I’ve reached that time in my life. Police officers look remarkably young these days, and who are these new modern pop stars people keep talking about? In a world of turmoil I find myself drawn less and less to the internet, instead finding solace in my books and in my garden. I’m turning into the very thing I promised not to become, a grumpy old man.
In fairness this isn’t new; I’ve been a grumpy old man since I was around 11 years old.
Time marches on. I feel like the pace of time is speeding up while I’m just here being me. I’m not too fussed, however; sometimes travelling at your own pace allows you to appreciate the things that matter to you.
As much as I try not to be too curmudgeonly there are things I don’t understand.
Like why do influencers exist?
A What?
If you’ve managed to avoid the world of the social media influencers, let me explain…
An influencer is someone who has gained, or purchased, a large number of followers on a social media platform, and then uses their perceived influence to promote products, services or businesses. Influencers with large numbers of followers can often receive payments from the social media platform itself too. Typically influencers are sell a lifestyle; they’re deemed physically attractive and it looks like life is treating them well. If you follow their way of doing things, and buy into the goods and services they promote, then you too can have an amazing life like theirs.
Selling a lifestyle…
It’s a heavily edited, superficial, idealistic impression of reality, and the ultimate aim is to receive payment or free products from companies in return for promoting them. You could look at it as a sort of direct marketing where people who choose to follow influencer accounts are opting in to being targeted. An alternative view is that it’s a form of non-sexual prostitution.
Theirs is a vapid world of image over substance. Give me the more traditional values of knowledge and expertise.
The Modern Way
I love my books. Not only do I appreciate reading them but I also enjoy handling them, feeling their covers and the softness of paper as I turn their pages.
It seems that most people rely on the internet for their information now. Social media provides easy access to small packets of information and entertainment, often both things combined into each post. Influencers are able to tap into this market by providing scant amounts of moderately useful information and ‘quirky’ entertainment between their advertisements.
It never rains in the influencer’s garden, only in real gardens
It should be mentioned at this point there are people who use their popularity to encourage and inspire out of the goodness of their hearts, a sort of benign influencing as it were. These are people who strive for accuracy and are honest, but they tend not to receive the same sort of attention. Gardening media is so often about selling lifestyles rather than selling the gritty reality of what it takes to make a garden. People want authenticity but don’t tend to want it too authentic.
Negative Influence
I’m certainly not here to tell people how they should gain their knowledge and inspiration.
I’m a plant nerd, a man whose life revolves around plants, gardens and gardening, driven by my own personal passion for my subject. While I’m far from affluent I choose to spend what money I have to further my learning. Not everyone has this luxury, and not everyone shares my commitment to horticulture. It’s not for me to dictate what others should do with their lives.
But I’m a little concerned not only by the effects of influencer culture on horticulture but by the absence of quality control. We cannot, and must not, advocate for a rigorous policing of gardening ideas; outlandish theories of gardeners can sometimes become the foundation of new ways to garden. However the quality of information made available to gardeners varies wildly, and the widespread dissemination of some more unhelpful or erroneous information via social media should be acknowledged.
Sell, sell, sell! But make the viewers think they’re learning…
The problem is this: gardening as a subject is enormously complex. Gardeners with decades of experience struggle to give honest and accurate information in a short amount of time, so the chances of a content creator (another name for an influencer) distilling a subject into a 90 second clip is remote. Accuracy is compromised to fit into the media format.
This matters because there are large numbers of gardeners out there, arguably the next generation of gardeners, being sold the lie that gardening is all about hacks, quick fixes and buying the right brand or tool. Those of us who have trodden our garden paths a little longer know that gardening is about understanding and making gentle progress, that your plants will grow as well if they’re watered with a cheap plastic watering can or an expensive one.
What happens when the bubble bursts? What happens when those who have diligently gardened along with their favourite personalities don’t get the same results? Many, too many, will be disheartened and will lose faith. They will assume that it was their mistake, not that the guidance they were given was wrong.
We risk losing a generation of gardeners and garden lovers.
Anti-social Media
Social media invariably portrays gardening as a world where everything goes right all the time, but we know gardening isn’t like that. A bit more honesty that even more advanced gardeners get things wrong can be of enormous comfort to a novice. We’re all learning together.
The problem is that the chopped and changed world of soundbites and social media is how the world is now, or it’s certainly the way things are going. There is an argument that in order for gardening to be relevant to the masses it must adapt.
Nine million people watch this guy grow seeds from bought fruit and veg, but he can’t tell you how to look after them…
I question this, however. Gardening has long been about getting away from the world; it’s about being at one with the garden. The world is noisy and getting noisier, to the point where it seems everybody is shouting over each other in their demand for attention. Gardening represents the perfect antithesis to the stresses of modern life, and I believe this gentle escapism is what we should be promoting.
But also gardening isn’t easy. It’s about observing and learning, and keen gardeners will so often say that it’s the process that matters and not the result.
Declining Influence
I don’t see influencers lasting much longer.
Companies cosying up to influencers will come to realised that this form of marketing has a finite lifespan. There will come a time, and there are indications that this time is approaching quickly, when consumers of social media content get bored of the grifters and will want something else. We’re seeing this already in the often dramatically lower response to advertising posts. Even competitions where you can win something are starting to lose traction. The novelty is wearing off.
This influencer seems obsessed with spanking bags of compost for some reason…
There’s an interesting parallel between influencers and child actors; so many child actors are superstars when they’re children but then dropped when they reach adulthood, fading into relative obscurity. The world of the influencer is a dog-eat-dog world where your replacement is only one viral post away. A new thing will come along and the bubble will burst.
Small Problem
This is probably a very small problem against the vastness of the horticultural world. Social media and viral marketing will have very little effect on how you and I care for our gardens.
Gardening is about more than personal image
My concern is two-fold. Firstly I’m concerned that too many people will be put off gardening when the reality doesn’t meet with the image they’ve been sold.
Secondly, and possibly more profoundly, there is a sense of a dumbing down culture in gardening. I go to my old gardening books I see how little detailed information is shared with gardeners now. There’s an assumption, across society, that the way to be inclusive to all is to make everything as simple as possible, rather than encouraging personal learning. It’s terrible thing to see the gap between novices and experts widen in any given subject, not just gardening.It creates cultures of elitism, where only a small number of people have the really important and useful knowledge. These will also be the people who have access to resources that help them learn. We all benefit from great gardening even when it’s practiced at a domestic level (so we can all live in beautiful neighbourhoods), so it’s in our interest that everyone should have the opportunity to develop their interests.
We must stand up for what we believe in. Gardening, as a hobby and as a career, is constantly being eroded by those who do not appreciate what it is that we actually do. Gardeners are reluctant to stand up and point out that the processes of creating and maintaining gardens are hard work and remarkably complex, and that what we do takes skills and knowledge. Consequently there is a culture of seeing gardening as somehow unimportant, something easy for people to do if they have time on their hands. It’s a huge disservice to us all.
I ask that we take gardening back from the fakers, from those who playfully subvert what we do for their own gains. Those of us who have gardening social media accounts must take a stand and make sure that we do not fall into the trap of internet populism, instead doing whatever we can to show the realities, the bad and the good, of gardening. We can all make a difference by keeping gardening in the physical realm by encouraging novice gardeners to experience real gardens and real gardeners, by doing our bit to support gardens and gardening events in our communities. Who wants screen time when you can have authentic, physical, three-dimensional garden time…
Social media influencers aren’t a problem of society but are instead a symptom. Fortunately they’re easy to scare out of our gardens: just mix one third lemon juice to two thirds water and keep it in a handy spray bottle. Spray at the first sign of influencers, just as they take their phones out to start filming their next video…
I have my spray bottle at the ready!
Thanks for this!
Signed,
A grumpy Old Lady
I wish you the best of aim…
I couldn’t agree more.
Signed,
Another grumpy Old Lady
Thank you!
I first met my then girlfriend’s mother about 47 years ago. After I left my girlfriend’s mom predicted, “That’s the man you are going to marry!” My girlfriend told her mom that I was “such a grumpy old man!” We married about seven months later. We are still married, and apparently I’m still a “grumpy old man.”
I forgot this part. People have always wanted to be great at something, but most are not interested in putting in the effort to get there. Even one of the so-called big box stores had a 15 second commercial clip where a couple spreads bags of purchased topsoil and plants nice 4″ potted annuals, and in 15 seconds they have a great-looking garden. Where’s the fun in that?!
Most are not interested …….
Walking my dogs I see a great deal of sad results in neighboring yards. Depressing.
A few years ago I bought one of those augers that goes on your electric drill, to help with planting. A couple of tries and the thing had nearly snapped my wrist; my drill failed shortly after.
I paid more attention to the advertisements since, where the auger appears to only ever be used in pre-dug soil. I’m left wondering what the point was, but it was supposed to save me time and effort….
Yes, I tried a not inexpensive auger a few years ago.
And it did almost snap my wrist and that of my husband.
I use it as a lawn ornament.
Its red. I garden on a leveled sand dune in deep shade with lots and lots of tree roots.. Very few colorful plants for me so it is rather useful.
I like the idea that it stands in your garden as a warning to be more wary about buying tools. I had a shed of tools I could do this with…
I have a large shade bed under an American beech tree. Not a lot of color, so I use red ornaments there. Red bird feeder, red bird house, red bottle tree (with vintage ruby glass vases instead of bottles), red gazing ball, and pots of red impatiens and begonias. So your red auger is just a start!
Excellent!
Yep!
Long live grumpy old men!
After a lifetime of gardening mainly in Ohio, U.S. suburban yards, I still consider myself a novice. I have to consult various information sources to help with various plant problems. I’m amazed at how many people around me don’t understand or accept the tending needed to gardening or consult resources.
My number one piece of advice to new gardeners is to make friends.
Be nice to people, and gather friends with different interests; when you need help with something you can just reach out to a friend for guidance, rather than trying to learn everything yourself.
Couldn’t agree more, Ben Probert! I’ve been gardening for more than 80 years (yes, my first “toys” were a little set of gardening tools given me by a gardening aunt on top of a hill in Mill Valley, California.) Though I gained a lot from living in England on and off, gardening and my books and piano have been the joys of my material life.
Still love holding a book in my hand each night (currently evolutionary biology), playing classical piano, and jumping up at dawn each morning to check my garden, and hand-water, my life is a pretty satisfying one.
This is what gardening is about; it’s not about performatory actions to gain approval. We tend our gardens because it pleases the soul to do so.
Best rant ever!
Thank you.
AMEN!
Perfect! As a career gardener (25 years), I approve this message. I get so many website/email questions about something totally ridiculous that someone has seen online from a 18 year-old garden influencer. There’s a lot of bad information out there designed to make folks spend money to make someone else rich and famous. I love my profession, and I make a good, decent living, but I don’t think I’ll ever be wealthy! No matter. That’s not why I do it. I do it because I love tending the earth and helping others learn to do the same. And I’m infinitely curious. I’ll never learn everything there is to know about gardening and plants. And thank God for that. I’ll keep learning.
Some of the information being handed out to people is incredibly dubious. Worst of all, bad information goes around the influencer community really quickly, and spreads quickly.
Couldn’t agree more!
Thank you.
Fabulous article, Ben, and right on target…thank you!!
I especially liked your point that the goal should not be to dumb down gardening, but to encourage personal learning, which takes hard work. Not much of value is achieved without personal effort and hard work. I have an enormous collection of gardening books as well, and there is no way you can learn the depths shared in these books from a quick online clip.
Also, sharing gardening experience across the fence with your neighbor or with a friend, is so much more gratifying that watching an online video, because it gives you the face to face human connection.
I believe the internet can be valuable for quick searches, especially for gardeners with a depth of knowledge who know how to discern whether something is accurate, but it falls way short in helping novices.
Keep writing!
I get enormously frustrated with the dumbing down. Generations of gardeners have been encouraged to develop their interests, whether they’ve followed that path or not, so why should that be denied to modern gardeners?
Hear, hear, Ben and thank you for sharing your thoughts on this subject. I also seem to have reached this age (49) where I often feel like I am living in a different world than most of the people around me. But I like my world better and I don’t want to leave 🙂 I am constantly struck by just how much (valuable) time people waste on this utter nonsense. It’s all just mindless entertainment. Makes me very nervous for the future. Luckily, many of the photos you included cracked me up and so lightened my mood. But enough said. I always enjoy your posts, Ben. Thank you.
It is depressing isn’t it; social media creating a human vacuum.
this is a wonderful rant. thank you for confirming my fascination, love, worry and daily tending of my garden. in winter I design edits for my garden. it’s my life and keeps me satisfied (sometimes heartbroken depending on rain and other weather events.) Glad to read this truth-filled piece.
Gardening has an incredible way of reflecting the highs and lows of life in general. True gardeners are less obsessed about image because their souls belong to their gardens.
Thank you for this. I have had a little garden in various homes in different parts of the world. Mid-life I studied landscape design became a professional landscape designer. However, not until I settled in one suburban third of an acre lot and came to know this property well, that I understood what a lifelong learning process gardening is. I’m continuing to learn about specific plants, color combinations, weed and pest management, composting, drainage and more! It’s a PROCESS and I hope it never ends.
I think some people are scared by the idea that they will never know all there is to know, but for some of us that’s really exciting.
Thank you, Ben.
I always enjoy your posts and approach to gardening, and I agree with you on today’s subject. Gardening is a slow process that takes time and effort, builds stamina and perseverance in tackling the challenges of the seasons, but is ever so rewarding..Who wants a quick fix? It takes all the fun out of gardening. It is winter in Australia, and my garden books, both old and new, are constant companions by the fire. Thanks again Ben
Exactly. From the planning to the hard work and beyond, gardening is about the process as well as the results.
I was on a Zoom call of a local garden club meeting where the group was looking at planting a garden bed around a marker honoring the club. The idea most attendees liked best was an AI submitted plan.
Look out influencers. AI is coming for you.
Superficially pretty but not based in reality- depressing.
“I ask that we take gardening back from the fakers, from those who playfully subvert what we do for their own gains. Those of us who have gardening social media accounts must take a stand and make sure that we do not fall into the trap of internet populism, instead doing whatever we can to show the realities, the bad and the good, of gardening.” Thank you, Ben. Where do I sign up?
We have a very informal set-up here; just get stuck in!
So often their “content” is just taking fully grown plants in branded pots (often supplied by the company!) and putting them in terra cotta or other fancy outdoor pots that cost hundreds of dollars, packing them in with expensive bagged soil. There’s one account in particular that comes across my socials that does this and it always makes me cringe. The after results don’t look like any plant has been there for more than a few weeks. Ditto the auger use for small holes or really most holes. There is just no fun, happy exertion towards your goal (and most of us need the physical activity) or exploration in this type of “gardening.” They put thick mulch right up to each plant in a bed and spread preen over them in the spring, and couldn’t identify a seedling of any of their plants. I know a lot of people don’t go intensely into this hobby but I really think they’re missing out on the wonder of the world.
I think you’ve got the measure of it all. Product placement for things that probably wouldn’t be affordable if they hadn’t been given, and their current thing is to set the plant in its old pot inside the new pot, pack compost around, tap the old pot off and put the rootball into the hole. It makes absolutely no difference to the plant, but it’s a great way to waste time, and the technique is very much on trend… irritating!
Love this!
Thank you.
A most excellent rant. Long live book learning.
Absolutely. Thank you for reading.
I find it interesting that visitors to my garden often dont want to hear things that disagree with their “knowledge”.we have sown an new strip of land as an annual meadow, sowing seed into freshly tilled high fertility soils, with a mix from pictorial meadows. It is stunning. However nearly all visitors are determined that this is a “wildflower” meadow and must be in low fertility soils … and are rather shocked when i say it will all be tilled again in the autumn.
Oh yes, that’s a whole new area to explore.
I’ve known homeowners decide that a tree is sick and go through expert after expert until they find someone who agrees with them. I’m not sure where the idea that you should make your mind up and then find the ‘facts’ to fit came from, but it’s becoming rather pervasive in society.
This confusion between a real meadow and an annual sowing drives me mad. It puts genuine old meadows, valuable ecologically, at risk. Wish we could find another name (and use it) for the annual, cornfield weeds, version.
If i weren’t so old I would propose.
Aw, that’s very kind Sally.
I share your sentiments exactly. Then again, there are some books out there about doing some sketchy things in the landscape like mixing beer and mouthwash and sprenching all your plants.
Oh yes, and that’s even more worrying; someone let bad advice get through an editorial process.
What a wonderful article. I really connected with this- you stated exactly why I love to get away from the world in my garden.
Thank you very much- happy gardening.
I do love the internet, but there is so much **** (manure) there! There is also lots of good stuff. The entire concept of “influencers” makes me laugh! Community is so important–I am a member of a garden club and Wild Ones (local chapter of the native gardening non-profit). Meetings, speakers, tours of each others’ gardens, plant exchanges, seed exchanges, field trips, volunteering at local nature preserves, parks, etc. That’s how we learn! I’m always so pleased when we attract younger folks to our groups, and watching them learn is so gratifying!
The problem is that the exponential rise in the, as you delicately put it, manure means it’s harder to find the good stuff.
For all the benefits of the internet it’s not the best way to engage people with complex ideas. Nothing beats face to face communication, especially in a garden where ideas flow freely. You can lecture over the internet but it’s hard to have meaningful discussions, and pick up on nuance.
Ex vaguely infamous gardener/designer for about 5 mins. 6 RHS Medals and RHS Adv trained and I now Manager a business in an entirely sphere. Thank god.
‘Gardening’ was already falling down a marketing rabbit hole. I remember a very well respected designer saying to me ‘it’s all designer fetishism’, so less about skill or knowledge and more about ‘personality’. Hence endless crappy uninspiring show gardens produced by the same few designers. This has just passed on into the ‘influencer’ sphere.
Look at politics! Personality vs integrity. The masses love it and promote it and consume it. Western humanity is devolving. So us few left that could grow a crop of plants to feed our families, sit back and watch the carnage. X
This rant should “go viral”! I know, that would be doing the exact same thing you don’t want to see. I agree with all of it. In only one photo did we see someone with dirty hands! No one was sweaty, buggy, had weed seeds sticking to their clothing or had strands of their hair stuck to the side of their faces. NOT REAL GARDENERS! It is very sad that many people getting into gardening think this is “real”. I’m glad I know enough folks who understand what it takes to really raise a tomato or a Rudbeckia from seed. Folks who know one gets dirty, sweaty and buggy in a real garden AND doesn’t stop every 30 seconds to take a selfie or have someone else filming the whole time. You are a breath of fresh air, Ben. Thanks for your always thought-filled rants. I truly enjoy the other Ranters, too, so they shouldn’t feel left out ; )
P.S. My husband calls “influencers” “influenzas” as in the disease…
I absolutely relate to this! Every time I stroll through a plant sale or admire a friend’s gorgeous garden, I find myself whispering, “Just one more!” I swear my car trunk is full of surprises after a day out plant shopping. It’s the happy chaos of gardening, right? One more pretty bloom for the yard never hurt anyone! Thanks for the laugh – here’s to all of us who can’t resist adding a little extra green to our lives.