Market Buzz

Food truck that promotes nutrition, gardening stops at Cleveland K-8 school

On May 13, the national Burpee Home Gardens “Grow Anywhere Tour” rolled into town in the decked-out Burpee truck to deliver fresh produce, vegetable plants and gardening information to students, parents and community members at Watterson-Lake Elementary School (K-8) in Cleveland, Ohio. (Watch our video from the event at www.gardencentermag.com/media/.)

The “Grow Anywhere Tour” delivered 500 vegetable plants, including 50 for the school garden, and 1,300 pounds of produce to the community as part of its cross country journey to raise awareness of food deserts.

Votes were cast on Facebook in a competition to select the “Grow Anywhere Tour” stops in 23 of the country’s largest urban cities. Watterson-Lake Elementary received the most votes of all competing schools in Cleveland.

“It’s a start to get people to think about what they’re eating and where it comes from and how to grow it on their own,” says Michelle deBock, sixth through eighth grade teacher at Watterson-Lake.

The “Grow Anywhere Tour” truck hit the road in March and will travel more than 10,000 miles to deliver 30,000 pounds of fresh produce, 13,000 vegetable plants and gardening information to show how easy it is to grow healthy food.

“We wanted to increase passion for gardening in urban areas,” says Mason Day, programming adviser for Burpee Home Gardens. “And we wanted to show that even though you’re in a city, it’s still possible to garden.”

For more information about the tour, visit www.burpeehomegardens.com.
 

Garden Center magazine takes top honors at TOCA

GIE Media staff walked away with about a dozen awards from the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) annual meeting, which took place May 9. Garden Center magazine received four of those honors, including a coveted Gardner Award for Writing.

Editor Karen Varga received two nods for her “Branch into Berries” article, published in the November/December 2012 issue, and graphic designer Stephanie Antal was recognized for her design work.

The awards were handed out at the annual TOCA meeting, which took place in Portland, Ore., with more than 20 new members attending.

Below is a list of the honors Garden Center received:

Gardner Award
Writing – Publishing, “Branch into Berries,” Karen Varga

Writing – First
Writing for Commercial Publications: Ornamental Feature Article, “Branch into Berries,” Karen Varga

Writing - Merit
Writing for Special Projects, “Branded Plant Supplement,” Karen E. Varga

Design – Merit
Printed Magazines: Overall Magazine Design, “Garden Center,” Stephanie Antal

DIGITAL TRENDS

#Hashtag tips and tricks for successful tweeting and pinning

It started with #Barcamp. According to ReadWriteWeb, social technology innovator Chris Messina inserted the pound sign (#) in front of Barcamp, the name of the global technology unconference (user-generated conference) gatherings, in August 2007 to bundle conversation about it. As they say, the rest is history.

Known as a hashtag, today the pound symbol is used to “mark keywords or topics in a tweet,” according to Twitter. And it’s used on Pinterest, too. It allows you to see trending topics, track conversations and generate awareness for your company. When used effectively, it can be an easy asset. But before you type “Shift + 3,” read the following tips for using hashtags.

Keep it simple
One tip Mashable offers for using hashtags is to keep it simple and consistent. Short hashtags are better because they’re more search-friendly. You can pair up hashtags instead of making one that’s too long. Also, make sure you’re not overusing hashtags. Mashable suggests using one or two hashtags per tweet. More than that can read “like desperate marketing, and is a sure way to lose followers quickly” (“5 Ways Your Business Should Use Twitter Hashtags,” Mashable, bit.ly/mashable-hashtag-tips).

One on one
The great thing about using hashtags is that it makes it simpler for users to engage with one another. The online publication Small Business Trends suggests using hashtags to find new people to follow and for jumping into conversations. For example, if you’re planning on attending Spring Trials, use the hashtag #springtrials to engage with others who are also attending. It can also be used to attract new followers to your business (“10 Ways to Use Hashtags for Your Business,” Small Business Trends, bit.ly/smallbiztrends-hashtag-tips).

Do it yourself
General or popular hashtags are great for reaching a wide audience, but if you want to generate more attraction for your business, coming up with your own hashtag is the best way to do so. An article published in Entrepreneur says that the hashtag should be distinctive.

Do a quick search for the hashtag you’d like to start using to make sure it’s not already being used. And once you create your own hashtag, encourage others to use it. For example, if you sell directly to the consumer, you can ask them to tweet photos of your plants in their gardens using a hashtag you created (“What You Need to Know About Using Hashtags on Twitter,” Entrepreneur, bit.ly/entrepreneur-hashtag-tips).
 

Growing mix company sponsors community gardens in Ohio

People around the nation pulled up their sleeves and dug in the dirt, picked up trash or pulled invasive plants to celebrate Earth Day April 22.

PRO-MIX joined in the effort the weekend before by sponsoring the Kossuth Street Garden in Columbus, Ohio, April 20. The company partnered with Oakland Nursery to deliver $8,000 worth of growing mix to the community garden. Sixty people volunteered to rebuild beds, damaged by a driver in February, and planted lettuce. The Kossuth garden was one of many worksites that were a part of Columbus’ 7th annual Earth Day 2013: Stand Together.

In addition, PRO-MIX donated $4,000 worth of growing mix to the Keep Akron Beautiful community garden project May 10, and partnered with Canton Road Garden Center. The garden site was a defunct WPA project that was never finished, according to PRO-MIX. The goal was to transform the vacant lot into a garden and grow food.

PRO-MIX is based in Quebec, Canada, and one of its best markets is Ohio, said Leah Haugh of Garden Media Group. The goal of both projects is to increase brand awareness by exposing people to PRO-MIX during popular holidays like Earth Day and Mother’s Day, and also contribute to the communities.

“The most rewarding thing has been giving back to the community,” she says. “We have aligned the brand with something that means something to the community.”

As part of the projects, PRO-MIX reached out to media outlets to spread word about the event and also researched community gardens in Ohio. They said partnering with Columbus’ Earth Day event and Oakland Nursery helped the project run smoothly.
 

Difference Makers

RSC Landscaping, Inc.
Millsboro, Del.

Getting kids interested in and excited about gardening can be tough with competition from video games and television. Chris Cordrey, co-owner of RSC Landscaping in Millsboro, Del., has developed a nonprofit to try and spark their interest. He took about a year and a half to develop “Cordrey Charities,” which partners with local elementary schools to teach second-graders about the benefits of gardening.

Students at a Delaware elementary school learn about growing aloe plants.

“They’re the future gardeners of tomorrow, so we wanted to do something to get them involved in more healthy activities,” he says. “We wanted to encourage them to get outside and get their hands dirty.”

In March, the group went into a school and organized an assembly that included the entire second grade class of 150 students. They taught students about the different parts of plants, read a story about how a tiny seed sprouts into a plant, and made sure each student went home with an aloe plant. One of the women who works for RSC Landscaping dressed in a costume, and was the official mascot – “Aloe Vera.”

“An aloe plant is a relatively easy plant to take care of, so we wanted the kids to feel successful and not get discouraged while taking care of the plant,” Cordrey says. “Plus some of the children at the school are underprivileged so they might not always have a place to plant the plant. As long as you have a sunny window in your house, you can grow an aloe plant.”

To encourage the kids to care for their plants, Cordrey Charities ran a contest. All of the students who kept their plant alive successfully could enter their name into a hat, and one name was pulled from each class. The winners received a free limo ride out to the RSC Landscaping facility for a day full of fun activities.

In order to raise money for the plants and the event, Cordrey organized a 5K run, which took place in September 2012. Participants ran through the cornfields in the 5K Corn to Run. They raised about $8,500, and will organize the run and the second grade plant program again this year.

Cordrey says part of what made the program successful was that he solicited help from some experts – his sister is a teacher at the school where the assembly was held, and a local company that organizes running events helped them with the 5K Corn to Run.

Having passion for the idea is also important.

“I think it’s always good to give back to the community that supports you as a business, and I’ve always been passionate about giving back to children and getting them involved in healthy activities.”
 

2013 Michigan Garden Plant Tour starts July 29

The 10th annual Michigan Garden Plant Tour, a free, coordinated open house of leading young plant producers of ornamentals and Michigan State University, will take place July 29 to Aug. 9, 2013. The objective of the tour is to educate growers and industry professionals about new and existing plant selections and how they perform in different settings.

Greenhouse growers, landscapers, garden center retailers and nurserymen are invited to visit each of the participating tour sites.

Expect to learn about a wide range of ornamental crops, including popular commercial brands of annuals, perennials, and shrubs, and to observe plant performance at different locations and grown under various conditions, both in the ground and in containers.

Take a day trip to visit a couple of sites, or complete the entire loop for the full tour. The Michigan Garden Plant Tour is completely free, but growers would appreciate a call ahead to know you’ll be coming. 

Attendees are also invited to participate in the MSU Plant Trial Field Day in the Horticulture Gardens on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013. You’ll hear the latest on new annuals and perennials, see unbiased garden performance of ornamentals and hear directly from many of the breeding companies about their favorite plants. Dr. Art Cameron (MSU Gardens Director) and Katie McCarver (MSU Trials Manager) will present the top-performing plants in this year’s MSU trials.