Don’t put away those trowels just yet!

Staying on top of home and garden trends is part of my job. In any given week, I scan dozens of gardening e-newsletters, magazines and newspaper articles from across the country.

And each year about this time I’m treated to the same tiresome round of gardening advice. “Time to put the garden to bed!” one article proclaims. “Clean up your garden tools before storing them for winter,” another chides. “Prepare your garden now for the winter onslaught,” advises another.

None of this advice applies to me. I’m lucky. Here in North Texas, fall is a second spring. The weather is fantastic right now. My daylilies, which lay curling and dormant during the wretched summer heat, are promising to bloom before cold weather comes in December. I’ve got a fall vegetable crop in: cucumbers, tomatoes, mini-pumpkins and hot peppers. New flowers are appearing every day on my rose bushes, and my cannas are putting out their fall display.

In short, it’s the perfect time to garden. The garden gurus in my part of the country are kept quite busy doling out information.

I realize that not everyone lives in a temperate climate. But that’s no reason to close up shop. I want to read articles about bulbs to plant for the new year, houseplants to experiment with indoors, living holiday-decor, seeds you can start in preparation for spring…

In short, anything that’ll get consumers into the garden center. (I’ve got a vested interest in generating traffic. I admit it.)

Here’s my challenge to you fine retailers out there: If your local gardening personality isn’t drumming up excitement, do it yourself. Let customers know that cultivating plants can be a year-round endeavor. Give consumers a reason to visit the store today.

-- Sarah

Comments

[greg draiss]

Part of putting the garden to bed involves shopping at the local GC to buy the wilt-prufs, burlap, stakes etc and lawn care products.

The trick is to convince the casual gardener that prepping the garden for winter is as much a gardening activity as planting as well as an investment in having plants survive both cold, frost heave and deer.

It is really no different than prepping the garden for spring. It is a part of gardening not even close to the actual practice of planting but again a good investment in the success of planting.

Too much gardening news and info in consumer mags focuses on the planting aspect of gardening.

In actuality how much of gardening really is planting? Planting is to me is a chore and very anti-climactic compared to the harvest, the flowers and just watching stuff grow.

So get out there and put the gardens to bed and make it a profitable activity.

Greg Draiss
Garden Guru to the Middle Class
(What's Left of it Anyway)