The long weekend in May is the unofficial start to summer. And for those with a home garden or access to common areas, this is the weekend to dust off your garden tools and head to the garden center for the next planting season.
As the gardening season approaches, it's time to start asking questions about its origins.
Whether you're planting marigolds, creating a vegetable patch, or creating a bed for pollinators, all gardens have complex roots.
In fact, the practice of gardening is closely linked to colonialism - from the emergence of botany as a science to the dissemination of seeds, species, and knowledge.
In this episode of Don't Call Me Elastic, we explore the complex roots of the garden, including who goes there. We also discuss practical tips on farming, keeping indigenous knowledge in mind. We speak to researcher Jacqueline L. Scott and also to community activist Carolyn Crowley, who leads workshops that put Indigenous teachings into practice.
Tulips are desirable
Some of today's most popular plants, such as tulips, are the result of early colonial conquests. Originally found wild in the valleys where present-day China and Tibet meet Afghanistan and Russia, tulips were first cultivated in Istanbul as early as 1055.
Later, after being crossed and commercialized by the Dutch, they became coveted status symbols due to their beautiful but short-lived flowers.
The vegetation campaigns of the European colonial powers were an essential part of the empire's expansion. These trips fueled the big business of collecting plant specimens around the world and also gave rise to botany as a scientific discipline.
Botanical gardens served as laboratories
Botanical gardens played a major role, serving as laboratories where plant specimens were arranged, sorted, and named. Scientific Objectivism emphasized a Eurocentric perspective that disrupted and replaced indigenous knowledge and environmental practices.
The relocation and relocation of factories around the world went hand in hand with the movement of people to provide labor through slavery and forced labour.
The plantation system drained the local ecosystems and replaced traditional farming methods with crops such as sugar cane, tea, and cotton. These were products intended for European curiosity, markets, and profits, not for the local population.
Hierarchy of plants and genera
This colonial system of agricultural organization laid the foundation for a similar classification of people and established a social hierarchy that dehumanized non-Europeans, helped justify slavery and the genocide of indigenous peoples, and eventually led to the emergence of racial classes.
This history shaped our relationship to the land and our gardens today. It also conveys beliefs about land ownership and access to it; Who has the right to enjoy the land and who should work it? Who literally and figuratively has the space and freedom to work in the garden?
Change settings
But the earth is moving. There is a growing shift away from the colonial status symbol of manicured lawns and gardens toward pollinator-friendly native plants.
There is also a growing understanding that centuries-old land knowledge and practices, such as controlled burning, can help fight wildfires and promote more resilient landscapes.
As concerns grow about our climate crisis, one potential way to create more sustainable cities could lie in our own backyards.
Can we make a difference just by thinking a little differently about the seeds we plant and the “weeds” we remove?
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sources
Tiffany Travers on Seeds and Their Unlimited Power to Give, Heal, and Grow - National Observer of Canada
Plantation Colonization: Legacies of Racism and Slavery in Vegan Practice-- An Architectural Review
The Long Shadow of Colonial Science - Naima's Journal
Is it time to decolonize your garden? - Globe and mail
Turtle keepers in High Park in Toronto
Springtime with Vintage Khaki - Gardening is Loud
Excerpt from the archives - In Conversations
Read more: How to appreciate the Botanic Gardens' colonial past
Read more: Kew Science Director: It's time to decolonize plant populations
Read more: Shortage of native seeds is slowing recovery of American soils, which is crucial to combating climate change and species extinction
