A recent discussion at Cold Climate Gardening has gotten my eyebrow raised a bit. (aside from just the comment discussion)
Lets see...why do I bother blogging if I can't afford a camera to slather beautiful, numerous pics of a pristine garden, glowing leaves, bugs and butterflies across every freaking page of my blog?
Can you really have a garden blog without all those photos? Uh, yeah, it's just a lot more boring for visitors. And it also means I can't participate in communal blogger activities such as Green Thumb Sunday or Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.
OK, so do I care if I have 5,000 hits a day? Not so much...
I started my blog with the express purpose of reporting what is going on in my garden at any given time - what's going wrong, what's blooming at the moment, how the veg are faring with different techniques.
I really suck at keeping a journal, and this seemed like more fun anyway. But mostly, it is for me to check back on and to leave something for my children, or even grandchildren for that matter, to get to know me much more personally as a 'grower of things' after I'm gone. To give them glimpses of what I was thinking at any given time, or possibly glean a bit of garden advice here and there, what ticked me off and what made me happy. Why I did things I did, grew what I grew. I kick myself in the butt for not having listened as a kid to my grandmothers ramblings about growing everything from asparagus to roses and from weather to bugs. I would have loved to have had a blog of hers to check back on!!
I don't spell check either. Does this make me a bad blogger? No one is perfect, and this isn't edited newspaper press. It's me, my thoughts, my personality and so, with it go all my faults. Do I want my kids reading this in 50 years and thinking, "Wow, not even one spelling error. Mom must have been one writing uptight bitch!" Uh, no. My kids already know I'm not perfect. And there are sooo many people that really stink at spelling, so they shouldn't blog at all? How saddening, to me, that thought is. As long as I can figure out what the blogger means, I read it!
Someone commented that they'd heard (sounds like bro-said-his-friend-from-his-cousins-wife-twice-removed-mother-in-laws-sisters-dog) that someone wouldn't even read a blog that has no pics.
Well!!! Best skip mine then!
Hate to burst peoples bubbles, but not everyone has a cam, or can afford one. (I know people that can't afford a loaf of bread, for pete sake - lets not go there.) Does this make them a bad garden blogger?
Not everyone wants to slather pics across their pages either. (security, privacy, stalkers and all that jazz.) Does this make them a bad garden blogger?
Not responding to comments. Does this make them a bad blogger?
As far as comments go (for ME personally) of course I love getting them. If someone has some advice about a prob I'm having - have at it! Happy for me that something is going right for a change - tell me so! I do try to respond to all the comments, though. I appreciate them bunches! Do I expect everyone that visits to comment? Nope.
But, there are so many bloggers and so many ways TO blog, and yes, many, many ways to go about pics and comments, that I don't think there should be any rule. Ever. If it's your personal blog and you're not looking for some kind of award or reward, do your own thing, damn it!
Heh, kinda like Blogger Bling and blogger addiction I posted about ages ago...That bling still bugs me.
2 comments:
Hi, Happy Hobbyist--I see that my blog post left you less than happy. Please remember it was soliciting blogging tips to give to professional garden writers. I certainly believe you can have a garden blog without pictures. Most of my posts in the early days didn't have photos with them, and it is only because I received a camera as a gift that my blog now does have pictures. Check out this blog for someone who won't bother reading a blog without photos:
http://perennialpassion.blogspot.com/2007/07/creating-containersaccents-with-cast.html
I wasn't making that up!
Hi Kathy!
No, no, it wasn't your post that left my panties in a wad. lol.I completely understood that you were asking for tips. It's the people who think that there is only ONE way, or a RIGHT way to do things that makes me nuts.
Most gardeners are not snobs, are down to earth, love to share tips and ideas and I think their blogs should reflect that - not some 'rule' or 'tip' that is simply one persons opinion.
It amazes me how uptight people get about their blogs - professional or not. I really wish people would loosen up a little. Who wants to feel as if they're taking down-the-nose garden advice from the Queen Mum? Not I!
And I didn't think you were making it up. I think you'd be surprised at just how many people are bored reading blogs without pics! Hmmm...I wonder what that says about our society. We are such a visual lot.
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