I got a note the other day from Jennifer Beaver, who writes the "Garden Variety" column for the Signal Tribune Newspaper in Southern California. Jennifer sent me her Garden Trends for 2010, in response to my post about the Best and Worst of the last decade. I got a good laugh during the introduction, where Jennifer talks about the renewed popularity of gardening and how this humble hobby has "...suddenly become fodder for cocktail chatter... I was holding forth on composting at a recent birthday party and people were actually peppering me with questions. This never happened when I wrote about IT and data processing."
I've had similar experiences. People who viewed my hobby as somewhat less than indulging in the arts or collecting antiques are now pulling me aside for advice on plant stakes and leaf spot.
Has the increased interest in home gardening turned you into the Go To Expert on all things leafy? Do ears perk when they find out you're a gardener? Or do you find yourself being lectured to by gardening newbies who fancy themselves experts already? Either way, isn't it nice to be able to talk about gardening at parties?
Photo: Mark Wilson / Getty Images News
Comments
Must agree. Daughter and son, nephews and nieces, one of the grandkids and a few of the neighbours. The beauty is that they have some idea about the basics; and having sites such as yours to direct them to. The oldies round here, I’m only 60, tend to forget, between the chat and the home but can remember computer addresses ( for some reason, as if life itself depends on it).
I’m not anywhere close to an expert, but love to garden, so I have lots of plants and know a little. I’ve had neighbors ask me lots of questions and make me feel SO smart!
I’ll bet as more people start gardening in their front yards, there will be more neighbors stopping by with questions. I do hope this trend continues.
Boy Tabsey, you must fell like the wise tribal elder with all those younger family members coming to you for advise. How nice!
For several years, co-workers have been coming to me with their gardening questions, both flowers and vegetables as I do both. I am pretty much self taught by reading books, newspaper articles, web sites, magazines, etc. The great thing about this is, if someone asks me a question to which I do not know the answer, it causes me to look it up, and thereby learn in the process. I always tell them I don’t know everything (who ever does?), but it is amazing the knowledge that can be gleaned from experience, trial and error, and research over the years.
Hi Marie,
Are you kidding me? When people find out I’m a garden designer, they are all over me with questions! I love it.
Sure, there are plenty of people who recognize me from my Garden Police show or HGTV, but even the ones who don’t think my job is pretty cool.
I think garden designer ranks up their with plastic surgeon for popularity at a cocktail party!
People like to be inspired and sometimes they just need a little direction and they go off with their own muse.
Shirley Bovshow
Garden World Report Show
absolutely! since our friends have started buying homes i am constantly asked for advice and in fact have now started my own small business!
“The great thing about this is, if someone asks me a question to which I do not know the answer, it causes me to look it up, and thereby learn in the process.” Donna, that’s a great attitude.
When someone’s annoyed that I don’t have an answer, I like to tell them that I used to know everything, but they keep adding stuff and I’ve been too busy to catch up.
I live in a deer infested area and the question always comes up about how I can have such a large garden without my flowers becoming breakfast , lunch and dinner. I have become the “Go to” person for deer resistant plants and for the not so deer resistant plants, I advise on not so conspicuous netting.
Shirley, competing with plastic surgeons for popularity – I can tell you live in LA.
When I was a computer programmer, I was constantly asked questions about what was wrong with people’s computers. Gardening is a lot more fun.
I get questions all the time from friends needing a little gardening help and I love it! Like Donna, if I don’t know an answer (which happens often) I go look it up and learn at the same time. I took the Master Gardener training in my state thinking that I’d be sooooo smart when I was done. Did I learn? You bet! However, the most important thing I learned is that I’ll never know all the answers. How fun it is keep learning, trying new things and experimenting. Success and failure, the best teacher of all!
It was in a class at church that gardening came up as we discussed ways to help people in the community. I confessed that I no longer till my gardens. Heavy mulch and worms do my weeding and tilling. A lady was astounded that this worked so well. She’s considering doing it this year. She was very excited at the prospects.
My passion for gardening lead to an obsession for gardening knowledge. The most rewarding part of gardening for me is sharing plants and how to ‘grow’ excellence in the garden by helping others become successful gardeners which I do through a volunteer program. At my last gardening class people were jotting down my every word as if I were sprinkling magical fairy dust. Wonderful to experience peoples excitement to learn and chat about how to ‘grow’ in their gardens. Now I spend as much time on internet research as I do tending my garden.
I’ve been gardening my whole life because our family owned a commercial nursery, but I did not have time to devote to the Master Gardener training (Kansas State University) until 2006. Now everyone thinks I should know everything about everything. (I make my living doing editorial, design, and proofreading work.) The Master Gardener courses prepare us to *find the answers* to about any question we get, but we don’t remember it all! It’s great fun, though, and a good way to meet new people of a kindred spirit.
Hi Marie and All!
After selling my home I moved to a condo complex. the gardens were filled with rocks and the place looked horrible! After actually being employed to
clean and maintain condo’s I asked to do something with the abandoned garden situation. I read all the info I could and planned out a seasonal design and had the main entrances built up with raised brick gardens. After three years now, what a change in curb appeal. Residents are so pleased and
have sent me flowers in thanks for a great job. Boy that made me feel great! Keep thinking such a lot of work, but keep planning what I can do to improve every new season. When I go to the nursery to purchase plants, often people will come up to me and ask my advise, or where can they find a certain plant. I say I don’t work here, they say well you look like you know what you are doing, so just tell them were the plants are located. I think I do have a gift for it and love such feedback from people.
One thing I’ve learned is that perennials take a lot
of TLC too and people aren’t aware they need cutting
prunning to look their best. The pool looks so inviting with beautiful container pots. It all makes people happy and lifts their spirits. Thank God I can do something like that for good cheer.
God Bless You All,
Happy in the dirt gal.
Marie,
I do get my share of gardening questions! Also, when I provide flower arrangements for church and such I get statements like “I can’t believe you still have something blooming.”
I fell into conversation with a lady at a hardware and gardening store. She was really picking my brain. When we walked to our cars I found that she now lives in my home county and now lives 5 blocks from me!
I love the Gardening site and forum because they are a great place for people to get information. The “box” stores don’t provide info the way the local family-owned nursery would.
Once folks know you are an avid gardener, it’s hard to avoid the questions (not that I would want to) — and newbies are usually so nervous they don’t challenge your accumulated knowledge (especially if they have already had a number of failures). The challenge is to impart just the right amount of information so their eyes don’t glaze over!
Great to see so many Master Gardeners here and to hear that so many of you are volunteering or working in a garden related field. I think gardeners are so friendly with each other because sooner or later we’re all going to face the same battles. We might as well pool our information.
It’s funny how you can’t talk about gardening without deer coming into the conversation. And low maintenance tips will make you popular anywhere. Kathleen’s comment, “Keep thinking such a lot of work, but keep planning what I can do to improve every new season.” made me laugh in recognition.
I think we’d all have to agree with Gardeners Detective, the internet has become a wonderful tool for finding gardening information. Although I still love my books. And as Catlady3 said, a knowledgeable nursery is always a find.
Yes, people are always asking my advice on both design and plant selection and care! I work at a hardware store with a garden center, and both managers want me to go look at their gardens in the spring to get my opinion and advice. Seems as if, as soon as anyone knows you’ve taken the Master Gardener Core Course, they all have tons of questions. I don’t mind at all passing on the knowledge I’ve gained over the years.
Ditto to many of the experiences related above!
I was born in 1958 of parents born in 1911 + 1915. We composted + grew a few veggies in our yard in NJ, which was decent-sized, but prone to trees by climate, as well as my father’s reluctance to fell any trees on the property. There were orchards, farms, dairies, and poultry to be found easily in our town or just a few towns over. The local ice cream was scrumptious!
I’ve gardened at almost every place I’ve ever lived, first for veggies, then herbs, then for wildlife. And I got around to reading dozens of books, mostly from Rodale Press, and a few botanical texts, as well. And found a couple of other garden nerd pals along the way.
I’ve lived in Columbia MO, a Mecca of diversity with Mizzou and 2 other colleges, for a couple of decades now. We have both a city + county farmers’ market. We have the likes of Tony Bennett, the Stones, or well-regarded international ballet corps perform in our small city, as well as many talented homegrown artists and musicians. And we have gourmands. And gardeners.
We have 2 brewery-restaurants now, the first having opened in 1994 + the other last year. The older one uses local meats and ice cream and grows local pumpkins for its annual Halloween Pumpkin Ale.
The new brewery has a menu of 90% local foods. It is next door to a local grocery with the same ownership which opened several years ago. It was not the first organic store in the area, but it was the first to stress locally produced foods.
We are up to around 20 community gardens now. We still have gaps in our city. There are neighborhoods which do not currently have gardens available close to them. The garden I have a plot in was established in 2006. We have both folks who have had plots from the first season and others who have come and gone. There is NEVER enough sharing of information. We have gardeners whose experience is vast. We have novices. We have families with kids. It’s really exciting to see the younger generations rediscovering the food chain!
Certainly, our veteran gardeners are in constant demand during the growing season. There is definitely a thirst for knowledge now. People have seen HGTV and Planet Green. They’ve decided to try getting away from junk food + to get more exercise. They’ve caught the bug! And it’s really quite rewarding to see the newbies’ faces when they bite into a fresh tomato, strawberry, or green bean!
Viva compost! Viva mulch! May 2010 bring the best of sun + rain to your garden!
Liz, community gardens are such great places to soak up gardening knowledge. You get people from lots of different cultures who grow vegetables you wouldn’t necessarily think of and, if you’re luck, you get to work with the old timers who gardened before there was a garden industry.
I have a fair amount of space, but I was considering taking a plot anyway. I didn’t, because there were so many people without yards who wanted plots, but I keep eyeing them.
I was actually in the process of writing a blog similar to this.. you are definitely correct. Gardening has been something i’ve begun to really take interest in in the past years..and being me, i talk about everything i do…so gardeining was a frequent topic that came to mind, but it was only recently that its caught the interest of friends..and that is definitely nice..
Yes, I’ve become a “go-to” person and my blog has attracted more readers as gardening has become trendy. My neighbors ask about my composter and my rain barrel, which I’ve had for years. I’m happy to see more people interested in building organic and sustainable habits; I hope it lasts beyond the current economic trend.
Alexander and Daisy, it’s nice to hear you’re taking advantage of your ‘popularity’ by passing along your organic knowledge. I recently read that there will be even more new vegetable gardeners this year, so we’ll all be busy.
Daisy, I love your moniker, “compostermom”, and your Compost Happens blog.