Garden videos a cultural microcosm

It’s spring, which means it’s time for some garden inspiration and to get to work. I’ve really come to like the sort of no-lawn, more natural meadow style approach, and it’s perfect for the tiny garden we have. It’s not like we’re going to play a game of football on a five square meter lawn. Instead, we’re going to sit outside, enjoy the sunshine, have fun watching all the critters around—something green and living sure beats the cement pavers that are (were?) so popular in the Netherlands.

So I naturally looked to YouTube and Reddit for some ideas, and it really just shows the problems with American society. The UK channels are about gardening. People get excited when their little wildlife pond attracts some dragonflies. And that’s it.

The American channels go on about how evil late stage capitalism is, that lawns are an example of systemic racism, and use these ten affiliate links to buy things. That’s all well and good, but that’s not what I’m here for. It’s also bizarre to see Americans on Reddit going bananas over UK posters planting “non-native” species, not seeming to get that it’s a relative designation. Things like bugleweed, which, incidentally, I ended planting along my shady northern edge, are very much native to this part of the world. Or there’s a whole group screaming that Dutch clover isn’t truly a “no lawn” plant—which I planted in my sunny corner.

This sort of parochialism, hostility, and drive for ideological purity that’s divorced from reality has come to define the MAGA movement, but when looking at US culture from the outside, is clearly just what much of American culture has become. It’s just weird that even completely non-political hobbies are dragged into the culture wars and turned into soapboxes for grandstanding. It’s also hard to avoid because of the size of the US and there simply being more resources for many things in English. My only way around this has been to try and limit search results to the UK.

To leave on a high note, this has become one of my favourite channels. Enjoy!