Weekend Reading 9/6/24

Welcome to Garden Center magazine's Weekend Reading, a weekly round-up of consumer garden media stories meant to help IGCs focus marketing efforts, spark inspiration and start conversations with consumers.

This week: A seed company switches from selling to giving away in pursuit of joy, an explainer on keyhole gardening, the potential of urban gardening, gardening as an unlikely hero for wildfire-prone communities and a check-in on consumer finances. 

Seeds are gifts from nature, one organic producer says. It’s ending sales and giving them away, Associated Press

Fruition Seeds, an organic seed company in upstate New York with national reach, is ending sales, giving hundreds of varieties away, letting go workers and relying on donations to grow and distribute seeds. “The call is simple enough: Seeds are gifts. Gifts are shared,” the couple who owns the company said.

Keyhole Gardening: What You Need to Know to Get Started, BobVila.com

BobVila.com shares the fascinating history of keyhole gardening, as well as techniques to get started: "Shaped like an old-fashioned skeleton-key lock, keyhole gardens were developed to help folks with less-than-super soil grow nutritious produce. They were first established in the 1990s for residents of Lesotho, a small nation in southern Africa subject to frequent droughts and soil erosion. Keyhole gardening proved successful in providing a reliable source of food for the people of Lesotho, and the concept has spread across the globe."

The Powerful Potential Of Tiny Conservation Plots, Noema Magazine

Joanna Thompson explores how urban agriculture is becoming a popular alternative to industrial farming for eco-conscious city dwellers.

Prescribed burns aren’t enough to save wildfire-prone communities. Research reveals gardening as an unlikely hero, Wildfire Today

Wildfire Today discusses a scientific study that highlight gardening as a successful fire management practice. “Models based on post-fire assessments revealed that garden characteristics, particularly vegetation type and cover near the house, as well as presence of non-vegetative fuels, affect the likelihood of house loss,” the scientific article said. “In one case, they were found to be more important than building characteristics in determining house survival.”

Retail Needs Some Therapy as Cautious Consumers Trade Down, The Wall Street Journal

Low-income consumers are cutting back on necessities, while better-off households look for bargains, according to this economic update from The Wall Street Journal.

Enjoy your reading, have a great weekend and we'll see you next week!