I used to read every issue of a couple gardening magazines from cover to cover, study gardening books and watch gardening shows. Today, not so much.
A lot of those old books and magazines were simple, some even printed on newsprint and written largely by amateurs, but stuffed with information and personal experiences. They had life, they had personality, they had substance.
The last few times I looked for inspiration or information in a garden magazine (other than GreenPrints, which I highly recommend) or tv show, everything was sanitized, Botoxed and airbrushed beyond all recognition.
Gardening is about dirt, people. Dirt and bugs and sweat. It's about real people doing real things and producing real -- and therefore always at least a little flawed -- results. It's about succeeding against the odds (Mother Nature is a fearsome antagonist) and also about failing, sometimes spectacularly.
It's time to recover our sense of what matters, of what is substance and not just form. We don't need perky hosts or glossy pages. We need real people, shared experiences and the hope of sustenance. That's what I want to read about.
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