener's "razor" to develop the simplest strategies in the garden.

Let's include Edward De Bono in our conversation. You've written 62 books, with translations into 37 languages. With a background in medicine, psychology and philosophy, you are known as the leading authority in the world in the field of creative thinking. Your book in 1967, "Lateral Thinking," is understood by most of us as "thinking outside of the box." We gardeners often find that our thinking is done for us by the manufacturers and promoters of garden products. Trying to understand our own situation and make good decisions is often difficult.

Dr. De Bono: "Dealing with complexity is an inefficient and unnecessary waste of time, attention and mental energy. There is never any justification for things being complex when they could be simple."

Cathie: As I said, many gardeners feel old, simple methods of gardening just don't have a place now.

Dr. De Bono: "In the future, instead of striving to be right at a high cost, it will be more appropriate to be flexible ... at a lower cost. If you cannot accurately predict the future then you must flexibly be prepared to deal with various possible futures."

Cathie: For gardeners, the "high cost" you speak of could include lack of water, impoverished soil and chemically-resistant plant disease. Does that mean we might need to change our definition of "problem?"

Dr. De Bono: "Sometimes, the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists."

Cathie: Thank you all. Here is what I have learned for the garden: awareness and education precedes action. Simple systems work; avoid actions with complex consequences. The efficiency or effectiveness of an action is directly and simply related to the situation being addressed.

In a future column, we'll discuss some of these "simple systems and strategies." Here's a hint: those teachers were our parents, grandparents and neighbors. They may or may not have known of Aristotle, Occam or De Bono, but they recognized a great thought and an efficient action when they saw it.

Cathie Draine is a member of the South Dakota State University Co-operative Extension Master Gardeners and the Garden Writers' Association. She lives and gardens in Black Hawk. She may be contacted at cathiedraine@rap.midco.net.