The Blogging Nurseryman by Trey Pitsenberger

We support the Master Gardeners. Just this last week we donated a couple of hundred dollars in plants for their first plant sale. We have had the El Dorado County Master Gardeners come to our picnic grounds at the nursery the last few years for their annual picnic. The idea that somehow my last post was negative towards the Master Gardener program is false.  Just as Don Shor said in the comments, “California already has the Garden In Every School program, a great opportunity for local nurseries to make direct donations of materials and time and reap excellent public relations. I’ve donated to every school in our area, participated in plantings, talked to school groups, all in conjunction with this excellent state program.” So have I Don! Why do we need another layer of bureaucracy from the federal government? Gardening is local and having federal programs just seems to me a waste of precious resources.

Lester Loam comments, “Do you know the budget situation of Master Gardener programs around the country?” Yea, most likely it’s like all of our budgets, under strain. You just have to deal with it the best you can. Lester says, “we’ve got the potential for an incredible increase in customers for seeds, plants and gardening supplies. Those customers need information about how to garden (and a supportive community to help them) or their initial forays into gardening will sour them for the long haul. There go your new customers.” We already have had the incredible increase in customers for seeds, plants, and gardening supplies this year. Apparently the word has gotten out, without the federal governments intervention. Lester says, “master gardeners have been doing that for decades, and that’s why the program works.” he continues saying that with more government involvement you are, “more likely to see networks of gardeners sharing information about what works in their area.” It seems to me that that is what we are doing here, and other gardening blogs right now. In addition there are places called garden centers, run by people like me who are more than happy to fill you in on all your gardening questions and needs. We are local, need your support, and will keep the money here in the neighborhood. The resources are already in place.

I think Frank hit it on the head when he said, “Local govs can do more to get local farmer’s produce to regional markets. Farm policy needs to address water rights/irrigation, organics, subsidies, etc. Please, Fed Gov - I beg you not to consider my five pots of tomatoes agriculture!”

Keep it local.

This last summer and fall we have seen an explosion of interest in gardening, for many reasons. Concern over food safety, economics, and just wanting to grow better tasting food has fed into the gardening movement. This has been a grass roots effort, mainly at the local level. Now we see a move afoot to involve the federal government in our gardening. Garden Rant had a post today about the efforts of Rose-Hayden-Smith, an expert on the history of the Victory Gardens of World Wars 1 and 2. According to Garden Rant, “Rose also met with folks at the USDA while she was in town and left convinced that next year the feds will implement a ‘national gardening initiative’, something she has been campaigning for.”

We are all for increasing the interest in vegetable gardening.  Why after this last year, where people started gardens and gardening on their own, do we see the need for the government in our gardens? The title of the Garden Rant post is, “Victory Garden Historian, ‘There is a gardening revolution going on right now.’” The nature of revolutions is people standing up against government involvement in their lives. Why would we want more government in “our revolution?”Rose say’s, “I’ve suggested to new Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack via the Huffington Post, thousands of highly-trained volunteer Master Gardeners (who serve under the USDA’s umbrella, through land grant institutions) can be called upon to share their expertise with school, home and community gardeners.” I thought that’s what they already did. We have regular workshops hosted by The Master Gardeners on all sorts of gardening topics. In addition, our nursery puts on regular workshops promoting gardening and vegetable and fruit gardening in particular.

People turned to gardening this last year in spite of the government. They did it on their own, with little help from the state or feds.  Rose says about the Victory gardens of WWI and II, “But my take-away was the breadth and depth of government action promoting the home growing of food, which resulted in 40% percent of American production being homegrown.  Every community had a ‘foodshed coordinator’ who worked to make sure the right types of food were planted, all coordinated in a big-picture way.”

I don’t like the sound of that. A “foodshed coordinator” making sure the “right types” of food are planted, “in a big picture way?”. Maybe in WWII, but not now. Who decides what food is “right”, The Master Gardeners? I, like Rose am encouraged by the interest shown for gardening this year. It was done without government intervention. Why involve them now? I like to garden because it takes me away from all the “big picture” things that are going on in the world. The garden helps us to focus on a smaller picture, what we can do locally to further the gardening cause. Gardening is local. Let’s keep it that way.

Did I get your attention? According to Orange County Register, naked gardening is all the rage. “Alicia Silverstone, star of ‘Clueless,’ mows her lawn in the nude. She told Health Magazine: ‘It probably started when I was doing my garden the first time. I’d be out there, and it would be scorching hot, so I would take off all of my clothes and garden.’”

Like columnist Cindi Mc Natt,  I find ” the naked models don’t look like gardeners – they’re too pasty, they lack the battle wounds that gardeners carry and none are wearing shoes. Serious gardeners know you can’t dig the daffodils without your boots on.”

I do find gardening to be sexy, and I can see being naked in the garden, but just not while you are actually gardening. I was so enamored with the idea of gardening being sexy, that I bought some domain names a few years back, and maybe now I can cash in on them. Available are, thesexygarden.com, sexygardeneronline.com, and sexygardener.net.

So to be clear , sex appeal and nakedness do not always go hand in hand. Sometimes a little clothing is a lot more sexy than no clothing at all.

No doubt you have heard that Martha Stewart is leaving K-Mart and heading over to Home Depot. According  to Home Channel News, Home Depot will start “carrying Martha Stewart Living products early next year in an exclusive deal announced on Sept. 14. The three product categories — outdoor living, home organization and home decor — will involve collaborations between Martha Stewart designers and Home Depot merchants ‘that allow customers to easily coordinate decor and design elements when taking on home improvement projects,’ according to the joint announcement.”

I would think that his just about seals the fate of K-Mart. Our local K-mart has gone down hill since Wall-Mart and Home Depot moved in.  As for Home Depot, this has got to help them become even more of the one stop home improvement shop. I know some people think Martha’s stuff has much to be desired, but for the gang that likes to shop The Depot, this will be just right.

Having Martha is Home Depot’s way to compete with Lowe’s, which tends to get higher marks from female customers. Martha will lend a more feminine touch to The Depot. It will be interesting to see if, and how Lowe’s responds. Who can they hire to compete with Martha?

We started a Facebook page for the nursery. While I love our local fans, I do get a kick out of fans that have never “physically” been here. They are all over the world! This is the promise of the internet, putting like minded people together, no mater where they live. Being a small, independent, locally owned nursery has never been so good. Have a nursery, start a Facebook page. It’s easy. We have also added a badge on the right of this blog that will take you right there.

Won’t you head over and become a fan today?

I never get sample plants or tools sent to me. I read other garden writers talk about this plant sample, or that plant sample, or this new tool. “Try it out and let us know what you think.” After reading Farmer Fred’s rant yesterday, I am not sure I would want to. Titled, “Proven Losers” it’s about being sent Proven Winner plant samples. I am not sure Fred’s reaction is what they hoped for. Fred has posted pictures on his blog.

Why do wholesale companies send out samples of plants that are in the condition of the ones Fred was sent?  These are samples of plants they are proud to produce? All the advertising and good reviews can’t undo the reality of being sent plants that are dying or diseased. Very strange indeed.

The plant with the fungus starts you thinking about the whole Late Blight of tomatoes that made the news a few months ago. With over night air, and plants being shipped all over the country, you can see how easily disease spreads.

The other thing that spreads is good, and bad news. Considering how much money is spent by Proven Winners to build the brand it’s amazing how just one poor choice can ruin much of it. No longer can you depend on your advertising to spread the word. The word is spread regardless of how much money you spend. I will echo Fred’s lament, “…why send obviously damaged plants?”

Here is a positive story of a garden center in Houston. Plant for All Seasons is owned by Victor Flaherty, who has commented before at this blog. He also has a blog titled, The Dirt. He mentions in the Houston Business Journal that sales are up 20% for the year, with a revenue expected to reach 2.4 million this year.

While we here at The Golden Gecko are no where near that type of revenue, we are seeing the same type of growth this year.  I am also encouraged because, as the article said, “as with most start ups, the first few years were often difficult, but Flaherty was a studious entrepreneur. ‘I would go home every night and read everything I could,’ he says. ‘The first 10 years were just surviving.’”

So here we are in our fifth year, paying the bills and staying in business. It’s a long row to hoe when your in business for yourself, but you have to keep your eyes on the horizon and sail ahead. Keep looking for things and ways of doing things that the box stores are not. Give the customer what they want at a reasonable price, and a great attitude, and you will do o.k.

I believe the attitude is a huge part of the equation. People these days are looking for positive messages. I have learned to live by this quote from Rudyard Kipling, ““If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you. . . . The world will be yours and everything in it…”

These are the day’s to “keep your wits” and ignore the doomsayer’s. It’s not easy, but we have no choice.

This information comes from Tim Hodson at Greenhouse Product News. Actually it’s from his Facebook Page. He mentions Pinnacle Landscape and Garden Centers foray into home brewing. Actually the garden center hosts the River Valley Ale Raisers home brew club. The club has 29 paid members, and meets the first Tuesday of every month at the Pinnacle Landscape and Garden Center. They also sell the brew supplies!  “‘We started selling wine and brew supplies in October of 2007,’ said Garden Center owner Jim Taylor. “’We like hosting the meetings because it gives people a chance to learn more about the art of brewing.’”

Brilliant! This has got to get you thinking about doing the same thing at your garden center. It could be home brewing, or home wine making, or any number of hobbies. What a wonderful way of diversifying the products offered through your store. This would be a great way to encourage people to visit during the winter months, when gardening tends to take a back seat to other interests. We are in wine country, yet I don’t think there is a home wine making or brewing supply store anywhere closer than Sacramento, 40 miles away.

This is just the kind of thinking that will help smaller garden centers stay relevant in the community. Bringing people in that might otherwise never have visited your store. Now all Pinnacle needs to do is work on that web page a bit.