Kathy Purdy at Cold Climate Gardening tackled an interesting debate: why aren’t more young people gardening? Purdy said a talk at a garden conference on how to get Generation X and Y more interested in gardening made her wonder if there might be a generation gap. She wonders if maybe younger generations didn’t have enough exposure to gardening as children. Maybe young people today are too busy logged in to the Internet and tuned out on the iPod to be connected with nature. Then she asks what this might mean for society.
I’m 30 and here’s my take: Gardening takes time, money and attention. People my age are busy raising kids, starting careers and settling into life. Even if we do have the time, do we have the money to buy a house with a yard, much less the plants?
We’re no longer an agrarian-based society. Most of us live in the suburbs and get produce from the supermarket. As a society we’ve lost knowledge that people used to take for granted. A lot of people can’t tell a rutabaga from rhubarb. That’s terribly sad but what can we expect when it’s far easier and cheaper to buy a bag of carrots at Safeway than grow our own?
The lack of interest in gardening isn’t a moral failing with people of a certain age. It’s a symptom of our society.
Write and tell me what you think: dsmith@heraldnet.com
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