Fertilizer Art

Wanted to comment on Susans post at
Garden Rant about artwork on some some fertilizer boxes. Chuck B. said "Maybe this stuff has a following with pot growers". Bingo! I find the artwork amusing, but a little over the top. Especially "Wet Betty". It seems to be aimed at a less mature crowd. Kind of potty humor.

We carry a line of products by Foxfarm Fertilzer Co. that has some great artwork.

They have always done a great job of getting your attention. From the original Foxfarm Planting mix to the latest Cha-Ching, Beastie Bloomz, and Open Sesame. They do this without insulting your intellegence. Cool graphics, with interesting descriptions of what the product does.

No DEET Mosquito Repellent

We started carrying a product called "The Ultimate Insect Repellent", made by the people at Liquidfence Deer Repellent. It has been flying off the shelves as people are looking for an effective mosquito repellent that does not contain DEET. It contains all natural ingredients including lemon grass, cedarwood and citronella oils.

I have tried it and am happy with the results. It comes in spray bottle or toweletts. Check you local garden center, or order straight from Liquidfence. Let me know if you do use it how it works for you.

Getting Water The Old Fashioned Way

Stuart mentioned "it would be great to hear your views, frustrations and joys of being a nursery owner and all that entails."
Well, this morning at 6 a.m. I look out of the office and notice the sprinklers, which go on automatically at that time, are not working. So after I check the valve to make sure its on, I grab my broom and drive up the hill about a mile. That is where the water ditch that supplies our water travels. Now I am Trey the "ditch tender."

This ditch, and the one that feeds it, are old mining ditches from the gold rush era. They were originally built to transport water for the gold mining mining activities that built San Francisco, but were later used for agriculture, and still are! These ditches travel over 40 miles from the high country lakes, weaving their way

down to about a mile above the nursery, where it enters a distribution box that takes a portion of the water, and sends it down the "Garden Valley Pipe", which is a 8" metal pipe that just happens to pass right through the nursery.

What happens is debris gets caught in the wire mesh that protects the pipe from getting clogged, and you have to brush the screen to dislodge the debris and get water flowing again. Once the water is flowing it takes about half an hour for the line to fully fill and provide the pressure I need to operate the sprinklers. If the sprinklers don't start their cycle on time, they will still be running when we open, which is no good. I have six different stations that each run for a different amount of time.

I don't like to have to get up and do this, but the water is so inexpensive I can't help it. We buy what's called a "miners inch". The amount of water that flows through a one inch opening day and night from May to October. You pay a set fee, and we get all the water I could ever use. The drawback is the occasional morning trip to the ditch.

The other thing about the water that is unique is it is untreated. No chlorine. Straight from snow melt it has minerals, and I am sure some fertilizer. I haven't had to feed my plants since spring! Of course we dont't drink this water. It drops down off the hill right to the nursery providing 130 P.S.I., which is enough to operate 5 to 6 rainbirds at a time.

These ditches are a part of "old California", which will surely be gone one day. I think it's so unique, that the occasional morning trip to "tend the ditch" is well worth it.

Blogging Nurseryman

I wanted to comment on the post today over at Garden Rant. I basically have tried to stay away from controversial subjects that might negatively influence how my customers see their local garden center. I have never hung any political signs on my fence by the road, nor openly stated my political beliefs to my customers, even though I follow politics pretty closely, and have strong feelings about what goes on in that area. It's just that I want my garden center to be a refuge from all that. You can come to my shop, relax, and leave all that behind. The instant I hang a political sign on the fence by the road people will make decisions, that in my mind might cause them to not shop at my store. Same goes for my blog. It may not be courageous, but I am just trying to sell some flowers. I am envious of those of you who can say what ever comes across their mind. For many of you it's not going to effect the bottom line.
The same thing goes for controversial subjects on my blog. I don't usually bring them up intentionally. We'll, some times I dip my toes in, as in my post on Latin names. Why, we have had quite a discussion. Like who's bringing the cookies to the Latin Meetings, Amy, and we even have EAL going to "the Amalfi coast Friday, where, as I am sure you Latin buffs know, some of the wines most beloved of the ancient Romans were produced. (Tuscany was not all that in those days.) I will come back with recommendations." The controversy? I wanted a cabernet or zinfandel. I am sure we can hash this out

I am a bit like Hanna, who said "I started this blog because I am a little egotistical and a little opinionated and I really like to garden." substitute a "little egotistical" with "egotistical" and "I really like to garden" with "love selling plants", and that's me.

I am also interested in what Stuart was asking for. I like reading, and perhaps commenting on the more controversial aspects of gardening. It seems right now the most controversial subject is more about what blogs are than gardening. I don't have much to say about that, since I have only been blogging for a little while. It is quite refreshing to see how everyone has been passionate, yet respectful. I think that is the nature of gardening. Gardeners are special people, with an an ability to respond to the issues that impassion them, but see the bigger picture. Your garden is a place to retreat from the day to day events outside the garden wall. If, and when you want, you allow people inside your special place for a visit. That's the beauty of garden blogs. If your garden is off the street where people can't see it, you can, when you desire, show it to the world.

The reason I blog is because I feel I have something important to say about "my" garden. My "garden" is my nursery. It is a interesting place and occupation. People are always saying how much fun it must be to play amongst the flowers and make it your business. It is! But as all gardeners know, when it comes to tending their garden, it's hard work. Not only do I have to tend my "garden', I have to figure out what it is that you folks want so I can have it in my "garden". Like Amy said "I am a total plant addict and the people who feed my addiction are getting rich." I was wondering why their are so many rich nurserypeople in Eureka.

Those of you who are "Suspicious of the horticultural industry.”, fear not. I am just trying to figure out what it is you want, when you want it, and how I can get it to you.

I am also a bit of a voyeur, and just enjoy looking at your garden.

Latin Names

I read a post over at Gardening While Intoxicated about the use of Latin names in gardening. I couldn't agree more to what EAL said.

The advice we get from nursery trade magazines these days is to keep it simple for the gardener. We are told that using botanical names for plants will make the customer feel intimidated and talked down to. Use common names to make the customer feel comfortable, we are told.You don't need to know the Latin names of plants to enjoy gardening, but it is nice to learn something about Latin names for the reasons you stressed. We don't over use Latin names here when talking to the customer, but we don't hide from them. Our plant signs have the common and Latin names on them. When I write an article for the paper, I always try to use the common names with the Latin names.

The trend to use only common names is an attempt to appeal to the mass audience, which apparently needs to have things made simple for them. We are a smaller garden center appealing to a smaller, more gardening astute crowd. They, and we, want the Latin names to help prevent confusion.Is it creeping zinnia or Sanvitalia procumbens. Want a tulip tree? Magnolia soulangiana or Liriodendron? Want a Redwood tree? Sequoia sempervirens or Sequoia gigantea?Latin is necessary in our trade, and besides its kind of fun.

Snow flower in the high country.

Since it was Monday, and the nursery is closed, we took a drive up Wentworth Springs Road past Georgetown to Loon Lake and Gerle Creek Reservoir. These bodies of water are where we get the water for the nursery. It sits at about 6500 feet in the Crystal Basin Region of The Eldorado National Forest. The snow must have just melted since I came upon a Snowflower (Sarcodes sanguinea). These plants show up right as snow is melting, sometime poking up through the snow. I found out that where we were was inaccessible just a week ago, because of snow. It was hard to miss driving along the road as it was the only bright red flower in view. It only occurs between 4000 and 8000 foot elevation. Here is what John Muir had to say, "... It is a singularly cold and unsympathetic plant. Everybody admires it as a wonderful curiosity, but nobody loves it as lilies, violets, roses, daisies are loved. Without fragrance, it stands beneath the pines and firs lonely and silent, as if unacquainted with any other plant in the world; never moving in the wildest storms; rigid as if lifeless, though covered with beautiful rosy flowers."

The drive up Wentworth Springs Road is one of the most beautiful drives in California. It takes us a little over an hour to get to Loon Lake, if we don't stop
to look at spectacular views and plants along the way. The dogwoods and ceanothus were still blooming since in the high country spring was just starting.

Questions and answers

We started something new with our latest e-newsletter. While we have always had a place to e-mail questions, we never shared the answers or the questions with everyone. Now we will post both the questions and answers on the the e-news, and on our web site www.thegoldengecko.com, under Gardening Q and A . This will allow everyone to share in the knowledge. I am getting people with differing or added advice commenting on the questions and answers. Great, we will put those there too.

Dirt: Garden Rant Takes Over the World

Check out a new blog Dirt: Garden Rant Takes Over the World. Amy Stewart, one of the bloggers, says --'We are delighted by people with a passion for plants. Show some excitement! Have an opinion! Fall in love! Get mad! If you're bored, put your pen down and go outside. Just don't bore us, too.'

Here is 'Garden Rants' manifesto:

We Are:

Convinced that gardening MATTERS.

Bored with perfect magazine gardens.

In love with real, rambling, chaotic, dirty, bug-ridden gardens.

Suspicious of the horticultural industry.

Delighted by people with a passion for plants.

Appalled by chemical warfare in the garden.

Turned off by any activities that involve landscaping with plant materials.

Flabbergasted at the idea of a no maintenance garden.

Gardening our asses off.

Having a hell of a lot of fun.

I can't wait to read about the horticultural industry, which I am a small part of, and the authors are 'suspicious of..' Good, lets hear what people have to say. I'll check out 'Rant' regularly.

Hypertufa workshop

We have gotten back to holding our workshops every other Saturday. What with the anniversary party, quilt show, garden tour, etc. we hadn't held a class for a month or so. Monica's hypertufa container class is always popular as you make the pot here to take home.

Hypertufa pots are made to look like English troughs originally made to hold water for livestock. When the old stone troughs we no longer used, gardeners found them great as containers for plants. Since these were stone and hard to deal with, hypertufa came along to resemble stone, with a lot less weight.

While there are lot's of recipe's for making these containers Monica uses this formula:
1 1/2 parts peat moss
1 1/2 parts perlite
1 part Portland cement

The shape of the container is really only limited by your imagination.
You can brush yogurt onto the hypertufa to create a moss covered look quicker than nature would.

Our next workshop 'container gardening' is Saturday, June 24th. Some of the people who came to this workshop will bring their hypertufa pots for planting. I'll post some pictures of what they come up with for plantings. Cactus, succulents, miniature conifers, bonsai, or flowers. We'll see.

Nursery before, and now.

We just celebrated our 2nd anniversary at the Golden Gecko Garden Center a few weeks ago. I found some before and after photos of the nursery. When we were building the facility I had to remind myself to stop and take some photos. I knew they would be fun to look at later.

When we bought the property we found this willow, just about to fall over. I thought it would be safer to cut it down, but fortunately was convinced to try and save it. We put a brace on one end,
and give the tree a haircut in the winter. It has become a favorite of our customers and guests.
Sometimes you get so involved in what your doing that you don't realize how far you have come. We love this place, and enjoy adding to the beauty of the location.

Amador Flower Farm

Since the nursery is closed Monday's it's a chance for Monica and I to decompress. We decided to head to the wine country in the Shenandoah Valley, Amador county. It's a great drive through El Dorado's south county, where there are wineries galore. Stopped at Fizpatricks winery in Fairplay, did a little wine tasting, bought some bottles, and continued to Amador Flower Farm. It's a neat nursery that sits surrounded by vineyards. www.amadorflowerfarm.com

They have a huge display garden in full sun. Ornamental grasses, perennials, and shrubs, are kept looking immaculate. They specialize in daylilies, which they grow in a field of thousands. They have a nice gift shop and the whole place is kept very clean.

If you want to enjoy visiting wineries that are smaller and more personal than Napa or Sonoma the south county of El Dorado to Amador County is the place to go. You can also tie in a visit to the flower farm, where they have picnic areas.

We really enjoyed the displays of ornamental grasses. It was nice and breezy the day we went, and the grasses were moving in the wind. They have labels on the plants, so we were able to gather the names of the ones we want.

I enjoy visiting other garden centers when we have a chance. It's a pleasure to find garden centers that have found a niche and are doing well. I also enjoy nurseries that have a certain funk to them, that sets them apart. There are fewer of these places around anymore, but they do exist. You've got to hunt them down sometimes, but it's usually worth it.

Raised Bed

The raised bed that we made in our workshop in April raised bed is now planted.
In the 4 by 8' bed we planted four tomatoes, "Lemon Boy", "Early Girl", "Isis Candy", and "Tangerine". In addition we planted Peppers, "Habenero", "Jalapeno", "Yellow Bell", "Pablono", and "Anaheim Chili". We also tucked basil and cilantro into the bed.

The tomato cages are heavy duty metal, and the hoops are to hold bird netting or frost blanket over the plants. Monica is placing the bird netting over the hoops. The netting for now will keep the cats out of the box.
I filled the boxes with a combination of "Green All" Planting Mix and "Foxfarm" Planting mix. You can reach in with your bare hands to about a foot without much effort. It's so soft and fluffy!

The nursery sprinklers will water the bed every morning, and we will feed with "E.B. Stone" Tomato and Vegetable food once a month.

Planting our little garden bed was quite satisfying, as we spend all day helping other people to garden that we often find ourselves without the energy to do our own. I would like to build a couple of more beds and use our garden as a demonstration garden for our guests and customers.

The "Neddle Nellies" brought their quilts to th…

The "Neddle Nellies" brought their quilts to the garden center today. They raffle off one of their quilts to benefit the local fire department. We love the quilts as they seem to fit in so well at the garden center.

This is just a taste. It's been a long day. I'll post more later.

What a weekend for the garden center. People were …

What a weekend for the garden center. People were out and about looking for gifts for mom, as well as just enjoying being outside with the nice spring weather. Lot's of people who haven't been to the center before were in. They seem to come from all over, Sacramento, Folsom, Placerville, and Auburn. This is what we want, as we build the garden center into a destination nursery. To that end we are involved in Placerville Community Pride's annual garden tour Sunday, May 21st. This is our first year on the tour and we hope to see a lot of new people as well as old friends.

The day before we will have The Needle Nellies showing off their quilts in the garden center. The effect of these works of art displayed in the garden center is quite beautiful and not to be missed.

This year there will be demonstrations including, machine quilting, applique, and hand quilting.
www.thegoldengecko.com for more info.

Today is Monday, and is the day the nursery takes a rest.

No rest for us as we were finally able to clean the other side of Empire Creek. A large willow branch had crashed down in the last storm and we finally got it cleaned up.
Mowed the grass and hooked up the sprinkler system. We're on irrigation water as of today through September. We get our water from a 100+ year old water ditch that still serves the community. This is water untreated, straight from snow melt in The Sierras. I think it helps our plants grow more healthy. Keeps's the grass greener!

Check out this post from Amy Stewart at her blog …

Check out this post from Amy Stewart at her blog Dirt: The garden industry blogs! Some interesting insights on blogs by greenhouse growers, and the Gardening for Dummies at Wal Mart.

I guess worrying about demographics, and the so called shrinking market share that gardening is suffering is the job for the big growers and marketers. I find we are as busy as ever, with both young and old enjoying the garden. When your business involves shareholders, and the need for constant growth, you worry about those things. We would love to have ever increasing sales, every year, but the weather and other factors sometimes put a crimp in things.

This is not a job for get rich quick thinking. You have to believe that what you are doing is worthwhile, and have the ability to stay positive, even as it rains on your parade.

So far the few industry blogs I have seen seem to be a little less interesting than I would like. They almost seem like slick advertising. Yes it is nice to see the growers talking, but where is the back and forth form readers? Amy is right, allow comments.

Wal Mart is just like Home Depot or any where else where plants are commodities and the goal is to push material out the door. This is a great thing for the small, independent garden center. It allows us to provide what is so lacking in the chain stores, the ability to express your individuality. If you want your garden to look just like the one next door, then Wal Mart and The Depot are just for you. I get a sense of bland uniformity in these stores. It's the same felling I get when I drive through some of the new subdivisions that are sprouting up around the greater Sacramento Region. The front yards look the same, grass, a tree, and some common shrubs planted around. In a word, bland. No originality. That's what you get when "The Corporate Office" decides what will be sold in their stores. Bougainvillea for the foothills? Of course, The Corporate Office bought how many gazillions of them and by goodness you will sell them. Does it mater that they won't make it through the winter here? Is there a sign placed by the plant that mentions they might make a wonderful annual, but don't count on them as the privacy vine you wanted? Of course not. This is gardening for dummies, and if the plant fails you must have done something wrong. Just dig it up, bring it to them, and they will replace it for you. No one to tell you that you should try a hardier vine more appropriate for our region, or discuss how to prevent future problems.

If you want to be successful as a garden center owner just supply what the customer is not getting at the chains. Information on local gardening conditions, superior quality and a wider selection of interesting plants, as well as service. This means loading the bags in the back of the car for the customer or delivering them. You won't here us say "this is not my department" and then walk away.

Well, now that I got that out of my system its time to open the gates for what looks like a beautiful Mothers Day weekend. Let's thank Mom this Sunday for not raising any "dummies".