Exciting times in gardening

I have been remiss in cultivating this blog, and thank a long time reader for reminding me to do just that. We have been busy at the nursery with a spring not dominated by cold and rain, like last year. The weather has cooperated and people continue to buy edibles like there is no tomorrow. I enjoy the edible crowd as they have put a lot of effort into their garden, and they will do what's right to keep it productive. When you hear that generation x or y are not into gardening, check the source. No sign of that here. My customer base is at least 50% under 30 years of age. They are excited about growing the stuff they consume and want to patronize local business, if you have what they want. They don't want synthetics! Get your organic groove on, because they want to know how to do it all! I disagree with those who say we are not in the job of education. I think that's exactly what is needed, and what we should do. Teach a person how to garden...

Small is cool! After thirty years in this biz I can say, keep it small and keep your cool! It's so easy when everything is riding on your decisions to work yourself to exhaustion. If it feels like it's getting out of control, slow down. Take the time to focus on the person in front of you at the moment. That's what it's all about. Not saying we don't need to "make hay while the sun shines", but we can only do so much.

There is no better time for the smaller garden business. Being small means you can react to changes that come faster and faster every day. Being small means you can excel at your craft, and command the price for your work that you need to stay in business. The future of garden bio-diversity rests in the hands of gardeners, and small garden businesses.

How great it is to be alive when so much is changing. In the garden trades we get to help guide people in their efforts to live better.It's a trade that is perfectly suited for the world we live in. Did I say these we're exciting times?

Why not heirloom fruits?

Spent Sunday pruning our Arkansas Black apple tree. It hadn't been pruned for a couple of years, so it was due. We planted it about 20 years ago when I worked at Gold Hill Nursery. It's an old variety from 19th century Arkansas. Apparently you can keep the apples for up to six months under the right conditions. That would have been an important attribute back in  the day when you didn't know when the next taste of fresh food might be after a long winter.

I brought home two new apples for the garden. The two varieties we are going to plant are antique varieties, "Cox Orange Pippin" and "Snow".  Apparently, Cox Orange Pippin  accounts for up to 50% of all dessert apples planted in The United Kingdom.  It was first planted in 1825 in Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire, England, by the retired brewer and horticulturist Richard Cox.  Wikipedia say's, "The flesh is very aromatic, yellow-white, fine-grained, crisp and very juicy. Cox's flavor is sprightly subacid, with hints of cherry and anise, becoming softer and milder with age. When ripe apples are shaken, the seeds make a rattling sound as they are only loosely held in the apple flesh. One of the best in quality of the English desert apples".

The other apple variety we are planting is "Snow". Snow was introduced to the US from Canada in 1739, but can trace it's heritage back to France and the 1600's. It "is delicious for eating out-of-hand.  Popular in the United States for more than 150 years. Deep crimson, tender, aromatic, juicy, sweet and tart, hardy and long-lived. Snow white flesh." Interestingly it is one of the few apples to reproduce true from seed.

Why don't we plant more of these antique varieties? Why do people come to the nursery asking for "Fuji" , "Pink Lady", or "Red Delicious"? I can go to the store or Apple Hill and pick up those varieties. We should look back to see what we might be missing in flavor and qualities of the forgotten fruit varieties. Did you also know the antique apples are also more healthful than modern hybrids? One of the benefits of heirloom apples is they help control blood sugar levels, which some have found contribute to obesity.

There can be issues growing these trees commercially in North America.  Certain non-fatal diseases  can make it harder to grow than some of the newer bred for disease resistance varieties. Never-the-less heirloom vegetables have many of the same issues when it comes to commercial growing. That doesn't mean the individual gardener cannot have success growing these delicious reminders of summers past.

Authenticity vs. fiction in the garden

The Dig, Drop, and Done Bulb Ladies post sure hit a nerve. As a juxtaposition I want tell you about another company that

is creating buzz in a different way. Baker Seed is a company I have written about before in a post called "Closed on Saturdays". Baker seeds is a Missouri company that specializes in hard to find heirloom seed. Jere Gettle and his wife Emilee started the business in 1998 and it has grown since. They recently opened a "Seed Bank" in an old bank building in Petaluma, California. They are closed on Saturdays, which in retail is almost unheard of. Most amazing they have organized the first National Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa California in September.  The list of people attending and speaking is impressive with Alice Waters, Dr. Vandana Shiva, and others. The expo has events, a trade show featuring 250 natural vendors, and demonstrations. I want to go! Let me get this straight, it took a young couple from Missouri to come to uber hip Santa Rosa in The Bay Area to put this on? Why hadn't it been done before?

While at The IGC show in Chicago last week I had a chance to meet Jere Gettle. While standing in front of their simple booth someone commented on the "old time" clothes the people in the booth we're wearing. I was told, "they dress like that all the time". In other words they are authentic, unlike the Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies. That's why I was attracted to their booth and company. These people are real, and are offering you a way to grow a lifestyle based on authenticity and self-reliance. They are even closed on Saturday's (religious reasons), yet it doesn't seem to hurt their business. They actually inspired me to close my nursery on Sunday's (not religious reasons).

So how is it that a young couple from Missouri can create this kind of buzz just being themselves, and the bulb industry feels the need to come up with a group of fictional characters to sell bulbs? What's going on here? People will respond to authenticity. We have become jaded to the constant barrage of phoniness and migrate to companies that are truthful and authentic. Perhaps if the Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies we're real people it might be more effective.  In addition The Bakers are offering a lifestyle based on the growing of pure food. The Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies are offering a quick fix so they can continue their "lifestyles" outside of gardening. The garden is a second thought with The Ladies, the garden is the main event with the Bakers.

These days people are desperate for a authentic, hopeful message. If you give people the tools and knowledge needed they will respond. We underestimate the amount of work people are willing to put into their garden IF they are inspired. Let's quit trying to make gardening "easier". Let's be truthful about the work and rewards of gardening and we might create a new "passionate gardener".

Time to rethink your garden center business?

As we approach spring you can feel the excitement as garden centers across the country come back to life. Unlike here in California many nurseries close down for winter, and only re-open with the arrival of spring. We all need to get the cash flow going again as we try and navigate the new world that we find ourselves in. While many look forward to the "recession" ending and things getting back to normal I wonder what normal will be like? Here in California we are no where near out of the woods economically. As I drive through the foothills and Sacramento the number of commercial spaces available is astounding. Many strip malls are only half rented. "For lease" signs dot the region. Commercial landscaping is still dead, while residential landscaping is on life-support. Despite the government cheer leading that tells us of an "unexpected" drop in un-employment or "un-expected" surge in stocks, we know different. People are starting to realize that the government doesn't have a clue what's going on. It's up to us to get the news, spread the news, and adjust where necessary.

For garden centers in nor Cal my suggestion would be to continue to ride the wave of self-reliance that is starting to sweep the nation. People want fresh food that is safe to eat. Where does one find that anymore? Grow it your-self. Want tasty-tax free beer and wine to drink? Make it yourself. How about storing you own food for winter consumption? Do your own canning and freezing. More and more it is becoming hip to be self-reliant. This is not the survivalist view of self-reliance, though we can learn much from them. This is more about a self-sustaining lifestyle.

Garden centers are perfectly poised to become the self-reliance centers for every neighborhood. People are starting to see the relationship between smaller, locally owned businesses, and the health of their communities. If people are going to invest time and money into growing their own they need a local expert to go to when they need help. Time for those of us in the business to look at what we do in a whole new light.

What if you had to tear down your present garden center and start over? What would you do different? Don't use the assumption  that things will be like they we're before the recession. They won't. Fundamental shifts are taking place that will change the way we do things from now on. More and more we need to show people how to accomplish their goals. Demonstration gardens, workshops, seminars, on subjects that may not be just about gardening. How about beer and wine making classes? Canning classes? Bee keeping workshops? Cooking classes? Solar energy workshops? Hydro-ponics? Aquaponics?  Waste water treatment for rural areas? Wind power? etc. Imagine a new type of resource for the community. A new type of business. A new way of doing business. Maybe this is the year to re-invent how you approach what you do. Selling bulbs, roses, and landscape shrubs just doesn't cut it here anymore.

Why the Whole Earth Catalog? I loved that thing. Just going through it and imagining all the possibilities was a long term project. The idea behind the catalog is still viable, it's just moved online, and we are all authors now. Let's start a new chapter...

Closed on Saturday's!

Companies that go against the status quo and are successful fascinate me. In retail there are assumptions made that are considered untouchable if you want to be successful. In the garden center biz one assumption is that to capture the maximum number of shoppers you need to be open 7 days a week. If someone works all week then you have Saturday or Sunday to be open for them. If your closed they may very well head to the competition. A company I have watched before was highlighted today at gardencentermagazine.comBaker Creek Heirloom Seed is a Missouri company that specializes in hard to find heirloom seed.  I first found out about this company from  their fantastic seed catalog. According to their web page, "Jere Gettle always had a passion for growing things, and at age 3, he planted his first garden. Ever since that day, he wanted to be involved in the seed industry. So at the age of 17, he printed the first small Baker Creek Heir­loom Seed catalog in 1998. The company has grown to offer 1,400 varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs—the largest selection of heirloom varieties in the U.S.A."

In 2009 they decided to open a seed store in, of all places Petaluma, California. They bought a 1920's bank building and started "The Seed Bank". Here in the heart of The Bay Area and uber-hipness the company brought in Amish workers in traditional clothing to renovate the building. The company wanted to create an old time feeling with their business. To really set the tone they did something that is out of ordinary in retail, yet wen't right along with their beliefs. They are closed on Saturday! They do it for religious reasons, so their is no questioning them about the loss of business they might experience because of this. It's just the way it is. Their hours of operation are M-F 9:30 to 5:30 pm closed Sat. and open Sunday's, 9:30 to 4:00.

You can do this if you have something that nobody else carries. They "offer over 1,200 varieties of heirloom seeds, garlic, tools, books, and hundreds of local hand-made gifts and food items. Remember—everything we offer is pure, natural, and non-GMO!" If you want to choose amongst the largest selection of non-GMO heirloom seed's in a retail store, this is it. You'll work around the Saturday closing. The moral of the story is, carry what people want in a way no one else is doing.

As the world continues to change faster than we can keep up, people enjoy looking back to the old day's when things seemed simpler. This new store touches all the right points. Old bank building, lots of seeds, no GMO, people who are passionate about what they do, give back to the community, and live a life devoted to something bigger than themselves. Something so big they close on the what is usually the busiest day in retail gardening. Does this make them happier? I would hope so.

Instead of getting burned out this year, what if you closed the store for a day during during the week? Even in spring? What if you cut your hours of operation? What if you reduced the size of the nursery to better highlight what you carry? What if you only carried products that you believed in? It's a interesting idea. Live closer to your own beliefs, yet still make the money needed to accomplish your goals? Is is possible? We will see.

One businesses social media nightmare

Interesting conversations going on at Twitter concerning the term Urban Homesteading. Apparently a business in Los Angeles named Darvaes claims to own the right to the term. They operate a web page titled, Path to Freedom where they explain why they feel they have a trademark on the term, as well as others. Here is the post. The following is a list of tradmarked terms Path to Freedom say's are owned by someone, somewhere. "SQUARE FOOT GARDENING, EDIBLE LANDSCAPING, SEEDS OF CHANGE, THE PIONEER WOMAN, SIMPLE LIVING, LOCAVORE, HOMESTEAD GARDENS, BACKYARDFARMS, GAIA, VEGE, HONEYBEES, HOMEGROWN, BIODIESEL, BICYCLING, GARDENER, URBAN HOME, GARDEN, COMPOST MASTER, HOMEGROWN HARVEST, LIVING HOMEGROWN, HOMEGROWN HIPPIE, PLANT THE SEED, GARDEN GIRL, URBAN FARMING, HOBBY FARM, URBAN FARM, BIODYNAMIC, GROW BIOINTENSIVE, SLOW FOOD, CERTIFIED ORGANIC BY CCOF, If anyone is offended by these common trademarks, please contact the respective trademark owners!"

Apparently their fans decided to take them up on their suggestion to "contact the receptive trademark owners". The outcry from former fan's of the Dervaes has hit a nerve with the business as they Tweeted just a couple of hours ago, "know the facts before you (re)Act. Stop the 'mob of misinformation' and insighting malicious emails and harassing phone calls." Here is a link to the Twitter page #Urban Homestead. This is where former fan's (the mob) of the business are venting their outrage.

The terms listed above are commonly used by people all the time without problem. What got the Darvaes in trouble was they started to send notices to bloggers, libraries, and other that we're using the term, urban homesteading. They threatened the very people who have been their biggest fans and helped spread the word, bloggers.  It will be interesting to watch this and see what happens. They have had to close their Facebook Page because of the outrage. The continuing attempt to keep people from using the term is only going to erode any goodwill the business has left. Once you start a fight with your customers it's over. Calling them a mob doesn't help either.

17th century coffehouses, portable farms, and your local garden center

We are at the cusp of a gardening revolution. Every where we look new ideas and people are invigorating the field of horticulture. Some feel threatened by the changes, others look forward to the next development. As a nurseryman for over 30 years that I have felt both feelings lately. There is no better time to be in the garden center business than right now, yet that does not mean there are not great challenges to be faced. There will be many more small, medium, and large nurseries that will go out of business. Anytime there is a revolution the world as we know it gets turned upside down. Rather than pine for the old days of the garden center world, better to ride the wave into the future. What does the future hold for us? Ideas that at first seem outlandish, then come to make sense. My last post dealt with window farms. Window farms? How can you have a farm in a window? The idea that it is even a farm is a revolutionary idea. We all have a picture of what a "farm" is, and most of us would not think of a small window garden as a farm. This is one of the big changes we are talking about. It's the change we make in our own minds. A farm is a state of mind. Yes, you can be a farmer and live in the city. How about portable farms?

Check out the website, Portable Farms. They claim, "A Portable Farms& Aquaponics System is a onsite, food-production facility that ensures food security." Key words,"food security". One of the reasons we are seeing a resurgence in home-grown food gardens is concern about how commercial food is being grown and distributed. By growing your own you are in control. Just the idea of "portable farms" is intriguing. The use of hydroponics is growing by leaps and bounds. The necessary changes are coming that will allow us to grow tasty food hydroponically. The taste of commercial grown hydroponic (hot-house) food has been poor, just as commercially grown in soil food is never quite as tasty as home-grown.

Portable Farms makes use of hydroponics and aquaculture. I cannot vouch for the results of this system, yet it seems to me a great idea for producing food using modern technology. Here is a description of the system, and the inventor Colle Davis.  Colle and his wife Phyllis claim, "they enjoyed all the organic table vegetables, berries, tomatoes, and fish they could possibly eat with enough surplus to feed 50 people daily vegetables and one serving of fish per week, per person, for an entire year."

This is only the beginning. As Colle says, "Sometimes, all it takes is one simple idea that leads to other ideas and then on to other answers . . . it is in that collaboration that people will solve the problems of the world". In my last post about window farms the idea of collaboration was key. One person has an idea, its spread through the internet where someone else improves on the idea, and so on. The pace of change is what is so exciting. Ideas that took years to find an audience in the past now just take days, if not hours.

Just as coffee houses in the 17th century became places for discussion and world-changing ideas, the small local garden center should become its 21st century equivalent.  Places for the community to gather and share ideas that will change the world. It's coming sooner than we think.