Agriculture Reference
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amongst ordinary people and for democratising gardening knowledge. But for some
of those located as working-class, the importance of lifestyle programming lay in its
efficacy to address others as 'citizen-consumers' in a bid to help the working-class
to 'improve.' In this way, the 'national good' was effected by communicating values
of respectability to those likely to neglect their untidy (front) gardens in ways which
'let the side down' in areas where working-class people live.
The experience of my respondents testified to the continued existence of 'ways
of life' in relation to gardening as opposed to the import of garden lifestyle practices.
No doubt in other sections of contemporary British social life, garden lifestyling
is replacing traditional ways of life in relation to gardening in the ways Chaney
describes. However, in the small semi-industrial town where my data was gathered,
my respondents enjoyed the security offered by shared communal garden practices
where authentic, local gardening traditions were still valued. Indeed it was through
my respondents' approach to garden lifestyle media consumption that I discovered
gardening was still regarded as a traditional 'way of life'.
From Lifestyle Ideas to Garden Practice
The uses of media lifestyle ideas
Thus far, this chapter argues that my group of ordinary gardeners were too firmly
rooted to their traditional 'way of life' to be interested in the pursuit of new, consumer-
driven lifestyle garden projects. But the garden lifestyle media were by no means
superfluous for these gardeners; indeed, while they were more traditional in their
approach to the garden, they still used garden media products in specific ways.
For several respondents, television lifestyle gardening, in particular the
makeover, offered an important source of 'entertainment'. As Philip told me, 'they're
for entertainment now as much as teaching.' Similarly, Kate told me that it is, 'the
entertainment rather than anything' that motivated her to watch Ground Force .
Another use for the garden makeover, and this was especially the case among female
respondents, was that it allowed one to be a voyeur of other peoples' gardens. 'I
think I'm quite nosey about other peoples' gardens,' Phoebe told me. And Catherine
said, 'it's entertainment, it's peeking into somebody's private life.'
Others approached the garden media as 'consumer-citizens'; for them it served
an educational role by providing information, tips and advice. As Millie told me,
'You get ideas, but you also get good advice. I mean I've learnt quite a lot from
them. How to take cuttings, what to do and what not to do and what to put them
in.' One of the most popular educational television features amongst my sample
of gardeners, however, is the Gardeners' World slot where, as Thomas describes,
'they take you to an established garden and show you around it.' What was of
primary interest to several of my gardeners was the fact that these features provided
valuable information, as Alan continued, about, 'what grows in those conditions, the
colour combinations, the height.' Millie and Jack also use these features for their
information about plants:
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