Re: GWL quotes and rants

**N* S* <s*@earthlink.net>**

Andy -  There are so many good products, plants, etc.  and so little  
space I prefer to spend my meager editorial budget on the good stuff.  
I only request products I think are useful and well built.  I also  
ask others to test the products if I don't care for them. I have  
small hands and weak forearms.   My kids like and will buy products I  
would pass on. I hated the Fiskars stick tools in the beginning. They  
look clunky and I found them to be very heavy - when I picked them  
up.  But my partner Jeff Ball loves them.  He's a big guy.  Guess  
what, the Fiskars garden fork saved my bacon when loosening soil in  
an overgrown area of the veg patch? I highly recommend it for all   
gardeners. Now if your digging in a small city patch, the Leverage  
Digger may be a better buy.

As far as books are concerned' I don't do in depth reviews' but  
rather tie them to articles. I do lots of lecturing and am amazed how  
few gardeners read gardening books. They may pick up a magazine at  
the grocery store, but few subscribe - check the numbers and I think  
you will be surprised.  So again. I choose to highlight the good and  
ignore the bad.  I would love to read your review of the new organic  
gardening book - off list of course.

Though I live in the country (fifty miles north of Detroit)  there  
are lots of growers in the area - well, within a 25 30 mile radius,   
I have access to lots of new plants. Michigan is third behind Florida  
and California in the production of garden plants, so if I am willing  
to take a day and road trip, I can find fantastic stuff - Spring  
Meadow Nursery, Walter's Gardens and Four Star Greenhouses to name a  
few.  As far as soil amendments, hit the hydroponic shops. They're  
loaded with good stuff.

Ten bucks for a quart of Sweet Woodruff? I got a bridge I'll sell ya.
  Nancy

On Jun 12, 2007, at 2:55 PM, Hamptongar@aol.com wrote:

> 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)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Nancy Szerlag
Columnist for Detroit News
szerlag@earthlink.net
Check blog at www.gardeneryardener.blogspot.com

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