Good Ideas Blog

Richard Reynolds, the original Guerilla Gardener, has transformed gardening from something practised solely by the middle-class middle-aged types, to an edgy pastime for young urbanites. It reminds us of Tom Swayer in Huckleberry Finn who turned the chore of whitewashing of Aunt Polly’s fence into a treat. “Do you call this work?” He told his friends. “Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence everyday”. Soon Tom’s friends were not only paying for the privilege but deriving real pleasure from the task. He transformed a situation in which compensation was required to one in which people would pay to get in on the fun.

You don’t have to pay to get involved Guerilla Gardening, but if they started charging we wouldn’t be surprised if people were prepared to pay. Would the same trendies have offered to help out in the parent’s garden’s? Probably not. And that is the great magic of Guerilla Gardening: it repositions a worthy behaviour (cleaning up where you live, getting to know your neighbours, getting outdoors, doing exercise) as something cool and fun.