The Blogging Nurseryman by Trey Pitsenberger

From the comments I received at the last post it would appear that we are all ready for the idea that vegetable and fruit growing will be on the rise. Genie mentioned that the resurgence in vegetable gardening may be partly because we “have the Food Network to thank for some of this. People are learning how to cook better, and therefore want better ingredients, and a lot of that is because they’re being exposed to cooking in a way they hadn’t ever before.” I think Genie is correct. I have always found the Food Network a source of interesting programming and have spent time watching Emeril, Bobby Flay, and the rest. I think however that the real action is on the Internet. Lets face it, we are a voyeuristic society and find it fun to see what our neighbors are up to. That’s why I think its more fun to see what Genie or Melinda have cooked up. People want to be a part of a community, and its a lot easier to be a part of a food bloggers community than Bobby Flays.

I noticed that Melinda is involved in a “dark days of winter” food challenge. Here are the rules, “eat 90% local for every meal, an average of 50% from the garden. If we can’t get something local, we’ll purchase bulk and organic from a local supplier. Coffee, tea, spices and sugar will be organic, sustainable harvested and fair trade whenever possible. (There are some exceptions for traveling when we do.)” What I take away from this is her enthusiasm for the challenge. Its not a drag to do these things, but fun!It’s a challenge and its fun to see if you can do it. Gardening and eating local can be fun? Who would have guessed.

Here is why I think this stuff will lead to a growth in vegetable and fruit gardening. We’re talking about it! People are talking and sharing. Its so much easier to comment at a garden/food blog than at HGTV. Sure they accept e-mail but do you really think Emeril is going to write back? Community is built by a back and forth between community members. That back and forth is easily facilitated by blogging. This acts as a magnet for other people who feel the same way. Its starting to happen. Like Top Veg said “It is interesting to see how everything is coming together - to bring the increased interest in gardening. It is certainly happening in the UK.” It’s happening here, too.

What with the concern over the younger generations seeming lack of interest in gardening this prediction would seem out of the blue, but I think vegetable and fruit gardening is going to become quite fashionable over the upcoming years. Vegetable gardening would seem the obvious area of interest in gardening for most people, including the younger generations. It’s will just take the right series of circumstances for it to go viral.

The interest in organic food would seem to indicate that organic is likely to go mainstream, if it hasn’t already. The next step from buying organic would be growing organic. In the not so distant future it will be a source of pride to have a dinner party with organically grown food from the garden. What with the interest in eating local food, you can’t get any more local than that. “Those delicious squash we’re organically grown, BY ME!”

So you have two big trends that will work toward the resurgence of vegetable gardening, the organic movement and the “buy and eat local” movement. There is another movement, the “slow food movement”, which advocates eating our meals slower and savoring the flavors of the food and enjoying the company of friends. Its more about the process than the end result, food in our stomachs. In addition to the slow food movement there is the whole eating healthier movement which means eating more fruit and vegetables. As people realize that home grown tastes better they will have more reason to grow their own since you can extract he greatest flavor from home grown.

There is also the self-sufficiency idea of vegetable gardening which is quite empowering once experienced. “I can grow my own food” is a big draw for many people who feel they have lost the ability to fend for themselves. It empowers. I am not talking survivalist thinking but more like someone that installs solar panels so they don’t feel be-holden to the utilities. Its liberating.

From the interest in growing vegetables will flow an interest in gardening in general. Once people realize that they can change the world by growing their own food they will gain an interest in landscaping the yard. They will find that by planting this or growing that they can impact peoples emotions. It will become fashionable to have areas in the garden that are designed to affect how we feel and react. Meditation areas, inspiration areas, energy areas, calming areas, play areas, romantic areas, etc.

I feel we are on the verge of a whole new renaissance in growing our own food. Not just for survival, but for the aesthetic, social and physiological benefits that growing our own food organically brings. When it’s all said and done, it will be the outstanding flavor and pride that comes with growing your own that will really get people on the bandwagon. Until you have tasted the difference between a home grown tomato and store bought one you wont understand.

This is interesting yet not un-expected. Langeveld Bulb Co has filed for bankruptcy protection. Check out this quote, “many insiders are speculating that the closing is mostly the result of declining sales of bulbs, which are less popular with younger consumers, who want instant results in the garden.”

Yep, it’s those dang generation X and Y folks that are to blame. It appears that these two generational demographics are almost entirely responsible for the decline in our industry. It’s becoming fashionable for closing businesses to blame the younger generation. After all the older generations still support the garden industry, NOT!

I have noticed a decline in interest in bulbs for a number of years and it’s not just the younger generation. It’s also “Baby Boomers” who have other things to do with their time. It also explains the decline in bare root sales that I have been noticing over the years. Both bulbs and bare root are available in the winter when lots of folks just don’t get out in the garden anymore. Hey, if they want bulbs or fruit trees they figure we should have them in spring when they are doing their shopping.

I think the industry is so caught up in trying to appeal to Gen X and Y they are missing the big picture. Generation X and Y want to garden just as much or little as the other generations. They are the up and coming home owners who with a patch of ground want to see what they can grow on it. Most of the boomer generation is just as fickle with its gardening and would just as soon be skiing or traveling to warmer climates.

I think we need to quit trying to appeal to particular generations. Try instead appealing to people who are interested in gardening regardless of age. What with Urban Outfitters entering the gardening market we are all standing around just waiting to see the magic that they posses with these younger generations. It’s like we have to completely rethink gardening to appeal to these people. I like what the comments at the end of this post said. Don said this, “I read a lot of analysis about what “Gen X” and “Gen Y” wants, and I find a lot of it pretty patronizing.” I think a lot of generation X and Y think it’s a bit patronizing.

When all is said and done I think the decline in bulb sales is a result of all generations having a lot more that they can do with their time. It’s the big companies that have the most to loose since so much of their sales depend on a larger percentage of each generation buying their products. Let Home Depot, Hines Nurseries, and Scotts’ worry about this stuff. They pay people to worry. The smaller nursery can fine tune its message to gardeners of all ages. I only need 10% of each generation to find gardening interesting and jump in. Yes, it’s good to be small.

It would seem that nursery workers have a image problem when I read stuff like this. In an article on punning in the Kitsap Sun Newspaper in Washington state an article on punning has this, “Poor quality anvil pruners are called the nurseryman’s best friend because they lead to so much plant death.” Ouch!

Now I realize that this is suppose to be funny since the idea is plant death leads to people having to replace the plants. That means more money for the nursery. So lets see, nursery folks are hoping you screw up because when you kill plants, you have to buy more.

This is how it works. I hope you buy some great quality Felco pruners so your pruning doesn’t kill the tree. That way you will be successful in your gardening ventures and want to continue, which means more money for the nursery. If you fail your more likely to give up on the whole gardening thing.

I can’t speak for all nursery people. Maybe some of us do think this way. But I can assure you the last thing I want is for you to fail at your punning. I want you to spend money on a great pair of shears and be successful.

Its funny how the we in the nursery business are thought of by some people. The author of the article just assumes that if the gardener fails they will run back to the nursery and spend more money. If that was the way it worked the industry wouldn’t be wringing its hands worrying about the future. And I would be selling cheap punning shears.

If you think there is a disconnect between wholesale nurseries and retail this will just confirm that. Baileys Nurseries is offering a two-year guarantee for their new “Easy Elegance” Roses. According to their website “Easy Elegance Roses are so easy to grow that we guarantee your success. This limited guarantee covers all residential plantings for two full years from date of purchase and covers the following,
• Guarantee applies to residential use only.
• Limit of $60 or two roses per household.
• Guarantee does not cover damage from animals or roses over-wintered in containers.
• Roses can take some time to grow after a hard winter, so be patient. Guarantees are not accepted until after June 15th.
Just send us you name, address, receipt, plant tag and a photo of the rose in question…”

Baileys seems to think that’s what is keeping younger people from gardening more, a lack of guarantees. They found that Generation X, and Y find roses hard to grow. They equate roses with grandmas garden. Nothing about wanting a guarantee, just old fashioned, and hard to grow. So we are going to solve that by a guarantee. Let me see, I buy a rose and I am suppose to hold on to the receipt for two years, I can’t plant it in a container and over water it(which I guess means container gardening must be hard), but I guess if I over water it in the ground thats O.K. Only two roses? Why? If your going to guarantee the roses shouldn’t someone who has bought ten of them be entitled to the same guarantee?

This is where the disconnect between some wholesale nurseries and retail operations is growing. My customers do not want more guarantees, but the assurance that the plants they buy are in top condition and that we will be here if they need help. Why only guarantee the roses for two years? What about a lifetime guarantee? How about guaranteeing all the roses a home owner buys instead of just two. Why require the homeowner to deal direct from Bailey’s. Shouldn’t I be able to take the rose to the retail center where I purchased them and receive my refund or new roses? Do they guarantee the roses will live, or thrive? If they live, but don’t thrive as I thought they should, do I still get a refund. Why not give the guarantee to the retail nursery that actually bought the roses from the wholesaler?

Small retail garden center business need to understand that this kind of marketing only benefits the chain stores where this type of mentality reigns. We in the small garden center market are trying to get people interested in gardening, with all the risks and personal responsibility that entails. Who said gardening, or anything worthwhile was risk free? Shouldn’t we be encouraging people to make mistakes, learn from them, and jump back in?

Guarantees that have a list of requirements to follow before the guarantee can be enforced just don’t resonate with me. Maybe with the market that Bailey’s is targeting, but not with the customer I am working with. My customers get a lifetime one-conditional guarantee. The condition is they tell us how to prevent their dissatisfaction in the future. That’s it. They also don’t have to contact some grower to get the guarantee. They bought the plant from us, and they will deal with us. I’ll deal with the wholesale grower.

I wanted to write about why I think small is cool when it comes to business, especially the nursery business. I have friends, a couple who are not in the nursery business but another retail type business. They recently bought out another business so they now have three outlets. When things were good they were great, but now with the softening economy as well as the sub-prime mortgage mess, which hit their business hard, they are having second thoughts. He told me the other day that he admires us and our small operation, and wishes they hadn’t expanded so quick.

It started me thinking about how as a small operation we are able to better handle different types of issues that come up for our business. Right now with the softening of the economy and people not able to get money from their homes you can bet that business is holding its breath. Being a small operation if sales don’t match up to our wishes we can cut back without doing to much harm. We don’t have a lot of employees that will need to be laid off like Aquascapes. Monica and I do most of the work along with my daughter and one helper.

We can also make changes to our operation on a dime, whereas the bigger you become the harder it is to turn the ship in mid-course. My friends now have to decide weather to try and hang in there or close a store and lay off the employees. Just like Greg at Aquascapes said, laying off employees is one of the hardest things you will ever do. I don’t know for sure, but I would guess some of Aquascapes problems stem from expanding the business a bit too fast.

I came across this post today over at the gaping void blog It’s about a Savile Row tailor and how his business has grown while staying small. It expresses exactly how I feel that a small garden center should proceed. The tailor and we both offer the best quality, have a niche clientel, and are committed to making the customer experience one of a kind. I like this from the post, “We commonly refer to the people who buy our suits as ‘customers’, though as the relationships deepen with time, that word no longer seems to do the relationship justice. Words like ‘allies’ or ‘partners in crime’ seem somehow more appropriate.”

There are plenty of examples of large business success. There is nothing wrong with growing and having multiple outlets. Its just not for me. I want to “grow” but not in a physical sense. Our two acres is plenty “large enough”. I was a part owner in a multi-unit operation and can tell you that while its exciting at first the headaches outweighed the benefits.

I want to have a nursery thats not known for its large physical size or the number of outlets but for its incredible “dollars per square foot” figures. The more you sell in a smaller space the higher your dollars made per square foot figure. This would be a sign of using the space to its greatest potential. When it comes to customers its not the volume of customers thats most important but the quality of customer, and the long- lived relationship that we will build with them.

As a small garden center owner I am proud to be small in physical size. I do however want to be HUGE when it comes to name recognition amongst my target audience. That’s where the Internet can come in so handy for small business. Using the far reaching potential of this medium a small concern can get its message out, and build its brand into a international one without going back on its values. What an exciting time to be a small business. Small is cool!

It would seem that we are starting to see more heads of larger concerns starting blogs. One notable example is Greg Wittstock owner of Aquascapes, the number one supplier of pond equipment. We talked about it here. Unfortunately Greg had to start, or started his blog because his company got into some financial problems. Doesn’t matter, because at least now he is out their trying to explain his reasoning for doing what he has done. Greg had to lay off some employees recently, and I bet there are times when Greg wishes he had turned off the comment function at his blog. Some of the ex-employees visit the blog and give Greg a piece of their mind. It makes for great reading for those of us interested in how business works.

Another new blog, at least for me, is also from the world of horticulture. Its Heronswood Voice, written by George Ball. I ended up there after George said some nice things about my blog. George Ball, if you didn’t know owns Burpee Seed as well as Heronswood, the much discussed nursery founded by plantsman Dan Hinkley and architect Robert Jones in 1987. There are passionate feeling about the subject and no mincing of words when it comes to some peoples feeling about Burpee and George. I never really got into the situation at Heronswood since until just a couple of years ago I hadn’t even heard of it. Yes its true, I had little knowledge of Dan Hinkley or Heronswood until the fuss over the sale. Most of my knowledge of the place was gathered at Garden Rant where there have been numerous discussions of the subject and the comments have been generally negative of George and Burpee.

Whatever you think of the Heronswood situation, it’s good to see George out there talking. After all, I have been harping about how important a blog is to a business, especially a large one where people often feel a disconnect with the ownership of the business. Scotts CEO Jim Hagedorn would be well advised to start one about now. I think the disconnect that a lot of people are feeling with Scotts could be discussed through a blog, but back to George and his blog. I wanted to leave a comment, but there is no comment feature. I like having the comment feature turned “on” because thats what starts a “conversation”. Of course I don’t run a multi-million dollar enterprise, despite what Stuart thinks. If I did it might just be too much to deal with all the comments. The solution is to allow trackbacks at the end of each post. One of the most popular bloggers around, Seth Godin, does not allow comments at his blog but does have the trackback feature. That way if you want to comment on something he has said you can, on your own blog, and it will show up as a trackback. This is another way to have a “conversation” without having to answer the comments, yet allowing people to have their say.

Welcome to the blogroll George. Come on over anytime, and feel free to participate.

Word comes from Stuart of the passing of Andee at Gardener in Chacala . Andee visited my blog now and then, usually leaving a comment. I loved the pictures she would post from Mexico. During the winter these pictures would make me jealous, as she lived in a most beautiful place.

It is nice know that the garden blogging community really is a community. I never met Andee “in person” but she was a friend none the less, and I will miss her visits. Thanks go to her son who took the time to let us know about her passing. Per his wishes I will be extra nice to the cats today and next time I have a Coke I’ll toast her memory.

Adios, Andee

So consumer spending on pesticide is going to grow by 4.8% to 1.7 billion by 2011. At first blush this sounds like we are going backward when it comes to sustainability. What the study doesn’t seem to reflect, or I couldn’t find is what type of pesticides we are talking about. I would assume this includes all pesticides including organic and synthetic. I would like to know if organics are a big portion of this increase or are we talking about more Scotts synthetic products for the lawn? My guess it is probably a combination of the two types.

Billy Goodnick over at Garden Wise Guy has figured out the secret! If you want to increase your web site traffic nothing like a little sex to help. He says his post “Have they no shame?Erotica on the streets of Santa Barbara.” increased traffic five times! As soon as I read the headline I made a beeline over to his site since Monica and I had just returned from that fair city. I thought maybe Billy had been snooping around the motel or something. No, it was a case or “hort-erotica” concerning a fig and a Canary Island date palm that have “embraced” right on the streets for everyone to see.

Billy as well as the rest of us that have blogging for a little while know that if you put a sexy title on a post its bound to get more traffic. I like it! Gardening is all about being sexy. Just about everything we do in the garden is about helping our plants in their reproductive urges. We wouldn’t be eating if it wasn’t for the birds and the bees and the plants frolicking in the garden. Somewhere along the line, I would guess Victorian times, gardening became something of a prudish pursuit in the eyes of many. We may not feel sexy while digging in the ground, or pulling weeds but thats our own fault. It’s perception. I say bring back the sexy allure of gardening and watch interest grow.

You might think I am being tongue and check about this subject but I believe the secret to getting more people involved in gardening is through sex appeal. We are already hearing about how good gardening is for weight control and overall health but what about its mental benefits, which would naturally include ours and the gardens sex lives. Nothing like the sound of buzzing bees and tomato plants with big, plump, juicy fruit to set the scene. We’re talking about more than just the visual cues that some plants might give, but the more subtle sexuality of the garden. The fragrance of a freshly cut musk melon enjoyed in the garden, while the sound of buzzing bees and bird calls fill the air. The feel of the warm sun on our bodies (naked or not), and the knowledge that growing our own delicious healthful fruit will only make us feel better about our selves, but the world too. Now that’s sexy!

P.S. I think the sexier gardening is the less likely you are to use synthetic pesticides. Synthetic pesticides are about the end result, while organic and natural products are more about the “process”, and the end result. I use all natural products in the garden. The garden and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This might be old news to you but I found this interesting. George Harrison, the quiet Beetle said this about the music business in the late 1990’s. “I’m really quite simple. I don’t want to be in the business full time because I’m a gardener. I plant flowers and watch them grow. I don’t go out to clubs and partying. I stay at home and watch the river flow.”

Here was a man who had all the money and fame a person could possibly want, and he would still rather be known as a “gardener”. Interesting.