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Will gardening blogs reverse a declining hobby?

garden-blogger.gif I know we've been over this territory before and argued ad nauseum as to whether the gardening industry is in decline or not. But let's face a few facts before we bury our heads in the sand and choke on it.

The National Gardening Association (US) stated in their 2005 research findings that,

Fewer than half of all households (48%) did their own lawn care last year, and even fewer have a flower garden (36%) or a vegetable garden (22%). Those are the lowest numbers we have seen in the last five years.

The article then went on to make an observation for which I'm curious to discuss,

It seems that for most people today, if an activity doesn’t come with a remote control or a keyboard, they’re not really interested.

So where does garden blogging come into the picture? Most garden blogs I've read are by people that have their own gardens and are embracing technology as well to relate with other gardeners.

Is this is a good thing or are we actually accentuating the problem and will find more people are happy to read our blogs than actually participate in a garden themselves? Much like high-rating Home and Garden TV programs that show people how to garden but don't translate into seeing them in the garden anymore than they normally would.

Is our society just becoming a pack of voyeurs and readers - spectators rather than doers?





Posted by Stuart on September 21, 2006 12:55 PM | | Check to Subscribe to this Comment:


Comments

Getting one's hands dirty is an issue for lots of folks - but I think once they see the results of their work (even with mild success) it hooks them. Using technology to educate potential gardeners, support new gardeners and eventually 'show off' what you've accomplished in your own garden is a fantastic way to start reversing the numbers you quoted.

Posted by: Northern Girl | September 21, 2006 11:15 PM

Interesting thought - gardening with a keyboard. I'm told that online games have avatars that are gardeners and you can create flower beds online to landscape your residence. There's also some demand for these service I'm told by those who do play.

Whether real-world gardening is declining or the way people are gardening is changing is likely an issue. There are still more homes being built so this means there are more "gardens" than there were. Are folks paying for this service or doing it themselves?

Google says that the news item about gardening are declining - see link here to google trends. [link removed by Google]

Nursery sales at the wholesale level were flat this year with some large wholesalers such as Hines selling and closing down regional nurseries due to flat or reduced sales.

But is this important? So what if folks don't want to garden? Things change. This changes too.

What is important imho, is that *if* we garden, we do it in an environmentally sound fashion and that we enjoy it.

My .02

Doug

Posted by: Doug Green | September 22, 2006 1:07 AM

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