As a lover of gardening, including weeding, I don’t agree that “it’s one of those hated chores, so it makes sense to have a robot do it,” as Tertill chief executive Helen Greiner puts it (“Getting in the weeds with robots,” Business, May 9). Weeding has both immediate and profound messages: It’s great exercise for fingers and hands, and also for those of us who don’t go to the gym but who find squats beneficial to our quads and hamstrings.
Weeding gets one closer to the varied wonders of nature, from dirt to daffodils. It encourages getting to the root of problems, not just chopping off what’s shown on the surface. It requires a nuanced and educated approach to distinguishing bad (tiny weeds) from good (future flowers). And it demonstrates that hard work is essential to creating beauty.
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Part of celebrating the glories of my flower bed is to remember the loving labor that went into it.
Jack Wofford
Cambridge
