The Best Protection Against the Ring: A Small Garden
- Miriam Ellis
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
“The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.” - The Return of the King, Book 6, Chapter 1: The Tower of Cirith Ungol
The sense of guarding is philologically rooted in the word "garden" and Sam's humble wishes not only protect him from the self-aggrandizing lies of the Ring, but are met with the happy fairy-tale ending reward of what may be the best garden in all the Shire. There, at Bag End, in Sam's day. I think the grounds would have been a thing of sheer beauty.
If you climbed to the top of the mallorn in the Party Field and looked northwest towards the smial, this is my idea of what you would see. Thanks to hobbit skill with earthen works, Sam has further terraced the top of The Hill for improved drainage.
Using all the Gaffer's know-how, Samwise has planted a very large vegetable garden nearest the house, with a fruit orchard below it to feed his rapidly-growing family. Nearest the front door end of the smial, there is a rose garden for Rose to take her ease in, filled with roses like the kinds Sam saw at Tom and Goldberry's house. There are flower gardens and clover-filled lawns where his children can play. There are benches for resting and a pair of full-grown cypress trees echoing old Mr. Bilbo's dooryard topiaries.
Remember how the hobbits tore down the horrible mill following "The Scouring of the Shire" and used its bricks to make New Row cozier? I thought a few bricks might have been left over and here Sam has used them to create a warm sunken garden for the cultivation of some of the heat-loving herbs he saw in Gondor. I think Gamgee family stews will profit by his efforts and, being a devoted father, Sam is teaching his little son Frodo all he knows about tending the green world hobbits love.
All this week, everyone I've spoken to at smial meetings, work, and family chats has remarked that the weather is all wrong wherever they are in the country. Meanwhile, the promise of oil is used as a distressing excuse for domination. Where is protection to be found from all this? I think Samwise Gamgee knew. It is right in the wish for each person to have a small garden to care for. This relationship with the earth defies exploitation and could heal the climate if we had hobbit priorities.
This is a care on my part that brings me back to J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, again and again, and its one I hope to explore further with you in my forthcoming second book, A Shire Walking-Party, later in 2026.
In the meantime, if the weather and the news are frazzling your spirit, please spend a moment in the gardens at Bag End in Sam's day. I hope this video visit brings you recovery, escape, and consolation:
