Re: Yardeners

**D* C* <d*@juno.com>**

On Thu, 6 May 2004 09:48:48 -0400 "Jeff Ball" <jeffball@starband.net>
writes:
> Yardeners do not buy gardening books nor read gardening columns 
> because
> those info sources don't speak to yardeners for the most part.
> Yardeners get their information from friends who say they are 
> gardeners,
> staff at the garden center, local television news broadcasts, and
> newspaper articles (as opposed to columns).

Over the years, the most common comment I have gotten when introduced to
someone is, I don't garden, but I always read your column. In fact, I got
that line recently from our state representative, who then went above and
beyond the call of duty by quoting from a column that had run a couple of
weeks earlier.

My approach to Yardeners is different from yours, Jeff. I deliberately
target those people who don't read conventional garden columns by mixing
entertainment with information. I spend probably half my effort on the
lead with the goal of sucking people in. Once they start reading, I throw
gardening information at them, a mix over time of the elementary and the
exotic. I want people to say, Hey, I could do that.

An editor once contemptuously reject my column with the phrase, "Too much
throat clearing at the beginning."  He missed the point. It is the throat
clearing that gets me the audience I have, and (he says with a blatant
lack of modesty) they are a loyal bunch. Twice over the years papers have
dropped my column and then were forced to pick it up again because of
reader pressure.

I don't know how many people I have eventually converted from Yardeners
to gardeners -- certainly not as many as I'd like -- but that is the
reason I write.

D

I am Duane Campbell and I approve this message

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