The Environment We Grow In

06.16.26

Hello everyone and happy summer! I have recently become more active in the garden again, especially now that it is summer and I have more free time, which has not been the case for far too long!

With all the research and writing I have done about gardening through this blog, I have become fully aware of the fact that gardening is a slow process and does not always succeed. In my personal garden, I can 100% say that this is a true statement. For example, this summer my cucumbers are doing great! Without much effort, they are sprouting amazingly, and the same goes for my tomatoes and jalapeños (which I have already plucked and added to my breakfast meals). On the other hand, I haven’t seen any sign of my carrots or onions since I planted the seeds! Being out there in the garden again reminded me of the failed olive tree my mom and I tried to plant a couple of years ago.

My sad, unhappy olive tree

We did all the research and bought all of the resources we thought we needed to save the tree, but nothing worked. Olive trees need a specific climate to flourish, and the one it was placed in was not sustainable enough for it to survive. This did not really make much sense to me at the time, and I questioned my mom about what we did wrong. “We gave it everything we should have. Why did it not work?” I pleaded.

Thinking back to that moment, we truly did everything we could to make the plant grow, but it just couldn’t grow in its environment. It was in a natural clay environment that didn’t get enough sun or nutrients for the tree to grow and thrive. In a way, I think humans are similar.

The concept of nature vs. nurture has been a long-standing debate in psychology about whether human behavior and traits are determined by biology and genetics (nature) or by life experiences and environment (nurture), but psychologists have recently stated that your environment plays a major role in your well-being.

In my psychology class, we learned about the diathesis-stress model, which connects to this scenario. The diathesis-stress model is a theory that states that a predisposition is a factor that makes it more likely that an individual will develop a disorder following a stressful life event. This can be a biological or situational/environmental factor, such as experiencing something traumatic early in life or living in a low-income household. Connecting back to my olive tree, the genetics, or nature, of the olive tree set it up for success. Olive trees have strong and resilient genetics, being able to live for thousands of years and having the ability to regenerate their roots after severe damage. But despite this, the environment I planted it in was the true decider of whether or not it would fully grow. Similarly, the environment someone is placed in shapes the outcome of their abilities and success. The scientific term Person-Environment Fit describes the compatibility between someone’s personal characteristics, such as their goals and personality, and the properties of their environment. When there is higher alignment, there is greater satisfaction.

Looking back, I realize that the olive tree’s death was not a failure; rather, it was planted in conditions that would not allow it to flourish. With humans, people often assume that struggling individuals lack the motivation or intelligence to make a change when, in reality, what if it is their environment that is holding them back? What if we need the same healing nutrients or support around us for someone to thrive?