The reasons for gardening are probably as complex and diverse as the people
who do it. I'm certainly a self-sufficiency 'good life' type- I grow fruit
and veg because I want to be able to eat good, organic food and not
contribute to the agro-food industry and its associated destructiveness
(Chemical industries, supermarkets, road freight transport etc.), and I've
always had that rather Tolstoy-like feeling that I SHOULD grow food (It's
probably some deep-down protestant thing resisting my non-religous self!).
However those who have gardens around mine vary from prize leek growers who
will use anything to get the most massive vegetable they can- I was
recently approached by a man I know, who had found out I worked in an
Agriculture department, and asked me if I could get him some of 'that
hormone stuff' so he could win the major shows- through people who grow the
usual area of flowers to those who pave everything over and have stunted
conifers in pots, plus there are all the (probably often illegal)
activities that go on in the immense array of garden sheds and greenhouses.
Re: Mel's request for a geographic study of gardening. There was an
excellent and very humane book written on allottments by the always
inspiring Colin Ward a few years ago. Not strictly 'geography' but then the
best books never are strictly anything. But I can't think of anything about
gardening in the wider (or narrower sense).
Oh, and as for Saint Geoff...
David.
PS: It's nice to have a debate on something interesting, that isn't
university / academic life for once. We haven't had one for a while. Let's
hope it continues.
David Wood
PhD Student ('The Rural Peace Dividend')
Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Marketing
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
Tel: 0191 222 6615
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