The Place to Get Down and Dirty

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. —  The dirt on gardening is that for many women it’s better than sex. That may be ego-deflating news for some husbands and lovers, but not so surprising to Knoxville-based Home & Garden Television, which has built a cable network reaching 73 million U.S. households based on such insights.

“We get a kick out of the sex versus household activities question,” HGTV president and general manager Burton Jablin said. “I guess sex could be a household activity, but we are talking about other household activities.”

The network conducts an annual Lifestyle Trends Report, a compilation of polling and other research, to determine the interests of viewers.

“This year, yet again, making love did not come in No. 1 among home enthusiasts,” Jablin said. “Working in the yard actually beat having sex.”

The report was prepared by Yankelovich Partners Inc., a North Carolina-based marketing research firm that has been tracking consumer habits since the 1970s. The company relied on a nationwide telephone survey of 1,414 adults in January, in-home interviews with 2,500 adults between January and April, and U.S. Census data.

Among all adults, sex was still the favorite activity, followed by yardwork, gardening and redecorating. But passions apparently change once adults buy homes or discover decorating.

Among home enthusiasts, yard work was the most popular answer to the HGTV question: Which activities are you most likely to do in your spare time “for fun and enjoyment”?

Forty-one percent gave a green thumbs-up to mowing the lawn. Sex was second at 37%, followed by gardening, 34% and redecorating, 23%.

The difference between the sexes was striking. Among male home enthusiasts, yardwork was a narrow favorite over sex. But among females, gardening and yardwork, and even redecorating by a small margin, were preferred over “having sex/making love.”

Forty-two percent of these men listed sex No. 1, compared to 33% of women. By comparison, 39% of women chose gardening or yardwork and 35% picked redecorating.

And don’t think home enthusiasts represent a minority.

According to the report, seven of every 10 Americans fit this category based on their level of past or planned spending on remodeling, decorating, landscaping or other home hobbies.

The research also noted an affection for gardening grows with time--with home enthusiasts under 35 preferring the bedroom over flower beds, while the over-55 crowd picking the garden by a 2-1 margin.

The explanation may have less to do with lovemaking than love of home, Jablin said.

“When we look at the rest of the survey and at other research that we do for HGTV, what we find is that people really get a great deal of personal satisfaction out of what they do around the house. So that is really what is at work here,” he said.

HGTV already offers shows called “Surprise Gardener” and a special titled “Extreme Gardens.” Could “Sexy Gardener” be next?

“I don’t know if we will have sex in the garden, but I think there is a way to make gardening sexy, sure,” Jablin said. “By that I mean appealing and interesting to a wide audience. Absolutely, that is our mission.”

Other survey findings:

* Seventy percent of men say it’s their job to make home repairs; 65% of women agree. Fourteen percent of women say they help; 11% of men agree they do.

* More than half the men say they are doing the project for their significant other. Only a third of women say it’s for their partner. Most women do projects for “self-expression”; most men for “resale value of the home.”

* Eighty-three percent of men say they manage the biggest home improvement projects. Sixty-seven percent of women say they are in charge.

* Seventy-seven percent of women say it’s their job to write the grocery list; 62% of men agree. Thirty percent of men say they help; 18% of women agree they do.

* Eighteen percent of Americans have a videocassette recorder blinking 12:00.