We have strayed too far from the garden.

This from Fred Hoffman in Sacramento. He has a listener who writes,

"Fred:

Thought I would let you know the Home Depot at Folsom Blvd. & Power Inn Road just got in a shipment of one quart, Bonnie brand, Early Girl and Cherokee Purple tomato plants at $5.98/ea.  Great looking plants, no tomatoes on any of them but a sign on the front that said 50 days to harvest.  I asked the nursery clerk why they had tomatoes now (when they haven't had any for at least six weeks) and she said the vendor assured her this was the time to plant them.  Do you think Bonnie knows something about 'climate change' they aren't telling anyone else?"

50 day harvest means will start picking fresh tomatoes around the end of October.  In places like Texas they plant tomatoes in the late summer, but here in northern California they die when the frost comes, in October. So was the Home Depot in Folsom, CA sent tomatoes meant for Texas? No. According to the "nursery person" at The Depot the vendor  say's it's time.  Well that settles it!

What more disturbing? That Bonnie Plants insists it's time to plant tomatoes here, or a "nursery person" working at The Depot goes along with it? We have strayed too far from the garden. Something that our grandparents would have known, the first frost date has been forgotten by the later generations. They don't even know that in a month tomatoes will be done. What most disturbing is perhaps these nursery people questioned tomatoes arriving now, but because the vendor say's it's time, it's time. No one willing to stand up to the boss as ask, "why are we doing this?". Keep quiet, keep you head down, and be thankful you have a job. Now sell those tomatoes!

Where Home Depot gets it's plant names from

Just in case you we're wondering where Home Depot get's its plant names from they made a video for you to answer that burning question. According to Home Depot's Garden Club videos "Watch Kerry Meyer, Project Manager at The Home Depot, describe how the names of the plants at The Home Depot are created. She specifically details the most challenging plant, a purple and green petunia." Oh, wait. Is Kerry from Home Depot as the video description say's, or Proven Winners as her sweater and video intro say? Does it matter? Just a Freudian slip on the part of Home Depot? Or is this closer to reality than they might like to admit?

Stuff happens

This is a post meant to let you know that I am still here, and the blog lives! A fellow nursery person and friend wrote today asking if I was OK, as I had not posted for a while. Everything is fine. Like so many in our trade we just find ourselves tired and burned out  after a long spring and summer. It takes a little while to get enthused again, and in many cases the cooler weather of fall often helps. We have been fairly busy at the nursery with changes we are making. It's all good stuff and we feel fortunate that we are still in business with so many other local garden centers folding. I hear that in California we have a 12% unemployment rate. Wow! It's most certainly is not business as usual in The Golden State. We are thrilled with the support we have received from the community, and glad to be here to help people with their gardens.

Stuff happens! Like the drunk driver crashing through our front gate Labor Day night. 76 feet of fence, and  landscaping destroyed. It also took out a large part of the children's playground at my wife's daycare, the day before school started. Fortunately they have insurance, and we are now in the process of trying to get the insurance company to pay out.  Some people only seem to be able to visit the nursery by driving through the fence in the middle of the night.

A summer of less blogging is turning into a tradition for me. Rather than just put out a post everyday that is less than interesting I would rather wait till my muse arrives. My muse sometimes enjoys taking a vacation during the summer. Lucky muse! It just takes friends to remind me that I have been a bit remiss in posting. Thanks!

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Turns out my last post "Make your message easy to spread", was my 2500 (or 2049th according to some web page that count's them up) post at this blog. Doesn't matter, it's a lot. It got me thinking about how this blog was begun in a time before

Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. The idea was to give the customer an opportunity to hear about the stuff we we're up to at the nursery. I also liked the idea that the customer could contact the owner or someone in charge via the blog. No more going through "gate keepers" trying to get an answer. Post a question at the blog and withing 24 hours you had and answer. Cool stuff at the time. Remarkable really.

There is no doubt that we have been over inundated with different social media outlets to wile away the time. Can anyone really keep up with their Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Four Square, Blog, or Flickr accounts? Of course removing yourself from any one of these outlets might mean your missing out on some important news, so we keep plugging along. I am starting to think that the real mavericks out there will start culling some of their accounts so as to be able to focus better at one or two of them. I give guy's like Hugh  MacLeod credit for making such a move. It's not easy un-plugging from potential information streams, but as Hugh say's, " ...Facebook and Twitter are too easy. Keeping up a decent blog that people actually want to take the time to read, that’s much harder. And it’s the hard stuff that pays off in the end."

When I started the blog in 2005 the nursery trade was still rocking and rolling. It would be another year before the housing market crashed here in California, and another year or two before the recession hit. Looking back at 2005 I realize we we're at the end of an era. The era of easy money and large landscape purchases was over. No equity in the house? No new outside entertainment area complete with outdoor TV and throw pillows. Times have changed, and only a few garden centers have changed with them. So many nurseries that we're the "bees knees" when times we're good, are now out of business. It seemed they we're doing everything right according to the old playbook. The problem is the play book got changed and no one received the memo. Where to go from here?

I believe that social media can be a powerful tactic, in a overall marketing strategy. Seems many businesses are using it as a strategy however, trying to cover up a lack of original ideas or products.  "Hey,  we can just keep doing things like we always have, and with social media people will soon discover how cool we are". Social media doesn't make you cool, it amplifies the cool stuff you are already doing, or planning. There was a time when just doing social media was a cool thing. That era is long over. If what you are doing is "remarkable" then people will remark about it, and you can help amplify that message through social media.

The garden businesses that stand out to me as models to follow, really are impossible to follow. They do things their own way, and not according to the old playbook. That's remarkable, and tends to get more social media amplification.  That's the model to follow, the non

-model. Be a maverick and do things in a way they haven't been done before. It could be what you carry, or a way of doing business. Don't get caught up in over-analyzing your next move. Better to launch something now,  than wait because it wasn't perfect to start with.

Certainly Steve Jobs knows about being a maverick. He knows about launching something less than perfect, and fixing it later. He spoke at Stanford University's commencement in 2005 and the speech is worth watching or reading, especially in light of his recent retirement. It will inspire you.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Make your message easy to spread

One of the coolest logo's of any garden center is Sloat's Garden Centers in The San Francisco Bay Area. This chain has been in business since 1958 and takes it's name from the site of the original store on Sloat Avenue, near the zoo.

The logo is perfect for the time and place. Forward looking woman who looks like she really gardens. This person is ready for business. This is the  opposite message of The Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies. While both are "fictional" the Sloat logo sends a different message. Self-reliance as opposed to "needful", intelligence as opposed to "gossipy", independence as opposed to "group think". You could take the Sloat logo, and put it on a gift bag, or bumper sticker and it sends a message. Put the "Ladies" on a shopping bag? Not. You could even take the Sloat logo and paste different sayings across it. "Rebel", "Independent", "Flower Power", "Change", "Hope", etc. I am going to take a guess and say most women would rather where a tee-shirt with the Sloat logo on it than a tee-shirt with the "Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies" printed on it.

Is there a description of the "average" garden center customer? Is there one logo or idea that will work for all garden

centers, or appeal to all garden center customers? No. Perhaps in some regions The Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies will resonate.  You cannot please everyone and each store has to decide what direction their marketing efforts go. What you have to figure out is how to allow your customers to spread the word for you. One way is through "social objects" like logo's. You want an easy way for people to share your stores message. They have to want to spread the message, and the message has to resonate with others.  "I want a tee shirt like that" or "I want to be the type of person who shops at a cool place like Sloats." Make your message easy to spread. Make it a message people will want to spread.

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".

Bulbs and The Dig, Drop, and Done Ladies

Back  in February we reported on a new bulb campaign designed to revitalize the depressed bulb market. It was there

where we talked about how, "the Royal Trade Association for Nursery Stock and Flower Bulbs headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands has decided to throw some money at the problem. They have committed to a three year, $1.9 million campaign. According to Peter Mitchell, Woodbine President & CEO, 'we believe our campaign has the potential to do for the flower bulb industry what ‘Got Milk‘ has done for the milk industry'”.

The ad campaign has arrived. It's called "Bulbs, Dig, Drop, Done" It features three ladies called what else, "the Dig, Drop, Done Ladies". There's Marci, The Super Mom who is the mother of 3 with twin sons and a daughter, lives in the 'burbs' and is a substitute teacher. There is also Juliana The Fashionista, and Evelyn The Empty Nester. Between the three they are going to revitalize the bulb market by showing us just how easy it is to enjoy the beauty of bulbs.

Over at Garden Rant Elizabeth is duly un-impressed saying, "welcome to Dig. Drop. Done. Where women come in 3 sizes: cocktail-swilling sex kitten, cupcake-baking mom, and attention-starved, curler-wearing golf widow. Each of the characters has her own wardrobe, props, and videos. I hope the actresses who played them were paid well. They’re quite bad, but even so, hard to see how anyone could say this crap convincingly." Ouch!

So is this a huge waste of money by the bulb industry,  a brilliant marketing campaign, or something in-between? Is this campaign you as a garden center owner can get behind. As a gardener does this inspire you to try bulbs?

Back from The IGC Show in Chicago

The IGC show in Chicago was great fun. I had a chance to meet many of the people whom I  interact with online. Jeff and Cheryl Morey who organize the show treated myself and our Facebook Group well. A highlight for our group was the special seating at the Lou Graham concert where special signs pointed the way for us. Very cool! The mood at the show from the vendors and attendants is cautious optimism.  Well, actually that's being a bit generous. I would have to say that the mood is neutral, as if waiting for the next shoe to drop. While I was there the stock market was dropping 500 plus points and the European debt crises grew more ominous. There is no doubt that we are in a transformational time in our garden center trade. While attending this show I received word that another IGC in Sacramento will be closing it's doors. I am afraid there will be many more retail and wholesale operations closing their doors this, and next year.

Amongst this I saw signs of the future direction of the garden center world. It's hopeful, game changing, and very exciting. The future for the trade is bright, it's just many won't last or make the changes necessary to see this future. I heard a number of times from both vendors and retail people about, "when the economy recovers..." My concern is there is no time to wait. You had better start making the changes you need to make now, as I am not sure how long we will have to wait for the economy to "recover". When it does "recover" I am not sure if we will recognize it. It will not be "business as usual".

I am convinced the future for my store, and perhaps yours is in creating passionate gardeners. This is done through education, collaboration, and enthusiasm. One part of this future for us in the trade is collaboration. There are no secrets anymore, and the more we share the more we gain. This is being proven again and again in our Facebook group Independent Garden Centers and Nurseries where the most forward thinking nursery people reside.The ideas being shared in the group are actionable ideas that can be taken back to your store and used to make a difference to the bottom line. While at the show I had breakfast with a leader in the garden center world who want's to promote our group on an international level. Imagine sharing ideas with people in our trade from around the world! Who knows what, or where the ideas you can use will come from?

Exciting things are happening, and there is money to be made in our trade. It's just the old way's won't work as well and we have to work together to forge a new path. Collaboration with like minded businesses is one key for the future of the Independent Garden Center world. Come along and join us on this trip to the "new world". Who know's what we'll discover.

"Hi, we're from Plant Watch and would like to look around..."

We operate a retail garden center where we don’t do a lot of our own propagating. Many of our plants are from wholesale growers who in turn often get their cuttings from a branding company. Apparently there is concern that some growers are propagating plant’s they do not have the right to propagate. According to American Nurseryman,  “Starting this fall, nurseries across the country can expect a polite inspection by Plant Watch® representatives to see how they are meeting the requirements of these branded programs. It's well known how expensive it is to establish a plant brand in the landscape and nursery business. Growers who comply with patent and branding requirements are at a disadvantage when infringers undercut prices.” Not being in the wholesale side of things I was wondering how big this problem is. According to American Nurseryman, “In order to  support their network of compliant growers, Spring Meadow Nursery, Bailey Nurseries, Conard-Pyle and Plant Development Services have hired Plant Watch® to inspect nurseries, report on their findings, and collect fines where warranted.”

“Plant Watch® started in 2005 and is modeled after COPF in Canada, a well-known monitoring program established in 1964.  COPF has been inspecting for Spring Meadow Nursery since 2008, resulting in more than $30,000 in fines collected during 2010 alone.”

I am curious what the $30,000 in fines represents as far as the number of nurseries involved. Is this problem getting better or worse since last year? Are particular plants more likely or not to be illegally propagated?

Compost tea serves up controversy

We have started brewing and selling compost tea at our garden center. Never having brewed or used it I though it would be fun to see what happened. So we have been applying it in my vegetable garden as a drench. No other fertilizers or plant growth products we're used. We do routinely mix in organic matter before planting. In the past we would have to fertilize even after the organic matter was mixed in since the plants would show signs of nutrient deficiencies. This year the tea is all we have used. The garden has never been so lush or vibrant. I understand there is some controversy on the use of compost tea. Linda Chalker-Scott is one of authors of The Garden Professors, a blog for the extension service of Washington State University. Linda has written about compost tea and why she feels it's an un-proven science. Here is a post from 2010.

We are wondering if anyone else out there uses brewed compost tea, and what the results we're? I am trying to reconcile my  success in the garden using this stuff, with the science that Linda writes about. It does seem the controversy centers on the use of compost tea as a foliar spray (applied to the leaves) for fungus and insect control. We use it as a drench for "feeding" the soil, and plants.

Do you use it, or have you used it? What we're the results for you? Any explanation on why it "seems" to work in my garden, yet scientifically it shouldn't? Fascinating subject. Thanks in advance for your input.

Dreaming up the future of garden retail

Our Facebook Group, Independent Garden Centers and Nurseries grew a little bigger. Today Dan Mulhall of Mulhalls Nursery in Omaha got on the bus and became our 300th member. Our group has now become the leading forum for independent garden center owners, and employees. One reason the group continues to grow is the amazing cost to benefit ratio. For the price of membership (free) the benefits are huge. Where else could you ask what fellow garden centers think about QR codes, or whether they have started to use the codes? Wondering “How can a wholesale nursery survive selling so cheap to Home Depot?” They can’t, and we discuss why. One member asked “Have any of you had HD (Home Depot) post a sign in their nursery area with your name and plant prices with no size so they look cheaper.” One of our members has, and tells what he thinks of that, and what they plan to do about it.

We hear a lot of talk about how the Independent garden center businesses need to band together. We have! It’s happening right now, and we want your input. Do you want to change the trade for the better? Do you just want to survive to do it again next year? Either way our group is the place to be. To request membership head here, and read our document listing the criteria for joining.  The future of garden retail is being dreamed up, and implemented by our 300 plus members.

Sid's two retail garden center's in Chicago area to close

This is sad news for gardeners in Chicago Land.

Sid's Greenhouses in Palos Hills and Bolingbrook, Illinois will be closing their two retail locations. According to Sid's website, "In announcing the closings to employees and the public, Company president Philip Schaafsma, Sr. said, “'It is with a great deal of emotion that I must tell you that Bill and I have been forced to close the stores. Lagging sales over the last several years along with declining property values on which our loans and credit lines are based are among the factors leading to this difficult decision. We thank all of our employees and customers for the wonderful memories associated with our stores, and wish all of our employees the best as they seek new opportunities in the coming weeks.'” Approximately 110 full and part-time employees will be displaced by the closures; many of them have worked for the Schaafsma family for twenty years or more. The closures also mean a loss of millions of dollars in retail sales and accompanying tax revenues to the local economy."

Sid is a member of our Independent Garden Centers and Nursery page on Facebook and made the announcement to us just hours ago. I hope it all works out for the family and crew. The same issues that have plagued all of us in this trade over the last few years we're just too much for this 50 year plus business. It could happen to anyone. One can only imagine what the owners and staff are going through. I wish them the best of luck in whatever the future holds.

Why do we do this?

In my last post we talked about a homeowner  in Oak Park, Michigan who is facing jail time for planting a vegetable garden in their front yard. The city feels a suburban front yard should have a certain look. Perhaps a lawn and some trees, but certainly not a vegetable garden. I am sure the city would also like that lawn to be weed free since weeds are likely to make the lawn look disheveled, and we mustn't have that. To prevent those weeds the lawn crew might want to spray a weed control on the lawn. That is certainly better than a vegetable garden where weeds need to be removed by hand. Let's spray "Imprelis", an herbicide introduced last year for commercial use by DuPont. The only problem, according to The Detroit Free Press is, "In neighborhoods nationwide, millions of dollars worth of Norway spruce and white pine trees are mysteriously turning brown and dying this summer, and the chief suspect is Imprelis."

It appears that Norway spruce is susceptible to damage and death after lawns they share space with we're sprayed with the lawn herbicide. It seems, "many landscapers in Michigan and elsewhere switched to Imprelis this year to control weeds such as dandelions because it was touted as safer for the environment than predecessors such as 2, 4-D."

Maybe it's easier for those of us in rural areas to say no to lawns. Perhaps the pressure to be like the neighbors makes having a weed free lawn so important. But for the life of me I cannot imagine why we would say NO to someone growing vegetables in their front yard and YES to having a lawn treated with herbicides.

Self-sufficiency is not a crime

At a time when we need more people growing their own food and becoming more self-sufficient we have government pushing back. Check out this picture of a families home in Oak Park, Michigan. Seems they have run afoul of local ordinances. According to theagitator.com "'City code says that all unpaved portions of the site shall be planted with grass or ground cover or shrubbery or other suitable live plant material.'  Tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are what Basses see as suitable."

According to Oak Park’s Planning and Technology Director Kevin Rulkowski  the city disagrees. He says, “If you look at the dictionary, suitable means common. You can look all throughout the city and you’ll never find another vegetable garden that consumes the entire front yard.” Of course you won't find another vegetable garden that consumes the front yard, it's illegal. Since when do we allow the government to tell us we cannot grow food to eat?

I know we have heard stories like this before, but these are times when growing your own should be a right, if it isn't already. These homeowners should be held up as examples of what we should be doing in our front and back yards. I hope these people are not forced to remove their garden. The city should be ashamed for telling these people to stop being self-sufficient and toe the line of mediocrity and conformity.

And as far as putting shrubbery in the front yard I asked famous plantsman Roger the Shubber and he had this to say, "Oh, what sad times are these when government ruffians can say Ni at will to vegetable growers. There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred. Even  I, a Shrubber by trade say let them grow food, and skip the shrubbery".

Here is a petition you can sign in support. 

Our garden in early July

Here are some pictures of my vegetable garden this morning. Things are finally coming along now that the summer heat has settled in. We are located in the Sierra foothills so we are a bit behind our friends in the Sacramento Valley. We have also seen great results with our compost tea. That's all we have fed with this year. Tonight we will sprinkle about a half a cup of earthworm castings around the base of each plant.

The basil is very lush this year.

The white container pictured is what we use to bring home the compost tea. There is a small battery operated pump attached that keeps oxygen bubbling through the blend, which is so important. Without the oxygen the beneficial bacteria and fungi would start to die after about 45 minutes. With the special container it gives us a few hours to work with it.