Awesome post. I just wrote a note about "content creators" vs garden writers. All the fake, incorrect or incomplete "info" out there is so disheartening. I'm so glad I have no idea who JC is!
YES! Content creators and gardening writers are very different creatures. I personally sometimes straddle that line, and I have to own that. But I work very hard to wear my garden writer hat in everything I do. I hope JC never crosses your feeds! :)
I love this post, it shows how important media literacy and critical thinking skills are needed when consuming ALL types of content, and how pervasive and cunning right wing propaganda currently is.
Furthermore the thing I have always loved about garden is HOW accessible it is - knowledge is shared and passed generously between neighbours, community members, other fellow gardeners - just like they do with a bountiful yield. Only sharing that info through content that is monetized is true gatekeeping and always gives me a big red flag. I grow food and flowers as an act of resistance and a way to fight against capitalism.
Thank you! I am so glad this resonated with you. I feel the same way. The gardening community is, by nature, so open and generous. The infiltration of right wing methods and propaganda cuts to the core. That's not what gardening is about! And once you start to see those methods being used, you start to see them everywhere! It's shocking!
Thank you so much for this in-depth and informative post. I almost wish AI and non-legit articles and posts had to have a label “for entertainment purposes only” because I hate how social media has turned gardening and cooking into such fake “success signaling” with AI pictures of fake garden designs (Pinterest is the worst now) and magical hacks that are bogus making everyone starting out (especially women) feel like failures when reality doesn’t live up to the airbrush and “quick” tip.
I completely agree! I am hoping Pinterest is going to come to terms with their AI problem soon, or that will become an unusable platform, too. It's just so frustrating!
Curating who you follow and where you get your information has become such an important tool -- and so many don't know HOW to do it. We must keep helping people find the reality!
Brilliant post. I've recently left the main socials, because the noise bubbles to the top no matter how I try to curate. Two years of gardening? That means they've grown each annual perhaps twice! You're absolutely correct that poor advice costs beginners time and money - and it could put them off gardening for life, which is horribly sad.
Your last sentence is the most important: bad information makes people feel like they are failing -- and it can make gardening feel inaccessible, too hard, impossible. It works against everything that the gardening world is about! Thank you for reading!
Really great post, Angela! I work for Joe Lamp'l, the "joe" behind joegardener.com, The joe gardener Show Podcast, and the public TV show Growing a Greener World. We talk about this issue a lot. The internet has always had bad gardening advice, but it's rampant now! We just can't seem to out-clever those cringy gardening reels. And honestly, we don't even want to.
Many days it feels like our content is drowning in that sea of algorithm-driven controversy. In fact, our most hated and commented on YouTube video is Joe telling people why putting gravel in the bottom of your pots is not good. People lose their minds over that. LOL Thank you for bringing attention to this.
Awesome post. I just wrote a note about "content creators" vs garden writers. All the fake, incorrect or incomplete "info" out there is so disheartening. I'm so glad I have no idea who JC is!
YES! Content creators and gardening writers are very different creatures. I personally sometimes straddle that line, and I have to own that. But I work very hard to wear my garden writer hat in everything I do. I hope JC never crosses your feeds! :)
I love this post, it shows how important media literacy and critical thinking skills are needed when consuming ALL types of content, and how pervasive and cunning right wing propaganda currently is.
Furthermore the thing I have always loved about garden is HOW accessible it is - knowledge is shared and passed generously between neighbours, community members, other fellow gardeners - just like they do with a bountiful yield. Only sharing that info through content that is monetized is true gatekeeping and always gives me a big red flag. I grow food and flowers as an act of resistance and a way to fight against capitalism.
Thank you! I am so glad this resonated with you. I feel the same way. The gardening community is, by nature, so open and generous. The infiltration of right wing methods and propaganda cuts to the core. That's not what gardening is about! And once you start to see those methods being used, you start to see them everywhere! It's shocking!
Thank you so much for this in-depth and informative post. I almost wish AI and non-legit articles and posts had to have a label “for entertainment purposes only” because I hate how social media has turned gardening and cooking into such fake “success signaling” with AI pictures of fake garden designs (Pinterest is the worst now) and magical hacks that are bogus making everyone starting out (especially women) feel like failures when reality doesn’t live up to the airbrush and “quick” tip.
I completely agree! I am hoping Pinterest is going to come to terms with their AI problem soon, or that will become an unusable platform, too. It's just so frustrating!
Curating who you follow and where you get your information has become such an important tool -- and so many don't know HOW to do it. We must keep helping people find the reality!
Brilliant post. I've recently left the main socials, because the noise bubbles to the top no matter how I try to curate. Two years of gardening? That means they've grown each annual perhaps twice! You're absolutely correct that poor advice costs beginners time and money - and it could put them off gardening for life, which is horribly sad.
Your last sentence is the most important: bad information makes people feel like they are failing -- and it can make gardening feel inaccessible, too hard, impossible. It works against everything that the gardening world is about! Thank you for reading!
I highly recommend The Rot on Substack for composting advice in depth!
I am going to find that right now! Thank you!!
She moved over to Beehiiv, whatever that is, but she's worth the move...she may still
have something up on Substack
Really great post, Angela! I work for Joe Lamp'l, the "joe" behind joegardener.com, The joe gardener Show Podcast, and the public TV show Growing a Greener World. We talk about this issue a lot. The internet has always had bad gardening advice, but it's rampant now! We just can't seem to out-clever those cringy gardening reels. And honestly, we don't even want to.
Many days it feels like our content is drowning in that sea of algorithm-driven controversy. In fact, our most hated and commented on YouTube video is Joe telling people why putting gravel in the bottom of your pots is not good. People lose their minds over that. LOL Thank you for bringing attention to this.