It's in the bag

Here’s the “dirt” on growing media: Don’t let Steve Jarahian, a.k.a. The Jolly Gardener, ever catch you calling growing media “dirt.” Jarahian has devoted most of his life to creating the perfect soilless mix for all manner of growing applications, so he knows a thing or two thousand about the subject. During the recent New England Grows show in Boston, he made it abundantly clear that his “babies” and dirt aren’t even kissin’ cousins.

The perfect soilless media mix, he said, contains ingredients that adjust pH levels, as well as organic material that works with a plant’s root system to promote healthy, rapid growth that ordinary soil – and certainly ordinary “dirt” – can’t match.

But that’s not the big story concerning today’s world of soilless mixes.

The real headline news is the amount of scrutiny manufacturers, distributors and retailers are placing on the marketing of 50-pound bags of … OK … not dirt.

“We had several focus groups look at a variety of options before we chose the colors and designs for the bags (which are pictured here),” Jarahian said. “They all said the same thing. They wanted simple – attractive, but simple, with the specific purpose of each product noted prominently on the package.”

All of those prerequisites are a far cry from what you found in the garden center as recently as five years ago. Media always came in simple packaging – often in a white bag, with no distinguishable marketing pitches attached.

Fast forward to today, when you have would-be shoppers sequestered in mirrored rooms helping decide what wraps the product – not to mention garden centers that contract with national companies to create private labels for the stores.

Frank Benzing, CEO of SummerWinds Nursery, headquartered in Boise, Idaho (www.summerwindsnursery.com), said his nursery chain has a contract with E.B. Stone to create SW private label potting soil and planting mix. It works for SummerWinds, but Benzing noted that not all media – at least, not the processes necessary to get them to market – are created equal.

“This can be a tricky area,” he said. “It varies greatly by geographic location. For example, the distribution cost is a key component in making a private label program cost-effective. If the ‘bag’ volume is light, a garden center might consider putting its soil amendments into one supplier to hopefully create enough volume for a private label program. Private label programs are certainly a good tool in the retail quiver.”

Tim Lamprey of Harbor Garden Center in Salisbury, Mass. (www.harborgardens.com), also works with a national company to craft a “semi” private label. Country Cottage potting soil is a “non big box” product Hoffman’s offers through its Good Earth Horticulture Division (www.goodearth.org).

“For years now, we’ve been buying Country Cottage.” Lamprey said. “It’s sold only to independents. They actually came out with a ‘contract’ that they signed saying that it would not be sold to box stores. As far as I know, they don’t even show it at the [National] Hardware Show. We have had great success in selling the line. Margins are keystone or better.”