Over at Garden Rant Elizabeth ask, “Are we in the middle of a gardening revolution?†She sites a number of gardening articles at various newspapers that all speak to this new awareness, especially in vegetable gardening.
What I find amusing is that all of these main stream media outlets save one, cite “pinching pennies†as one reason people are returning to the garden. The Arizona Republic says, “The price of food is sending them back to the garden.†The Ocala Star-Banner says, “in this day of tight economic times, gardens can help stretch the family budget.†The North Andover Eagle Tribune says, “Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.â€
None of my customers vegetable garden to “pinch penniesâ€. The days of growing your own food to save money are long gone. How can we have tomatoes in the middle of winter and complain at all about the cost? If people think they can grow food less expensively than the huge agricultural concerns they are in for a disappointment. The real reason people are growing there own vegetables was summed up by a commenter. “Mostly, the younger crowd is concerned about pesticides and decreased nutrition in their food.†In addition, once people taste fresh vegetables the flavor is so much better than whats available in the store it's hard to go back. There are additional reasons, but saving money is generally not one of them.
So Elizabeth asks, “Are we in the middle of a gardening revolution?†We must be since the main stream media is reporting on it. If you wanted to see the beginning of the revolution, or keep up to date on whats really happening, keep reading the blogs. We talked about this upcoming interest in vegetable gardening a year or two ago when the main stream media we're reporting on the "Death of Gardening"!
Congratulations on Garden Rant being noticed by the big media outlets like The Washington Post. Any of us bloggers would most likely be thrilled to be noticed. I was excited when The Sacramento Bee noticed the web site and blog, yet I find certain sadness at the fact that our blogging world, which was initially off the radar of “Big Media†is now getting noticed. It's like we have been having this really cool party, but now the “professionals†have showed up and they want to party too. Oh well, a good party is hard to keep under wraps.
No, I am not turning into a bitter old man as Monica is want to tease me. It's great that we citizen journalist are being recognized by the pro's. As a matter of fact according to Angela, The Sacramento Bee wants reader submissions on gardening. You will not be paid for the submission, and it will become the property of The Bee. Sure, there will be people all to happy to see their name in print and do The Bee's work. But don't be fooled, the real action is at the gardening blogs where the work is a labor of love.
Yesterday standing in the grocery line I automatically picked up Garden Design, and Sunset magazines. I have been doing it for years, and yet now I wonder why. I get more excited reading about garden bloggers and what they are up to than the latest "Euro trend" in Garden Design, or how Sunset according to it's latest issue has been "Eco friendly" since the late 1800's. I use to buy The Bee on Saturday's to read the garden section, but not any more. It seems they are more interested in nosy neighbors than gardening.
So yes, we are in the middle of a gardening revolution. Remember where we heard about it first? To find out what the next big thing in gardening is all you need to do is look no further than the blogroll of your favorite gardening blog.