Hi folks,
I'm constantly being told by my wife and her family that our garden at home looks a state. The straw mulch, the newspaper in the beds, the choice of plants, the supposed chaos, the insects, the lack of lawn etc etc.
Many adults have strong model constructs in their heads about what constitutes a garden. Many have been nowhere near a farm, an orchard or an allotment since childhood. Their minds are stuck on a loop of RHS Chelsea, Ground Force and trips to B&Q. A great many are turned off by science, bothered about the neighbours and plain scared of hassle.
Try to just focus on one small element of your garden when talking to people. Like a guild. Explain what it does, why it's there and what you get out of it. Then point out that you've got little projects like this all over the garden. Slow and small solutions. Let it dawn on them. People prefer to twig things than be told them. Kids are cool in this respect because they're naturally keen to work things out. They work things out every 5 minutes.
