Who would want to start gardening after reading this?

There is a “Great British Garden Revival” going on! To help novice gardeners The Telegraph published some timely tips from The RHS (Royal Horticultural Society). It’s titled, “What to do in the garden in December”. Let’s get started looking at it from a novices point of view.

"Feed the birds! Although they benefit from having food put out for them all year round, birds need a high-fat boost to their diet during the winter. Feed regularly so they will not waste vital energy visiting your garden when there is nothing for them.”  It is a new garden so there is not much in it. I don’t want the birds to go hungry and die. Let's pick up some seed later. Next!

“Wage war on aphids. Some species remain active in mild winters or on indoor plants. But most overwinter as eggs, often on dormant deciduous fruit trees and bushes. These can be treated with a plant oil winter wash (Growing Success Winter Tree Wash or Vitax Winter Tree Wash).” Good grief! I don’t want dying birds, and I hate war. What are aphids, and how does washing my trees do any good? They seem clean enough. Next!

“Christmas trees, are now available. Choose from a cut, container-grown or containerised specimen. Those grown on in pots may only live for a few years – they are not naturally suited to permanent pot cultivation.” Specimens? That sounds like an unpleasant trip to the doctor. I wanted to buy a live Christmas tree to plant in my new garden, but if they only live a few years? I’ll just pick up a dying one at the supermarket. This gardening stuff sure is time consuming, and confusing. There’s more?

“If you want to move established deciduous trees and shrubs to another part of the garden, now is a good time. Choose a calm, dull day to help prevent roots from drying out.” I have to wait for a “dull day”? Why can’t I do it on a beautiful day? Deciduous? Next!

“Check recommended times for pruning trees, shrubs and climbers. Prune ornamental and edible grape vines, hornbeam, walnut and mulberry, and if necessary, maple and birch before Christmas to prevent bleeding from pruning cuts.” Before Christmas!?! How do I know if it's necessary to prune maples and birch? That does it. I am not going to spend a dull day, washing the trees, only to watch them bleed. Meanwhile the birds are falling to the ground because I forgot to feed them? Gardening with “specimens”? No thank you.  I wanted to participate, but this garden revival stuff sounds like a bunch of hard, miserable work. War? You know, my husband wants to pave over the front yard and be done with it. I wonder…

I am sure the folks at The RHS mean well, but if this is what is recommended to the public is it any wonder Britain needs a "garden revival”? I am not picking on The British, as we have the same issues here in The States. Perhaps we just need to quit being so helpful, and trying to include every last thing someone could do? Start with changing the horticultural terms like “containerized specimen”, bleeding trees”, “plant oil winter wash”, "deciduous", and “ornamental”. “Waging war” is a term best left at the garden gate. “Permanent pot cultivation”? Maybe people just wanted to grow a little pot during the summer, not permanently?  To encourage people into the garden, we need to look at how we describe what we do in the garden. Step back, and look at gardening from the novices point of view. Let’s not scare them away with war, specimens, and hungry birds.

"The Edible Garden. How to have your garden and eat it, too"

"The Edible Garden. How to have your garden and eat it, too", by Alys Fowler. This book from Viva Publications was recently published here in The U.S. after it's initial debut in The U.K. I can’t remember when I had first heard about Alys Fowler,  but I am sure it was while surfing the web following a link. I don’ typically buy books concerning gardening, as there are so few that I really enjoy. It seems I do things a bit differently than most in that I find myself fascinated with the people and their ideas first, then find out about their works. Having been involved in the garden trades for over 30 years, I have become a bit jaded with the gardening publications offered these days. If someone interests me I will check out their blog to see what’s going on today.  Alys blog  is interesting. Check out her latest post, “One Bee and Me”.

Her book “The Edible Garden” is divided into three parts, Things to Know, Things to Grow, and Reaping Your Harvest.

“Things to Know” sets the stage with discussions on soil types, mixing edibles with ornamental plants, foraging outside of one’s garden, composting, green manures, and some other basics, and not so basics. I am not sure when I have read a book that promotes foraging as a supplement to ones garden. She cautions, “Don’t forage in Scientific, Interest and National Nature Reserves without the express permission of Natural England”.

“Things to Grow” discusses designing the garden using plants we are familiar with, as well as some which are more exotic, at least to me. Oraches, tree spinach, Oriental greens, salsola, landcress, and what she describes as “other curiosities”. Tomatoes and other more well know vegetables are mentioned, too. It’s not so much a list of varieties as an inspiration to try growing something different than the "same old same old". Fruit trees and berries are also discussed, as well as an entire section on flowers, some edible, and some for show. There is also a short section devoted to flower bouquets.  Let’s hope this catches on as the growing of, and giving of flower bouquets is a dying practice.

“Reaping Your Harvest” is concerned with how to prepare and enjoy what we have grown. Jams and jellies, pickles, and chutney, as well as how to preserve, or cook with your harvest.  Included is some of her favorite recipes for lavender biscuits, raspberry jam ice-cream, and courgette cake. To round out the book the third section is devoted to homemade fruit liqueurs, and cocktails.

This is not a coffee table book thanks goodness, but it is filled with great photography and drawings of both Alys, her garden, and creations.  With a slightly urban focus it would make a great gift for up and coming gardeners. Even somewhat jaded gardeners like me will get to view the garden, and gardening as Alys sees it. It is a welcome change, and has inspired me to try a few of her ideas and recipes.

I received a copy of The Edible Garden Book for review purpose.  This in no way affected my review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The British are worried about horticulture

It appears the British are concerned because, "research has suggested that many teenagers believe careers in the sector (horticulture) are for those who have failed academically." According to The BBC, "72% of horticulture firms cannot find skilled workers, with teens viewing the job as 'unskilled'".

A hopeful sign was the last paragraph from the article. According to a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, "through our 'Future of Farming Initiative' we are working with the industry to help more talented, entrepreneurial young people build careers across the agriculture sector, including horticulture."

Just wording it , "The Future of Farming" is a good start.  We need to show that horticulture also includes the future of what we eat. Then the young people will show more interest. They are not necessarily interested in ornamental horticulture as much their parents we're. If the younger generation can understand that by becoming involved in horticulture they can change the world, then they might show interest. If they think horticulture is only about the perennial beds,  foundation shrubs, or lawn care, we won’t get the interest.

Get them hooked on the food side of horticulture, then the ornamental side may show more promise to them.  And forget about initiatives that are government supported. That will just bog the whole thing down. The trade needs to see what’s happening, and make the changes necessary themselves. Then you'll attract the type of new horticulturists we so desperately need going into the future.

Fungus threatens both ash trees and British nurseries.

According to The Guardian, "A fungus that has already affected 90% of ash trees in Denmark over the past seven years has now been detected in a handful of locations in the UK. If our government does not act urgently, warns the Woodland Trust, all Britain's estimated 80m ash trees could be lost to the fungal disease known as "ash dieback".  The Guardian say's, "Nurseries infected with the deadly fungus set to wipe out Britain's 80m ash trees have been removed from the official map of the outbreak the Guardian can reveal, after nursery owners complained that being identified might hurt their business."

While some nurseries are happy to be removed from the map others like "Judy Davey, who runs the Perrie Hale Forest Nursery near Honiton in Devon  said she had publicized the fact that an infected ash plant, bought from another UK nursery, had been discovered.  We decided to take the bull by the horns...we wanted people to know we were controlling this disease. Davey, whose nursery is in its third generation of family ownership, said the overall impact on the business "'has not been as bad as we feared'".

There is no cure for the disease.

Garden Centres Having Trouble in Britain?

Those of us in the garden center trades have been told for years that we needed to look to Great Britain for the future of  garden retail.  We we're told that the British, with their love of all things gardening somehow had unlocked the secrets to gardening retail.

All is not well with garden retail in Britain. In Garden Center Magazines,  "Reflections from across the pond" author Ian Baldwin say's, "British operators seem to have put gardening 'on hold...'" WHAT!?! The British nurseryman putting gardening on hold? Yes, it seems the British have the same issues we are dealing with here in many parts of North America. According to Ian, who visits Europe regularly as part of his consultation business, "many places had a tired look from the front of the 'Car Park.' Some outdoor sales areas had simply been allowed to go backwards without even a screen or fence to hide them. Only one or two centers had continued the creative standards of merchandising, POP (point of purchase) and even cleanliness in the plant areas that we took for granted in the past 20 years."

This is a profound change!  Nothing could stop the motivated British gardener from pursuing their craft, or so we believed. In addition The British have their own box stores. Ian say's, "many stores we saw on our yearly tours were no longer owned by the original family, having been acquired by small chains of investment companies or, in one case, by Tesco, the U.K.’s biggest retailer. "

In "Finding Mr. Flowerdew?"  written in 2006, I quoted Sir Roy Strong, historian and former longtime director of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sir Roy said, "Gardening is one of the few things holding British society together". If that is the case it sounds like British society is going through much the same angst our own society is experiencing.

In October 2007 I wrote, "This can be a lonely profession".  I said, "we read the trade magazines, listen to the consultants, and go to the trade shows which only confuse us more. People only want flowers in color, they don’t want to garden themselves (DIFM), drop the Latin Names (we’re told the consumer just doesn't care), put a coffee shop in, basically just try to make gardening as work free and instant as possible. " Glad we didn't follow that advice.

In the same 2006 article mentioned above the nucleus for our current garden center groups was formulated. I said, "the solution is communication within the individual garden centers. I enjoy reading other nursery peoples experiences with these important subjects. Since we are generally separated by distance, the idea of talking to the 'competitor' changes to talking with a fellow nursery person. There seems to be a freer exchange of information and experiences."

The post continues, "I would like to hear from more of you in the trade. Many of us are like Teresa who says, 'This article has finally gotten me to step out of my silent reader status' and comment. I think many of us don’t speak up because we are afraid of rocking the boat. We’ll its time for the boat rocking to commence. We independents must speak up to the wholesale concerns that supply our plants, we need to speak up to the large retailers that continue to dumb down gardening and attempt to convince people that gardening is problem free (two year guarantee?)."

That was the catalyst to starting my LinkedIn group, "Garden Centers, Nurseries, and New Media", which as of today has over 2800 members (anyone with an interest in gardening businesses can join). Our Facebook Group, Independent Garden Centers and Nurseries has over 355 of the most forward thinking nursery people as members (you should be there!). Finally, our newest group, Retail Independent Garden Centers, Vendors, and Media now has 180 members. Did I mention we have members from across the pond now, too? In our interconnected world we are more alike, than different. We can all learn from each other.

Garden Center Cafes

Today's Garden Center points us to recent study by Horticulture Week, a British on line web resource. Now this is a British study and I am not sure if it relates to Garden Centers in The United States, but I bet it will. According to a recent conference of the Horticultural Trade Association (HTA) in the U.K. Qualitative research by Illuma Research and the HTA showed cafe's are becoming meeting places in garden centers, according to the magazine. Sixty-five person (sic)of visitors told Illuma and HTA it was important to have a Cafe. An interesting note, too, is that "mums with toddlers" and "empty-nesters" were the most frequent visitors to the cafe.

We are always being invited to go on tours of Europe and especially Britain where we are told that the future of garden center retailing is being mapped out. While we have never found the time to take one of those European tours I read about what nursery people see there. It would seem that bigger stores, complete with cafes are what is hip. I actually find these reports depressing as a smaller garden center owner. 65% of visitors say it's important to have a cafe. We are are thinking about a coffee kiosk but the idea of building a cafe is just not in the cards, yet.

I think the most important thing to glean from a study like this is just how picky people are becoming. I can't even imagine that a cafe would have been necessary 10 years ago. Now if you want the business and don't have a cafe you might be out of luck. You cant't argue with peoples wants. They are what they are and we have to adjust or see our business slowly go away.

While the idea of building a cafe can be daunting for a small garden center, I do find hope in this report. It seems people want to hang out at garden centers that cater to their needs. Maybe we cant build a cafe, but we can offer a cup of excellent coffee and great places to sit and enjoy it. A small coffee kiosk that dispenses coffee, cappuccino, and other drinks might do the trick. Winter time is a problem as we don't have the room to set aside for a cafe. But during the dry season wondering through the nursery with a cup of good coffee is something our customers say would be nice. So next year we will do that.

Sometimes these reports seem to say, "Hey if you don't have the money to put in a cafe, bone bar for the pets, and giant indoor greenhouse shopping area, you're doomed. These studies seem to be aimed at the large garden centers who can implement these ideas. We smaller centers have to read these reports and come up with creative ways to provide the same experience, yet with a limited budget.