You might not realize it, but watching Zach Galifianakis poke around in the dirt like he鈥檚 just discovered it is exactly what you need right now.
In 鈥淭his Is a Gardening Show,鈥� a six-part series premiering April 22 on Netflix for , the actor and comedian brings a kind of wide-eyed curiosity to gardening that feels at once sincere and ridiculous.
The episodes run an easily digestible 15 to 20 minutes each 鈥� just long enough to learn something new without feeling overwhelmed.
Learning from experts…
Galifianakis, who says he鈥檚 been gardening 鈥渙n and off鈥� for 25 years, doesn鈥檛 come across as polished, but it鈥檚 clear he鈥檚 not trying to. Instead, he leaves experts in charge of their own domains — apples, foraging, root vegetables, corn and — taking it all in with the wonder of a kid who just realized food doesn鈥檛 come from the grocery store.
Those laid-back experts show him 鈥� and us 鈥� the ropes, demonstrating, among other things, how to graft an apple tree, and how to add nitrogen-rich ingredients to a compost bin.
…and kids
Each episode features amusing sit-downs with students from Brooklyn Elementary School in Comox, British Columbia. At first, you might think you鈥檙e watching a kids鈥� show. But then you realize you鈥檙e the kid.
Galifianakis interviews them with the same deadpan style he used on celebrities in his satirical talk show which ran from 2008-2018. He asks questions like 鈥淗ow many children do you have?鈥� and lets their sometimes off-the-wall responses land however they may (鈥�11,鈥� in this case).
From the kids鈥� perspective, though, he鈥檚 probably the one saying the darndest things. Galifianakis tosses out a knock-knock joke about Benjamin Netanyahu, suggests urinal cakes when asking about their favorite foods, and commits to an unexplained running gag about Ryan Reynolds, all of which go over their heads. It鈥檚 quirky and silly.
Gardening as Rx
There鈥檚 a callback for fans as he walks through greenery: 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to be between two ferns again,鈥� he says.
Bloopers are woven into each episode, along with lines like, 鈥淚f I were to offer a remedy to the human condition, it would be a garden 鈥� or acid.鈥�
The humor doesn鈥檛 upstage the gardening, though.
鈥淭he future is agrarian,鈥� he says, adding that gardening is 鈥済ood for your heart.鈥�
And so is this show.
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Jessica Damiano writes regular gardening columns for The Associated Press. She publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. for weekly gardening tips and advice.
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