The Blogging Nurseryman by Trey Pitsenberger

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.

Got some great news about our garden center website www.thegoldengecko.com. The Sacramento Bee’s Home and Garden Section editor Dan Vierria, mentioned our web page as one of the best nursery websites in The Greater Sacramento Area.

Best nursery Web site
Honorable mention: Golden Gecko Garden Center

“This El Dorado County nursery site is stuffed with gardening information via articles by co-owner Trey Pitsenberger. A Q&A section, Pitsenberger’s blog and the nursery’s newsletters are additional reasons to check it out. Should you be tempted to visit the nursery in Garden Valley, there’s a map, plus a link to MapQuest.”

This is just great. We are proud that our website and garden center are getting noticed.

We couldn’t do it without the help of Denise Pane at River Coyote www.rivercoyotedesigns.com Design in Georgetown

Here are the other web sites mentioned.

Best area blog and site
SacramentoGardening.com www.sacramentogardening.com
“I check this site out on a frequent basis”

Best regional blog
Dirt http://dirtbyamystewartblogspot.com
“Always something interesting to read and ponder”

Best area hobbyist site
Baldo’s SactoRose Web Site www.sactorose.org

Most entertaining Web site
Renegade Gardener www.renegadegardener.com

Best nursery Web site
Annie’s Annuals & Perennials http://www.anniesannuals.com/

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 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 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 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”.

We celebrated our 2nd Anniversary Saturday. We had White Bear Studio demonstrating his pottery techniques, BBQ for everyone, two shopping sprees given away, as well as a chance for savings on the days purchases for everyone. The best part was it didn’t rain, which a few weeks ago was a distinct possibility. The temps were in the mid 70’s under clear skies. It couldn’t get much better.

The best part is the turn out from the community. Many people came by just to thank us for being here. Lot’s of them made purchases,
a which makes our anniversary day our single biggest day, when it comes to sales. Most important, it’s our chance to thank the community for their support. We had people come from Auburn, Placerville, and Sacramento.