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Re: [GWL]: New Plants/Products For Testing


On Fri, 2 Nov 2001 11:35:56 -0500 Dorsett <dorsettm@scin.quik.com>
writes:
  If you can't 
> afford to
> trial plants without company subsidies, how can any average gardener 
> afford
> to buy those plants?  They can't, on average.<

Barb, you seem to be missing the very point.

Those of us who write about gardening for a living are _not_ average
gardeners. We trail more varieties than the average gardener; we compare
and contrast them with other similar varieites in ways the average
gardener doesn't think about; and we test and evaluate tools, other
hardgoods, and similar products in quantities you cannot imagine.

One example: This past season I grew out 8 different stuffer tomatoes,
for a planned article. Five plants each of eight varieties, in order to
develop a realistic feel for the category. How many average gardeners do
you reckon would have done that?

Don't get me wrong. I am not putting down average gardeners. They are our
bread and butter. But they depend on us for useful, reliable information.
My readers, based on that article, might decide to grow stuffer tomatoes.
If they do, it's because I gave them the information they needed to make
a knowledgeable choice, so they could pick the one variety they will
grow.

Did I accept "free" seed in order to grow out all eight? You betcha!
Sure, we're only talking about what? Twelve or fifteen bucks? But ten
here, and twelve there, and fifty over there, and pretty soon the costs
of doing business, of sharing valuable information with my readers, get
out of line. 

Me, I'll continue to accept such subsidies whenever I have a valid
editorial need.


Brook
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