For the Love of Gardening

There’s a gardening boom during the coronavirus epidemic. With the disappearance of other intimate encounters, the prospect of plunging our hands in the soil has gained extraordinary appeal.  Is this impulse to work in the garden really about food, or is it a response to even more fundamental needs?  Gardening provides the possibility of immersing our bodies in the physical world, requiring us to use our muscles and hands and backs, and it activates senses left dormant by screens: smell, touch, and taste.