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Published on 10/21/04

Where do candidates stand in the garden?

By Wayne J. McLaurin
University of Georgia

For the past two years I've heard nothing but candidates voicing opinions, special interest groups being interviewed and the women or men on the street giving their opinions. This is well and good, but it doesn't get me very excited about the issues.

The issues I worry about may be different from others'.

I used to hear some candidates mention big agriculture, but even that has vanished lately. And I've never heard anyone saying they would make it a priority in their administration to control early blight on tomatoes.

Where is the gardener vote? Are we the real silent majority?

That can't be. As anyone can attest, gardeners are never silent. You just have to hit the right button to get them started. Just ask us, "How do you get that to grow?" And you can't shut us up.

Don't we deserve to know if any of these so-called national candidates can even grow a tomato, much less keep an African violet blooming? Where's the fig vote? (As if I care a fig.)

Who can you trust?

The last candidate I can remember doing any kind of gardening was Ike, and he just dug up the turf playing golf.

Do you trust anyone who doesn't get out in nature and commune with okra? Do they not have a soul for peppers? Have they never longed to harvest new potatoes and cook them up with parsley butter?

Maybe they're just too busy going about their business. However, if they're too busy for gardening, well, they're just too busy. Period.

Where would we gardeners be without that time communing with vegetables, fruits and flowers? Most of us would be lost or worse.

Oh, yeah, I'm going to go vote. It's my duty as an American gardener. But I surely would like to know where the candidates stand -- in the furrow or on top of the row?

(Wayne McLaurin is a professor emeritus of horticulture with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)

Wayne McLaurin is a professor emeritus of horticulture with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Experts/Sources:
Wayne J. McLaurin
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