Garden Video Guide: Bean Poles
Experimenting with new formats
Substack is Strange
The Internet is a strange place. Substack, especially, is a strange place. I’m told there are now five million users on this interface, many of which have recently come over from Twitter and Instagram, fleeing the poisonous atmosphere of the Metaverse. If you are one of these, I welcome you to this small corner of the web, where it is just about to be spring.
I’ve written over a hundred articles for various Substacks over the last two years and found that it has a paradoxical effect on my work. On the one hand, the weekly deadline is highly generative in the sense that I have no choice but to get something written. On the other, it can all feel pretty rushed, even sloppy, given that this same pressure keeps me from editing as carefully as I’d like. It’s a lot of volume. Philip D. Bunn over at Everything Was Beautiful has written about the paradoxes of Substack’s lack of editorial overhead, and I feel them pretty keenly, too, having grown up on the old style of editors and mastheads. But I’m satisfied that, if I occasionally let an error creep in, you all will take it as a mark of authenticity. Picture me in my office at school, frantically typing away while also monitoring study halls. It’s literally what I am doing at this moment.
Another thing that Substack has done for me is to pique my interest in other forms of storytelling, namely videography. Now, I am the newbiest of nubes in this arena—a fact that stings all the more given the incredibly high quality of similar content that’s easily accessible in other newsletters. But I’m also curious and like learning new things. So I’ve gotten some modest filming equipment and I’m giving it a go.
I’ve made a little video guide about building the bean pole trellises we use on campus. It’s all very cottage-garden and made from found materials. It’s a start—and might inspire you to make a start on your garden this year by planting some snow peas.
The Video Guide
Soliciting Your Feedback
I’d love to know how you all feel about this sort of content. If you find this helpful and would like to see more, please leave a comment below! I’d also love to hear if any of my other formats—the Garden Advice articles, for instance, or the planting guides—particularly strike your fancy. I’d like this newsletter to become a slightly more reciprocal place, and only your input can get us there! Thanks in advance.
By the way, I had great fun chatting with some of you this Saturday during our first Weekly Garden Advice and Brag Post Chat. We talked about no-dig garden beds, hazel flowers, and hellebores. If you missed it last week, make sure to swing by this Saturday!
If you enjoy what you’re reading here and want to support us, why not subscribe? It’s free to all and you’ll get access to our weekly posts, as well as a weekly subscriber-exclusive chat where we brag about our gardens and beg for advice. It’s the best way to support us.