Social media is organic because it's authentic, unpredictable, and natural. The 64 million dollar question? How do you make the unnatural, organic? Social media is organic because it is derived from living organisms. How do you direct it? How do you harness it? How do you control it?
How do you cultivate your social media garden?
How do you know if you have a green thumb for your garden?
First off, ask yourself if you like to garden. You may be a better landscape architect. You may be a better owner of the property the garden is growing upon. You may be a better admirer of another person's garden. Know thyself.
Next, are you an expert of all things gardening or just great at growing the grass under your feet?
Ask yourself if you can indeed see the big picture of what is the garden today and what it will be in the future. It's knowing that you can create what you can not see is what makes you the expert gardener. There's no fault in being a masterful grass-ethician. Though, do not try to fool yourself into thinking otherwise.
What's out there now?
No garden starts with nothing. Weeds can be beautiful too. The content of your garden, what's working and what doesn't, and how it's managed, all comes into play as to whether or not it is best to add more plants, nurture them, or start over. There are always set legalities (ie. the biggest tree in the backyard simply can not be cut down without causing great harm to the landscape of the neighborhood, and subsequently fighting off an ensuing homeowners association lawsuit).
How do the plants work together?
There are obviously dominant plants in your garden. Those which can uproot others, and stand out among the pack. Do those need more attention, or less? How does the climate affect your longest and best standing trees? Do they prevent others from being the same?
What else is in your garden?
The non-organic always mixes with the organic. The placed rocks. The iron gate. The outdoor furniture, and obscure pieces of art scattered across the yard. Do they need to be moved? Taken out? Replaced? Why were they put there in the first place? Do others need to be added?
Then there are those of us who garden with cement.
The wall is built to hold back the displaced hill. The shrubbery is only there to hold up the heavy dirt. The trees and plants are only watered by nature, or by an automatic watering system which takes no person to control. Is it too harsh? It is stale? Or, does it work for the community which is serves. Is it only meant to serve a purpose, and not be cultivated?
There are dozens of magazines on gardening, even more books, how do you learn how to garden?
There are also websites and experts. There are speakers and conferences. There are tens of thousands, if not millions of examples, globally, of gardens, and plants, flowers, trees, and gardening tools. There is no right or wrong way to garden. Some gardens are more pleasing to some cultures than others. And, others are just down right frightening, and disturbing to some.
What's the first thing to do before tending to your garden?
Look around and ask yourself what surrounds it. The people? The structures? The weather? The earth? The stars? And, remind yourself, every single day, that even though you may be the gardener, this may not be your garden, surrounding your house, in your community.
But, you know how to cultivate it.
