The Blogging Nurseryman by Trey Pitsenberger

Before Christmas the mood in the retail world was certainly downbeat. I would say the mood is still rather downbeat, except for one notable exception, the retail garden center world. Over the last few years the reatil garden center business has been hit with a steady barrage of seemingly negative news. People just wanted someone else to put the landscape in, (DIFM). Generation X and Y are not interested in gardening. Celebrities told us that , “you can go to the home improvement stores and buy 4-foot pavers, and, as long as you can lay them on sand with no grout. Fill them with crushed granite, and you have yourself a patio!”.

Boy have things changed in just a few months. Now it’s “I’ll do it myself”, generation X and Y are embracing gardenng, and the celebrities? We’ll, you decide. What is so refreshing is we have been talking about how wrong these “trends” were years ago. Here is a blog post from 2006 concerning, homogenized gardening.

I can’t remember where I read it. Someone was thinking about opening a garden center. All their friends we’re telling them they we’re crazy to start a small business in this economy. I would have to say the friends are crazy! I can’t think of a better time to start a small business, especially a garden center. What other business addresses the needs of people in these days so well? Start a “green” business? Can’t get much greener than a place that sells plants and trees. Want to keep you money with locally owned small business? The locally owned small garden center. Want to grow your own vegetables and fruits? You have to buy them somewhere. The local garden center. Sustainable business? Our offerings not only sustain, but grow in value for the customer and improve the environment. Home values have dropped, so you can’t sell you home anytime soon. Why not fix up the house and make it a home, complete with a garden that makes all the worlds concerns seem a “world” away? Who can help with this? The local independent garden center.

Not all boats in the horticultural world are rising in this climate. I would not want to be in a landscaping business in this area. Home building has slowed to a crawl and it looks like DIFM (Do it for me) is being replaced with IDIM (I’ll do it myself). There are still lot’s of wholesale operations that are in trouble. Those that depended on the landscape trade, and service the box stores are in trouble. The box store scene will in my opinion be dominated by one or two growers (Color Spot and Bonnie?). The box stores will have their own exclusive growers that service them, and most likely not the independents. We have been talking about this trend here for the last few years, and it seems to be playing out. Growers will have to decide which boat to board. Box stores or indies?

I am excited about the possibilities that await.  Who would have thought that one of the few growth areas in this economy would be the smaller independent garden centers? Some of the old timers told us that in slow economies people return to the garden. We we’re are told that this time however things would be different. Gardening was on the way out, and garden accessorizing was in. Vegetable garden? Naw, give me a wide screen outdoor TV to put next to my built in BBQ. Add some throw pillows and your done. Times have changed.

I love the argument about whether food produced from gardening is free, inexpensive, or expensive. Really, what does it matter if you enjoy doing it? No, Alice Waters is wrong, food supplied from The White House Garden or any other garden is not free. I am quite sure when all is said and done the food from the White House garden will be very expensive. Can you you imagine all the associated costs with having a garden in a place like that?

Like any hobby you can spend as much or little as you want. George Ball will gladly explain how a garden produces much more in food than the costs associated with gardening.  I don’t like the idea of using the costs involved with gardening, low or high, to induce people to garden. Can you save money gardening as opposed to shopping at the grocery store? Sure, after you have developed the garden over a period of years.  There is no way you can grow vegetables here in the foothills of The Sierra without a certain amount of work and money to get the granite to give back. Now after the soil has been conditioned, or raised beds put in, the costs can drop dramatically. But free? Never.

This is the argument the small farmer has been fighting for years. Ask any small organic farmer if growing food is free. I am a small farmer and can assure you growing food is not free. We work six and seven days a week, sometimes ten hours a day. I haven’t had a vacation since I don’t know when. This is what bugs me about the gushing going on with the current gardening scene. Telling people that gardening will save them money is not the first argument I would make. Peace of mind, exercise, being outdoors, fantastic tasting, healthy food, etc. are some of the reasons to garden.

I, as a small nursery owner love the fact that gardening is “in”. Our sales are up and I feel much better about the year before us, than I did before Christmas. I actually like the fact that there is all this talk going on concerning costs associated with gardening. The blogosphere hashes these things out, people take sides, and we move on. All this attention is great for the small farmer and nursery.

I think Doug Green summed it up well.  “Not only do we now have breathless prose for Victory Gardening, we also have the pundits arguing about how much it costs to actually have a vegetable garden. Good grief.” Like Doug, I remember the last time we had this type of hype in the 70’s. ” The last time this kind of ‘debate’ raged was back in the 70’s when we all knew it was tongue-in-cheek to cost out the roto-tiller, the fencing, the nanny to watch over the kids, the 4×4 to haul the produce to market etc etc etc. And equally spurious is bragging about how much money you saved on your garden.”

Gardening has been around forever. Forget about what you will save on food by growing your own. What is more important is you will be growing healthy, great tasting food.  You’ll have the satisfaction of having done it yourself. That’s it!

And that’s enough.

I find it interesting that some of us feel guilty for saying we don’t want all the attention for gardening. A couple of commenter’s here preface their comments with, “I feel like a bit of a grump…’, or “It almost makes me grumpy about gardening…”, etc. Why do we feel this way? Because we have seen the results of over enthusiasm before.

For many in the blogosphere, and elsewhere the idea that gardening is now hip is exciting. Some hope Oprah will grab a shovel and pitch in. After all, if she does millions will take up gardening, and the world will be a better place. They plant a vegetable garden at the  White House and Alice Waters proclaims “now everyone can grow a garden and have free food.” 

There is nothing grumpy about watching the main stream media jump on the latest craze. We have seen what they can do with any news story and that’s why we write and read blogs.  After all we have been talking about the increase in interest in gardening for years here. We’ve ignored the main stream media proclamations of “the death of gardening” for years now. Amy’s Death of Gardening post was written in 2006. So why would we be excited when the same media tells us of gardening’s new hipness?

So I don’t find it “grumpy” to see all the attention gardening is getting and felling a little funky. It seems like when the main stream media focuses too much attention on a subject they ruin it. I can’t wait for the breathless report from The Times about how, “gardening really doesn’t save you money”, or how “millions of Americans are now suffering from back problems”, do to over exertion in the garden. What about over exposure to the sun?

Sit back and enjoy the show. When it’s all said and done gardening will still be around, the celebrities will head off to the next cause, and we can continue the work we started here, and other blogs. Real people who garden, talking about their gardens and gardening. So refreshing.

My last post about the trendiness of gardening is somewhat tongue and cheek. I, like most nursery people love the idea that people are coming around to gardening. It’s just that some people, especially celebrities say and do the strangest things. This article at Slate sums up the breathless nature of the new gardening scene. Concerning the White House Garden Alice Waters gushes, “To have this sort of ‘victory’ garden, this message goes out that everyone can grow a garden and have free food.” Free Food?

This is exactly the sort of thing we have been talking about here. There is no free food. The article quite rightly points out that gardening is sometimes hard work, but worth it. The time and money spent to grow food is well spent, but in no way free.  It’s great that The White House has a garden, it’s neat to have more publicity about gardening, but beware of the chattering class. I am sure Alice Waters knows gardening is not free. She is just excited about the prospects of more people growing their own. Never the less, as people come to embrace the ‘idea’ of gardening, we need to be truthful about the work, and joys of gardening. Our readers depend on us to tell the truth, since so many in the main stream media tend to masssage the truth to fit their expectations.

Here we sit at the dawn of a new gardening age. It must be so since The New York Times and other main stream media tell us it’s so. Of course, we have been talking about this here and other blogs for years. They miss all the real goings on in the blogosphere, since the blogosphere is now more influential than they are, and they don’t like to admit it. Let’s remember how most of the gardening magazines we’re telling us that DIFM (do it for me) was the wave of the future. Wrong! We we’re also told that young people had no interest in gardening. Wrong! We have been told in the garden center trade to keep it simple and not confuse new gardeners with to much information. Wrong! People are dying for information on gardening, and don’t want is sugar coated.

It snowed here yesterday, and this morning it was 27 degrees F. I wonder how those Bonnie tomatoes are doing at Home Depot in Placerville. I wonder if the people that planted them are staring at little brown plants this morning? They had a special the other day, Buy 3-4”pots of color for $1. I wonder how those little marigolds and petunias are doing this morning? Of course it’s buyer beware when it comes to the garden department at Home Depot. I have no problem with selling tomatoes now, as long as you provide people with the information they need to be successful. Our average last day of frost is the end of April, and tomatoes and other warm season vegetables always perform better when planted after Mothers Day. Oh well, what can a small garden center like us do except tell people we don’t have tomatoes for sale until April. All last week we had people asking where our tomatoes where. Why? Because they see them for sale at places like Home Depot, where they are left on a rack, uncovered and exposed to the elements.

I believe that for a small garden center to be successful you have to gain the trust of the customer. I have to believe that some of the people we told last week about waiting to plant warm season vegetables now know why. Perhaps we have gained some trust on their part, and will be a regular source of information in the future. It takes time to gain the trust of the neighborhood. Sometimes years. We have been in business now for five years, and am just now starting to see the hard work paying off.

 Gardening is the same way. It sometimes takes years for the results to manifest themselves. Gardening can be hard work, and time consuming. Do most people have the will power to keep at it? I doubt it. It doesn’t help that the new gardener is confronted with businesses that purposefully sell plants out of season, just to make an extra buck or two. This is not about giving the customer the information they need, and then letting them decide. It’s about selling plants out of season with no information about local climate conditions here in the mountains. It’s about having no responsibility when the dead plants will just be returned to the grower for credit (pay at scan).

 As gardening starts to become the “IN” thing, watch as the main stream media and various celebrities play catch up, and try to profit from the boom. There is one place that doesn’t play catch up, and starts the trends we are seeing now. The Blogospehere. It’s at garden blogs around the world that the foundation for the current interest in gardening continues to take root. It’s real people, writing about real experiences that are making the difference. I really don’t care to hear about Oprah, The White House Garden, or any other celebrity garden. Much more fun to hear from real people and their experiences. That’s where the real action is.

Green Valley Nursery, located in Willis, TX filed for bankruptcy March 9th. They ship mainly to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri. I know Victor at Plants for all Seasons used them as a local supplier.  Like Victor, I hope they come out of the bankruptcy and can get back to concentrating on whats important, growing plants.

This is concerning if true. According to Knoxnews.com congress is has a bill afoot that will potentially, “force anyone who produces food of any kind, and then transports it to a different location for sale, to register with a new federal agency called the “Food Safety Administration.” 

The news comes via various blogs, including one that look’s for conspiracies.  Never the less, considering the AIG bailout fiasco, one should not underestimate congresses ability to screw things up. The husband of the bills sponsor works for Monsanto?

Since this information is comming out of various blogs, I would want to find out more. According to one blog, cryptogon.com, the bill would” force anyone who produces food of any kind, and then transports it to a different location for sale, to register with a new federal agency called the ‘Food Safety Administration.’ Even growers who sell just fruit and/or vegetables at farmers markets would not only have to register, but they would be subject inspections by federal agents of their property and all records related to food production.”

In the name of food safety, the government wants to make it harder on the local growers and farmers markets. Do not underestimate the governments ability to take a good thing and turn it into a nightmare of regulation, that forces some of your favorite local growers out of business. The food safety issue is not about your local farmers market, but large agri-business.  Most of these small farmers are just hanging on, and if forced with more red tape they will fold.

Does anybody know more about this bill, and it’s affects on the small farmer and farmers markets? Is this much a do about nothing, or a potentially bigger problem? Considering this congress, and what it’s done so far I would be very suspicious.

Interesting post by Sarah at Open Register, where she decides not to purchase a hanging basket flower at Lowe’s, as a show of support for independent garden centers. The basket was beautiful, and her instincts said, “buy”. She chose not to. Are there many people like Sarah out there? People who see the results of their purchasing habit’s. Can see if the money stays local, or heads off to corporate headquarters. I believe there is a growing number of people who will base their purchasing on more than price and convenience. They will buy from stores that provide the best quality and service, but with a nod to knowing where there money is going. I believe this is a result of more and more people who are self-employed, and know how hard it is to compete in the marketplace these days. The independent movement is growing, and bodes well for the smaller garden center.

I also watch where I buy my stuff for the nursery. I do not support wholesale growers who do business with the box stores and chains. If I am going to be truly different and independent, how can I offer the same stuff they have at my local Home Depot? It is about more than price! Finding others who feel the same way is one way for the smaller garden center to succeed. Find these people, get their permission to tell your story, and they will come. Certainly not the majority of gardeners, but the ones who’s loyalty will pay off in the long run. Like right now.

I had a good laugh when I read the comment from Mr. Brown Thumb at my last post. So what I think is new news, is almost ten year old news. Proven Winners has been selling in box stores since 2005.

This proves a couple of points. One, I don’t get into the box stores enough to see what’s going on. Two, the internet never forgets. I didn’t bother to see the date the post was created, or when the comments we’re made.  Doh!

If someone like myself can make this mistake, others can to. What is old news, can be new news depending on who views it. So a customer researching brands, and business can read what people have said years ago. It may or may not color their buying decision. What you write on the net, stays on the net forever. So a decision made nine years ago is still fresh to someone like myself.

Did I manage to make a mistake on my part sound like a lesson on the internet? Likely not, but it was worth the try. Thanks to Mr. Brown Thumb for pointing it out. And thanks to Sid for making the argument that while it was old news it is still a valuable lesson. I wonder now that we are nine years past that decision, if Proven Winners is still happy they made the decision to work with the boxes?

I came upon this entry at a forum at IVillage Garden web. It concerns Proven Winners entry into the box stores. I find it interesting that the comments soon morph into peoples feelings about Wal Mart and Home Depot, and less about Proven Winners. Never the less, a brand which was exclusive to independents has decided to  get involved with the box stores. It’s a shame, and in the long run will diminish the brand. Until then they will reap the benefits of the alliance, and slowly what made them special will be no more.

I am surprised, yet not surprised at Proven Winners decision to enter the box store market. It seems it’s the trend to start with the independents, have them build the brand into something special, and then offer that same product to the mass merchandisers, leaving the very people who built the brand behind. Here is the results for a search of my zip code and the nearest retailer for Proven Winners. Of course, Home Depot comes up first, before the retailers that have been carrying the brand all this time.

The worst part for Proven Winners is all the negative publicity this move has already made. The fact that the brand is being talked about at IVillage Forum does not bode well. I would also hope that other retailers will think twice about putting their time and money behind brands that head down that road.