Gardening Gurus Spill the Dirt

Gardening for life. Wise pros on how to plant without getting lost in the weeds. Plus, Meryl Streep to the class of 2010.

It’s planting time in the garden — a time of seed and hoe, root ball and water can.

We shape our gardens, and our gardens shape us. These days, more Americans are planting vegetable patches to put extra food on the table.

But gardens, broadly defined, live on a longer scale, too. The perennials that may pre-date the kids; the lilac that’s grown out of control.

Some years we have plenty of time and space and energy to be in the dirt, and loving it.  Some years we don’t.

This Hour, On Point: gardening for life, and gardens as mirrors of our lives. We dig in. Plus, we listen to Meryl Streep addressing the class of 2010.

Guests:

Sydney Eddison, author of "Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older." You can read an excerpt.

Elizabeth Licata , editor of Buffalo Spree magazine. She writes for the blog "Garden Rant." She's also an organizer of Garden Walk Buffalo, a collection of 300 home gardens open for free tours.

Closing Segment:

In our continuing college graduation season series, we listen to another excerpt from a 2010 commencement address. On Monday, actress Meryl Streep addressed the 600 graduates of Barnard College, the women’s college in New York affiliated with Columbia University. Streep talked about being “an expert in pretending to be an expert." You can watch her full address: