Walking through my vegetable garden, I notice that my strawberries have vanished! I suspect mice. Still, mice need to eat. In compensation, my new raspberry canes are groaning with fruit. The rocket has flowered, my mistake, but in doing so has attracted ladybirds, so the beans are clear of greenfly. My experimental pak choi withered in the hot sun, but the heat has ripened the tomatoes early. For every problem, there is an opportunity. Nothing goes exactly right, but, in the end, everything goes right enough.
As gardeners we spend a lot of time observing the sun, the seasons, the soil and the cycles that life moves in. We attract wildlife to do the work of maintaining equilibrium. We encourage diversity. We begin by creating a rich soil. We work with the plants, finding them the conditions they need. Life wants to grow, and, through trial and error, it finds many different, quirky ways to do so in whatever conditions it finds.
This is also what it is like when humans get together to create something; a play, a piece of music, an experiment, a vaccine. We don’t start with a business plan and a structure chart. We start with a spark, a clue, and then mess around until something emerges.
