Re: GWL quotes and rants

**H*@aol.com**

This note is primarily intended for Nancy Szerlag, but I hope others may  
chime in.

I too am a tester.  I try to trial as many plant and  seed introductions as I 
can get my hands on and if publishers and  manufacturers want to send me 
their wares I'll give those a try as well.   The question I've got though is do 
you write about the bad ones as well as the  good ones?  I try to do both but I 
still remember a reader and friend who  stopped me on the street many years 
and  admonished me to say good  things...forget about the bad stuff and just 
write about the good stuff.   Well, while I remember her words and while they do 
temper me I'm still a strong  believer that it's our responsibility to tell 
the good as well as the bad.   How do you handle this?  Space is limited though. 
 I was recently  asked to review a substantial book on organic flower 
gardening.  It was  awful (in my humble opinion).  I had a choice...do I review it 
and give it  a bad review or just not give it any space at all?

Then there are the PR releases and the PR people.  I probably get 20  PR 
releases to 1 real product to test, put my hands on or grow.  My basic  rule is 
that if you want me to write about something, send it to me.  I  won't even give 
mention to any product that I become aware of by way of a press  release.  I 
recently got a release about a brand named mini-tiller and how  it was now 
available as a 4 cycle machine instead of a 2 cycle.  I queried  the PR writer as 
to why the change had been made (I knew the answer but it's two  months now 
and he hasn't given me one) and why his price in the release was  nearly 20% 
more than the published price on the manufacturers web site?   Still, two months 
later..no reply.

And since I'm on a rant...I garden in zones 5.6 and 7.  Up where my  zone 5 
garden is there is a smathering of greenhouses and 'nurseries; but only  one 
'garden center'.   The lumber yard five miles away has the usual  chemicals and 
tools that you'd find in most large hardware stores and they sell  some 
annuals and perennials but there's no knowledgeable help at all.   Another seven 
miles away is the local 'garden center'.  I'm embarrassed to  admit that I visit 
it but it does make me realize how good we have it in other  places.   I went 
in several weeks ago and asked if they had any  biostimulants...then had to 
proceed to explain to the sales help what they  were and how they worked.  A 
couple of weeks later I went in to get some  fish emulsion or another organic 
fertilizer and the reaction was 'Ya know, that  stuff is getting really popular.  
Maybe we should get some in'.   OMG, and this is only an hour and a half from 
NYC.  We do have a bit more  work to do. 

Oh, lest I forget...two weeks ago while shopping for plants in  Westchester 
(NY) I was looking for some sweet woodruff (Gallium o.).  One  quart pots, 
$10.99.  Another guy and I were looking at them at same  time and we broke out 
laughing...but they sure had lots of them.  The next  week also. 

One of my columns in the near future is going to be on "Gardening is  Dead".  
But then the two local grade schools asked me if I'd help with  after school 
gardening projects.  Is there hope?

Andrew Messinger
The Hampton Gardener

The Hampton Gardener is a Registered Trade  Mark
(Published every Thursday in the Southampton Press)

************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
&quot;Gardenwriters on Gardening&quot; &lt;gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org&gt;

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters