[Herbalist] What's the logic of gardens?

[Una 'nyen Dougal]

> Its just weird thinking that gardens are relatively
> new yet agriculture
> goes way back...since in many ways they're the same
> thing.  And the
> development in different areas was different.

I replied to the wrong string! What I meant to address
was statements like the above. Gardens are NOT "new."

There is archaeological evidence for what we would
consider a "garden" at almost ever stage of human
civilisation from the time when our way-back ancestors
first said: "hey, this looks good, let's stay here a
while." From a non-nomadic standpoint, gardens and
farming (horticulture & agriculture - a distinction
which Farrar points out was made by the ancient Romans
who probably got it from the Greeks and Etruscans
before them...) make sense - if youdon't _have_ to
schlep yourself ten miles down the pike because you're
onthe move _anyway_, why not just relocate that plant
next to your house where you can keep an eye on it;
maybe put a little wall around the yard & make sure
the neighbor's sheep/pigs/goats/cows/children don't
get at it?

Sure, probably everybody on this list knows that some
of our "herbs" are extremely agressive and would
probably be happier taking over large plots of land -
mint and oregano come readily to mind, and some
western states ban herbs like woad - or at lest that's
what my catalogues tell me - due to an agressive
seeding habit and invasive roots &/or runners.
However, people like yours truly who live in cities
and haven't really got access to huge tracts of land
must make due with potting up some of these
expansionist little buggers and trying to makedue that
way. According to Farrar (Ancient Roman Gardens) -
this predicament isn't new either: as long as there
have been _cities_ there have been gardeners trying to
get by with container gardens too.

Slainte'
Una

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