The Blogging Nurseryman by Trey Pitsenberger

There is good post by Ken Druse at Garden Rant concerning the use of peat moss. The concern over peat bog depletion is the crux of the post with reference made about peat substitutes like coir. The post also addresses Monrovia’s foray into potting soils. The following is the comment I left at the post.

We carry coir as a substitute for peat moss. Peat still outsells coir, either because people like what peat does for their potting soil, or they don’t know about coir. Peat is generally acid reacting so it’s great for acid loving plants like blueberries or azaleas. Coir is neutral, and I have had a couple of people tell me that is why they like coir. No one in our area uses peat moss as a soil conditioner. It’s use is almost always for seed starting, and container mixes.

Monrovia’s website focuses on what they think is important in their “soil”. The ingredients for all soils are listed on the bag, from the most used to the least. Peat moss is there, just like most quality potting soils. The lack in mentioning peat in their website is not unusual in the potting soil world.

Many people focus on the cost of the product rather than what’s in it. When people question the price of an exceptional potting soil I use the ingredient list to show why it’s better. Just like Monrovia’s website say’s, “If your mix contains too much sawdust or fresh bark, for instance, you will likely see the leaves of your plants yellowing due to a nitrogen deficiency.” That’s what makes up the majority of ingredients in many of the cheaper potting soils, sawdust.

So if we are concerned with the depletion of resources, what about the sawdust that is used in many potting soils, and bulk purchased soils? It’s use is far more widespread than peat.

Just as you point out that, “Some wetlands scientists point out that a managed bog lacks the biodiversity of the original bog”, so the forest where the sawdust originally comes from also lacks that “biodiversity” of the original forest. I also wonder about the coconut plantations where coir is harvested from. Are they bio-diverse? Coir comes from fibers found between the husk and the outer shell of a coconut. The coconut plantation certainly displaced the native flora and fauna of the area they are grown in.

You are correct that compost makes a great soil conditioner, though people growing in containers generally need a potting soil, not compost. Some will make their own, but most buy the bag, and either way they use many of the same ingredients.

I am stunned that the manager of that garden center did not know where peat came from. This might explain why peat moss is used so often where is shouldn’t be, in the ground. Perhaps through education we will be able to steer people to better alternatives for their situation, and thus avoid the depletion of the peat bogs. It’s not the use of peat that is bad. It’s the misuse of peat in situations where it is unwarranted that causes problems.

I read this story through Open Register. Husqvarna, maker of power tools released a trend report concerning the evolution of lawn care in the 21st century. After talking with 1000 homeowners about their vision of the yard they discovered that, “38% of the 1,000 U.S. homeowners surveyed suggested one that is entirely self-maintaining.” Here is the disconnect, “Twenty-three percent want to grown their own food”.

So we have homeowners that want a yard that is “self-maintaining” yet “want to grow their own food.” These seemingly contradictory goals show how little people understand what’s involved in vegetable and fruit growing.  Yet the report offers some good news for those of us in the garden businesses. It also states that, ” The economy has played a major role in changing gardening behaviors and will play a key role in shaping the future. The emerging ‘make do and mend’ attitude has been caused by looming credit worries, lack of consumer confidence, rising food prices and limited personal spending has increased the need and desire to become self sufficient.”

Here is the finding that I can get behind, and really we all should have been behind years ago. They say, “yard becomes a source of food, shelter and relief.” I switch out “yard” and put in “home’, but the results are the same. How long did I hear that we should make our houses homes instead of investments to be flipped every two years or so? This is what’s driving  the current interest in gardening, at least here in California. Who can even think of selling their home at this time? Most people are backwards on their loans, so why not feather the nest? At least you can create a refuge from the crazy world right in your own garden. People concerned with the environment, and feeling helpless can make a difference by changing their own environment. I hope the younger generations are starting to realize this. Changing the world starts in your own space. From that will grow a change in other peoples attitudes.  Be the example in the neighborhood, and show others how to do it.

As discouraging as the economy and outside events can seem, it would appear that a golden age of gardening is upon us. How ironic that the popularization of gardening we all want to see is accompanied by such dismal economics. Could it actually be that gardening will lead us out of the current state of affairs? A new attitude of self-sufficiency, and hard work at the home front is exactly what this country needs. Forget about big government and it’s lame attempts to straighten things out. We need to get back to the garden and make our sterile neighborhoods come to life again! Who should be leading this return to the garden but the locally owned garden center? It’s a golden opportunity for those of us in this business. I see growth potential for small, neighborhood nurseries that become the trusted source of all things outdoors. Small, and locally owned is where it’s at!

Interesting story in Popular Mechanics about the use of rain barrels. It seems that depending on where you live, the rain that falls on your property may or may not belong to you. In Colorado you do not own the rain that falls on your property. I can see how this would effect us here in California, as we have no summer rain. All our rain comes in winter, and to be effective we need large holding tanks to get through the dry spell. What happens when homeowners start putting in large cisterns, 5000 gal plus and collect their own water, cutting down revenue to the water company?

How’s it going out there? We have been busy this spring, so little posting on my part. It seems like a good spring, considering how we felt before Christmas. Sales are good on vegetables and fruit trees, of course. I see interest in the ornamental side of the gardening world, too. Seems people want to get outside and beautify their surroundings.

We are entering our busiest time of the year. The “old timers” don’t plant tender vegetables around here until May 1st or Mothers Day. Looks like we missed having a major drought this year. Just the usual “we need to conserve” message, which really should be our state motto considering how we never invest in new water projects. So the weather gods have been good to us this year.

All in all, considering what is going on out in the “real’ world I am glad to be a small nursery. People are returning to the garden, and the garden center. I feel like we have some control over our destiny, unlike people in government or large corporations. It seems the places that use to provide the security we desired no longer do. You are actually more secure working for yourself. I see a whole new batch of independent small business starting up like Carol Miller and her new business, Carol Miller Media. Carol worked in one area of our industry that has been seeing hard times, horticultural publishing. Not one to rest she is launching her own enterprise. It will be a struggle at first, but any quality business has to start somewhere. This is good stuff. Loose your job, start your own business, and work your tail off. Now your in charge, and the sky is the limit. Go Carol.

Here is some sage advice from Sid Raisch.  He say’s, “I think this may be the best spring opportunity we’ve seen in five years or more. On the other hand, as good as summer could be I have never seen anyone add a nickel to their bottom line after the 4th of July. Moral: Get the bank account as full as possible by the 4th of July, being careful not to go into the slow traffic period with more inventory than you can sell then with the lower traffic to keep as much money as possible in that bank account.”  Right on!

I wanted to share an e-mail I sent to a friend in the nursery business back in New Jersey. She had written me concerning a new line of Bat Guano she was being presented with. She asked my opinion, as we have written about this before. Realizing that for many in the country organic fertilizers are somewhat new and untested I thought I would share the e-mail that I sent back. By the way, my nursery friend say’s they may have just had their best March ever. Things are looking bright for small, locally owned garden centers! Here is my e-mail.

“I get my bat guano from Sunleaves. That being said, bat guano is not my biggest seller. I will still carry it though, as it rounds out our fertilizer selection. I carry Indonesian and Mexican Bat Guano as well as Seabird guano. Bat Guano is the most potent of all manure products. You sprinkle it on dry, or make a “tea” out of it.

I would say bat guano is like a specialty fertilizer that sells, but never as much as your all purpose types like Marine Cuisine, or E.B. Stone Organics. I like carrying the bat guano because it sends the message that we are serious about fertilizers and about carrying a wide selection. I don’t know about your area, but I have people who love to try out new fertilizers. Especially organics. Ever since I started carrying more of the fertilizers that the local hydroponic shops carry, my fertilizer sales are way up! I mean, why didn’t I do this earlier? I have never sold so much fertilizer, especially organics. Now our local crowd doesn’t have to travel 12 miles to Auburn or Placerville to get the same stuff. So, I cost a $ or two more. Travel time and the price of gas keeps them here.

I wouldn’t want to steer you the wrong way. I do business in northern California where this stuff may be more accepted. I will say for me the increase in types of fertilizer has benefited us. I now carry almost 90% organic, and have finally weeded most if the Miracle Gro crowd out. For me its been a blast because I like fertilizer, and I like people who are interested in trying different things. I am counting on fertilizer sales this summer to keep the cash registers humming. It gets very hot here during the summer, so not much planting gets done. The only thing to do is water, (we sell drip systems) and sell fertilizer to keep those veggies growing.

Hope this helps,

Trey

We open today, Easter Sunday from 10 to 2am. We usually close at 4pm on Sundays. We have to go the the nursery to check on water anyway so we have been open on Easter for the last few years. It’s a time when people bring their relatives to the garden center. Visiting guests are always amazed that such a beautiful place exists here in Garden Valley, and the locals like to show us off.

My “build a raised bed” workshop on Saturday was a hit. It is always well attended, but this year we we’re packed with people interested in the concept. Here in the Sierras our soil is not always workable, so raised beds are a great way to get gardening right away.It’s funny but people are so excited they don’t want to wait for things to happen. I had a lady call the other day looking for a chicken. I don’t know why she called us, but I said the hardware store across the street was selling baby chicks. No, she want’s a grown chicken!She doesn’t want to wait for the six months before they lay. She want’s to live the lifestyle now!

This is very interesting. I had a call from a landscape firm in Granite Bay called,  peas and harmony. They design organic gardens. They called us a few weeks ago looking for fruit trees to plant for a home orchard they we’re installing. I think this is a great idea. People do want to install organic gardens and orchards, but so many don’t know where to start. I believe this is the single greatest growth area for garden centers or landscapers. People looking for information on making the lifestyle change to more home grown food. Not just growing food, but in enhancing the entire garden, be it ornamental or food bearing. People do want to “get back to the garden“. They just need a guiding hand, and a full grown chicken.

I received a “follow” from Miracle-Gro at my Twitter account. They are not the first company to “follow” me, as it is “in” for business to get involved. I am not sure what these companies hope to achieve. I don’t really have a problem with being followed by corporations. It’s just I don’t know who is following me. According to Scotts/Miracle-Gro their Twitter account will supply me with, “Updates from ScottsMiracle-Gro, Miracle-Gro’s PR team and gardening fans!”. 

One of the things that keeps me interested in Twitter is the updates are from individuals, not corporations. I think Miracle-Gro’s account would be better served if the CEO of Scott’s Tweeted. Now that might be interesting. Do we really want to hear from Scotts PR team? No, I want to hear from Jim Hagedorn president of Scotts. That will put a personal face on giant corporation, and make for more interesting Tweets.

My last post elicited some interesting comments. The comment from greenfred is interesting for a couple of reasons. Greenfred say’s he worked for a national seed company. He claims that if I, “truly want to sell this product to your customers, may I suggest spending a weekend building a peg-board display to hold the packs? Or perhaps try your hand at bending and welding wires and pipes together to fabricate your own metal spinner?” Excellent idea greenfred! Just what I wanted to do with my weekend. He continues, “The notion that a supplier should be ‘excited’ that you ‘want to sell their…’ is beyond condescending. And in today’s retail climate, your promise to ‘be selling their seeds for years, helping build their brand…’ is a joke. Suppliers today operate knowing that a huge percentage of their customers today may not even be around next season, let alone ‘for years.’

Why would I expect any supplier to be excited about selling me their product? If they are not, then I wont be selling their product. That’s exactly what’s so wrong about what greenfred has said. Yes, you should be thrilled to be selling your seed through my store. Greenfred continues, “This seed supplier has decided they need to charge you for your rack so that they can maintain their profitability. If you disagree, buy your seeds somewhere else.”

Here is the bottom line greenfred. I am not carrying the seed companies seed that required the rack be paid for. Period. You want me to do business with a seed compnay because the,”seed they supply you costs them money to produce. But the packaging they design and print to hold the seed also costs them money. And the freight they pay to deliver the product to your store costs them money. And the marketing they do, and the display rack on which you mount the seed packs costs them A TON of money” So, because it costs the seed company money to stay in business I should want to do business with them? How about the costs I incure to run my business?

I am the customer! There are plenty of seed companies to do business with. I use Lake Valley Seed, and it’s displayed on a rack I got from them so long ago I cant remember if we paid for it or not. I wanted to carry another rack, but since I decided not to pay the freight on the rack I guess Lake Valley Seed gets the sales floor for now.

My last post was more about how to get the customer (me) to create a long term relationship with a business (the seed company). Like most customers I believe the world revolves around me and my needs.  Satisfy those needs and we will do business forever. Whine at me about the costs of doing business, or how grateful I should be that your company exists and I am gone. Give me a spinner rack with your logo on top where my customers will be seeing it for years. Watch as we sell, year after year your seed. Just as Perry said, “From their perspective, if they send the rack out, they know that they aren’t likely to see it again, and they aren’t likely to get paid for it either. Ask them how much volume of business it would take to get the rack for free. Then… ask them if they want that only in one year, or over all the years that you intend to buy their product. Ask them for some other incentive to offset the cost of the rack (free product etc.) If they aren’t bright enough to take an exclusive deal with the ability to get more over time, they might not be there later anyway.
Ask them if they recognize that a 1/2 loaf is better than no loaf at all. With things the way they are… can they afford to be starving? It’s their choice to make.”

To say that, “the notion that a supplier should be ‘excited’ that you ‘want to sell their’ is beyond condescending.” Condescending? Yes, greenfred, every supplier should be very excited to sell me product. They should provide me with all the tools needed to sell their product, spinner racks, handouts, etc. They should constantly remind me just how pleased they are to be doing business with me. Yes, they should be thrilled to be doing business with me or we won’t be doing business for long together.

Here is the bottom line greenfred. We had better start getting a clue who is important here. The customer! There is no one more important in my store than the customer. We will just about do anything to satisfy our customers needs. If we don’t they will shop elsewhere, and we may or may not ever know they could have been a regular customer. The small retail garden center is also a customer of the wholesale nurseries and suppliers. They should treat us just as we treat our customers. If they don’t we shop elsewhere. Right now Lake Valley Seed gets all my seed business, and you know, that’s o.k. Seed sales are great and I am not so sure now if I really need or needed that other seed rack from that other company. I’ll just order, and re-order more from Lake Valley seed. No big deal, except for that seed company that could have gotten their seed in my store while we are growing our business.

Why is it that seed companies, or at least the seed company I want to do business with, require that you purchase the seed rack? You know, the metal spinner that holds the seed packs. If I don’t have to buy the rack then they require that I pay the freight to get the rack to my store.

Why is it that I have to pay to have a seed company take up space in my store? It’s their seed we will be selling. It valuable retail space that will be advertising their product. We will be sending them money on a regular basis. Shouldn’t they be excited that we want to sell their seed?

The seed company is a good, family run company that we want to see succeed. It’s just that we won’t be carrying their seed because we don’t want to pay the freight fee. What a shame. We would be selling their seeds for years, helping build their brand. I would think they would be excited to send us a rack to display their seed.

I know that paying for the rack, or freight to get it has always fallen to the retail store to deal with.  Why?

I got a angry e-mail from some guy named Tim who say’s he is a store manager at a Smith and Hawken Store. He want’s to know why I am  down on Smith and Hawken.  He asks what happened at the Feb 3rd meting that was suppose to decide the future of the chain. He makes the point that nothing has happened, and that Smith and Hawken has spent thousands of dollars installing televisions in their stores. Why would they do that if they we’re going to close? What I didn’t like about the e-mail was the subject line, “You suck”. The rest of the e-mail was in that vain.

Here is some information for “Tim”. I did not say that the future of the chain was going to be decided on Feb.3rd.  It was a commenter at the blog that said that. If you have a comment about my posts then why not post that at the blog, rather than sending me a angry e-mail. That way everyone can read what you have to say.

I have no idea whether Tim is actually a store manager or not. If he is, he should given a course in how to deal with angry customers.  I was one of Smith and Hawkens original customers, long before Tim was ever involved with the company. Better to have provided his input at the blog in the comments, minus the derogatory language.

More and more, business is going to have to deal with customers and others talking about how they feel about companies on their blogs. Is Tim going to fire off angry e-mails to anyone that speaks in less than complimentary tones about his company? What’s the deal with the televisions being put in? Hearing that they are going to put televisions in the store makes me even more doubtful about the future of the chain.

Here is the bottom line. If you are a store manager of a nursery or garden store the last thing you should do is get involved in a war of words with garden bloggers. It solves nothing, and the history of your comments will be viewable forever. Better to have just disagreed with me, like many do, and left a comment. It would be the mature way to respond.