Confessions of a Veg-Terrible Gardener

I’m hesitant to admit to a readership of garden center professionals that I am a failed vegetable gardener — though the failure is not for lack of trying. I’m stymied by a variety of factors that are largely linked to a lack of proper veggie gardening know- ledge. I can’t seem to find the right place in my yard for the right containers or beds to grow the right vegetables that work with my specific Northeast Ohio climate.

There have been some tantalizing moments of hope. Our household did manage to produce some anemic lettuce that we did, in fact, eat. And we had a basil explosion that was almost too frightening to harvest and use. But overall, my desire for a perfect kitchen garden that fuels my culinary explorations has remained unfulfilled.

But I spoke to Brie Arthur, author of The Foodscape Revolution, and I was filled with a renewed sense of optimism. During our conversation, it became clear to me that maybe I’d been set up to fail. Every bit of veg gardening knowledge I thought I possessed turned out to be both antiquated and inappropriate for my needs.

You mean I don’t need to plant all my vegetables in little rows? And there’s no need to segregate my struggling edible plants from my thriving flowers? And raised beds aren’t necessary for the shallow root systems of many of the vegetables that I want to grow? And tomato failures are less of a comment on my skill as a gardener than they are about the fickle nature of tomatoes?

By the time we’d finished our conversation (which is the core of this month’s cover story), I was fired up for spring. But I was also fired up to share this information with you, because I want your garden center customers to feel as excited for spring as I am right now.

I think a lot of that excitement comes directly from a new way of thinking about planting my edibles. I truly believe garden centers have an opportunity to capitalize on this unconventional paradigm. The questions being asked are: What if you merchandised your veggies with your prettier plants? What if you got your new gardeners hooked on a way of planting that brought them back to your IGC every time they harvested, between early spring sugar peas and autumn Brussels sprouts? What if you went beyond your standard varieties and offered left-field edibles, like Egyptian walking onions, pineberries or Romanesco broccoli?

We know from Axiom Marketing’s 2024 New and Novice Gardener Study we cover this month that the gardeners who started the hobby during the 2020 boom are knowledgeable and confident, but they are also willing to listen to knowledgeable pros, drive farther and pay more for what they want. To capture those gardeners from big-box stores, which initially enabled their hobby, IGCs need to lean on their ability to curate unique options and offer high-quality information they wouldn’t get from someone in an orange apron.

I know that as I look forward to spring with new hope to turn around my household vegetable cultivation, I will be leaning on my local IGC to ensure success. I will supply the passion if they supply the cool varieties, compost and know-how.

They have everything I need. And when it comes to inspired gardeners, so does your own IGC. It’s just a matter of helping them see what’s possible.