Greying Tigers

Greying tigers, the generation of over 65s who are becoming a more powerful generation in the market place. This is the generation that has seen all the changes take place and are reminiscent of the good old days.

They remember when the wallflowers were sold wrapped in newspaper and they remember the price. This is a generation looking for nostalgia and is very price aware.

This is still a generation that are loyal to many garden centres and dare one say it, but because of their loyalty they may be putting young people off visiting the same establishments.

This is a generation that we cannot ignore, but have to fit them into a marketing scenario that meets all generation needs.

Many garden centers have realized there is an opportunity, especially where they can get involved in celebrating the Red Hat Society as an event in the garden center. If you are not aware of this society, I recommend you check them out on the web. This is a growing group and a great way of introducing fun into our garden center with this generation.

Greying Tigers are the most adventurous retired generation that has ever been and as a result will experiment in there gardens. They are the nostalgia market and this is a huge opportunity for any garden centre who wishes to develop nostalgic promotional opportunities. Why not have a corner in the garden center for nostalgic products and plants.

Garden centers who are looking to attract this market need to be less abled friendly and have plenty of seating located around the center. The coffee shop needs to be price aware; many price decisions are made by judging the price of a cup of tea.

Many centers are allocating special days for this generation; I have one client who has built their traffic on a quiet day by promoting to this group. My local shopping center actually takes a mini bus around the local retirement homes on a Thursday. They invite people to the shopping center, provide them with a complimentary cup of tea and let them shop. This has proved to be very successful, not only to the target market, but has also grown community support for the center. The same concept could be applied to a garden center.

They may be lower spenders, but on quieter days that can make a difference. The Greying Tigers are also often collectors and this is also an opportunity to provide them with collection pieces, the gift market especially has developed this market, but the same could be applied to cacti and other plant products.

Dos

Ensure your garden center is less abled friendly. Have parking for the less abled in a prime location in your car park

Have a wheel chair available, but more important encourage your team to get in it and go around the garden center, this will give them an opportunity to experience it and make appropriate changes to the customer flow

Have plenty of seating located at locations around the garden centre

Promote nostalgia plants at key locations around the garden center and use words like remember and Nostalgia on the signage

Make sure signs are bold and simple; eyes fail as we get older

Ensure your cash point team are greying tiger friendly and are prepared to help .have a help service to the car for the less abled

Donts

Place delicate products in locations where frail hands may drop them

Talk down, this generation has a lot of background knowledge, especially on gardening self and will not consider the container as such an important element as, for example generation X

Put all your container plants in expensive containers, this generation will purchase plants for the plants it

Planting Tips For Growing Vegetables!

Are you interested in growing vegetables in your garden? Growing vegetables in the vegetable garden is much easier than you imagine.

To grow vegetables, you do not need a large site.

You can grow in containers without any need for a piece of land.

In fact, growing vegetables need a careful planning and some simple planting tips with which you can grow your own vegetables in no time!

1.For a successful growth of vegetables, a healthy soil is very important. Use a high-quality soil or improve the existing one through the addition of organic materials such as sphagnum peat moss, leaf mold, compost, and rotted manure in large quantities. For a clay type soil, add some sand to provide a clear drainage. Add these materials into the soil using till or spade.

2.Good soil with better drainage is best for growing vegetables healthily. So, get your soil tested prior to using it for vegetable plants. Also, ensure that soil has all essential nutrients required for a plant growth.

3.Location of the garden is the key to the vegetable garden planning process. As almost all vegetables needs a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight for a healthy growth, choose a sunny spot with full of sunlightsouth, southeast or south west facing is best spot.

4.In a partially shady location where you get less sunlight, it is best to grow leaf crops like lettuce, coriander, and spinach than tomatoes or other vegetables.

5. For a vegetable garden, choose a location away from trees and shrubs as far as possible. This is because the roots of trees and shrubs, near the vegetable plants, will deprive the essential nutrients and water of the vegetable plants.

6. It is a good idea to locate the garden close to your water source. This helps you save time and energy.

7.Employ a drip irrigation system to save your water as well as to reduce watering chores. This system is most beneficial because it provides water directly to the root region of plants. In addition, it provides water automatically for the plants in the garden if you set a timer on your faucet.

8. For a vegetable garden, it is good to obtain maximum yields within a minimum space. So, do inter-planting with quick-growing vegetables (bunching onions) and slower-growing vegetables (cauliflower and broccoli).

9. It is not a good idea to do over planting. Growing several plants in a small area can damage the growth of all vegetable plants in the garden.

10. Get aware of the plant-growing season and protect the plants according to the season. To protect plants from early frosts, always use cloches, plant protectors, and row covers. Tomatoes are cold-sensitive vegetables and can be transplanted outdoors prior to its normal planting time.

11.Mulching is the best way to maintain healthy vegetable plants. So, mulch the vegetable plants in the summer time. This helps to eradicate weeds, keeps soil moisture and improves the soil structure when it gets rot. Cocoa bean hulls, straw, shredded bark, spoiled hay, and compost are the best mulch materials for vegetable plants.

Hunter Valley Gardening – Roses

Winter is over and Spring is in the air. The sights, scents and sounds are all around with the garden coming back to life. Trees are coming into leaf, the blossoms are out and the roses are budding up ready to commence their 9-month flowering spree.
The rose is one of the most widely grown of all plants and dates back to ancient times, there are even fossil evidence discovered in Colorado dating back 35 million years.
The domestic rose most likely originated in Asia around 5 thousand years ago and has made its mark throughout history as symbols of love, beauty, war and politics. In ancient Egypt the rose was considered the most sacred of all flowers and was used as offerings to Gods as well as being used as wreaths in tombs. In 1492 a crew member on Columbuss ship picked a rose branch out of the ocean which was a sign of the presence of land and the next day Columbus discovered America, while in England in during the 15th century the rose was used as a symbol for factional fighting. Known as the War of the Roses- the white rose symbolised York and the red rose symbolised Lancaster. In the 17th century roses were in such demand that royalty considered roses and rose water as legal tender and Shakespeare refers to roses over 50 times in his works.
In modern times the rose continues to make its mark with the Netherlands being the world leader in the export of roses with over 19,000 acres under rose cultivation while Zambia being a small nation has 80 per cent of its cultivated land dedicated to the production of roses. The rose is also the national floral emblem of the US and was signed in by law in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan.

So what does all this mean? Not much really except that the rose has stood the test of time, not only due to its beauty and elegance but also because it is one of the toughest plants around. Full sun, a little fertiliser and some water and the modern rose will reward the even the most novice of gardeners. The biggest problem people face these days is which rose to grow. Roses come in all shapes, sizes and colours (except blue!) and the range can be a bit confusing – Bush, Climbers, Standards, Ramblers, Pillars, Hybrid Teas, Floribundas and landscape are few types but all will do well in our climate.
If you have never tried to grow roses before and not sure what to grow, here is a list of the top 10 we grow at Hunter Valley Gardens. All these varieties are tough, disease resistant and very free flowering and will reward with months of colour.

Apricot Nectar – A floribunda rose with large, very fragrant apricot blooms with pink tints. A compact bush with strong stems. An excellent cut flower.

Chameleon – A floribunda miniature rose with flowers that change colour as they mature on the plant. Starting at a mid yellow with the outer petals changing to pink while the centre changes to white.

Double Delight – A large flowering hybrid tea rose. A very fragrant rose with high centred double flowers. Creamy white with red streaks around the edges of the petals.

Fiona’s Wish – A vigorous hybrid tea. Large vivid pink petals flushed with a white underside. A full classic rose with fragrance. Bush. Excellent for cut flowers.

Iceberg – The best rose available. A white flowering cluster floribunda with slightly scented flowers. A very free flowering rose that will show colour all year round.

Just Joey – A large flowering hybrid tea. Full petalled flower in tones of fawn, copper and buff. Very fragrant in warmer climates with extremely large flowers that fold out.

Peace – A vigorous large flowered hybrid tea. Very large flowers are a bright yellow flushed with pinkish-red at the edges and are lightly scented.

Pierre De Ronsard – A pillar/climbing rose with very full double cupped blooms with a slight fragrance. Flowers are centred with mid pink and fade to white on the outer petals.

Seduction – An open flowered floribunda rose. Buds start at mid pink and fade to a white. Flowers open completely to expose stamens. A delicate, elegant flower.

Simply Magic – A spreading floribunda rose. Very heavy flowering variety with carmine-pink clusters of open petal flowers. A low and spreading variety with a very long flowering period.

For those who enjoy their roses or want to try something new, there are some exceptional new releases available for 2008 that are sure to inspire.

Tequila La Savillana A floribunda with bright yellow-orange flowers blending to pink. Loose medium flowers that offer a continuous display.

Blooming Miracle Highly perfumed repeat flowerer with apricot, cream blooms. Very hardy.

Fire & Ice A hybrid tea with a white petalled flower with cherry red tips. Excellent disease tolerance and dark glossy green foliage.

My Hero A Classic shiny pink flower that will not fade and is self-cleaning. Massive flowers borne above dark glossy foliage.

Love-In A psychedelic rose with swirling lemon, pink flower that ages to a rose colour. Voted the most disease resistant rose at the 2006 rose trials.

Make sure you visit your local garden centre to see all the latest releases and enjoy the spring weather and Happy Gardening.

Design Your Greenhouse Gardening Carefully.

If your gaden design includes a greenhouse, read on. Any garden, however small, can house a glass structure of some type. Any greenhouse, however small, will add a new dimension to your garden.

All kinds of shapes and a wide range of sizes can be found, but the basic difference between one type and another will be the minimum temperature at which its kept. The cold house is certainly the easiest – no artificial means of heat are provided and so in the depths of winter the temperature can fall below freezing (33 deg. F). In spite of this vulnerability to frost, the cold house extends the growing season by trapping the sun’s heat during the day. This allows you to work protected from the elements with plants that are sheltered from the wind and rain. You and your plants can enjoy day temperatures that are appreciably higher than the warmth outdoors.

Tomatoes are the favourite crop, during the rest of the year there is cuttings to consider, seeds to raise and vegetables to force on. The range of the unheated greenhouse is limited. You cannot grow frost-sensitive plants between late autumn and mid spring unless you supply heat. The standard practice is to transform it into a cool house (minimum temperature of 45 deg. F) and so open a whole new world. Now ‘greenhouse plants’ may be grown – Palms, Orchids, Fucsias and so on. Half-hardy bedding plants can be raised for the garden and a year round display of blooms can be created for either greenhouse or living room.The installation of a heater transforms growing under glass into a year-round hobby.

The average sized greenhouse (8 ft long x 6 ft wide) would cost somewhere in the region of 200 – 300 if staging etc. is to be fitted. Before making this investment, carefully consider the points not made in many textbooks. Constant attention is needed, and that means every single day during the summer months. There will be watering, feeding, ventilating, misting and so on to do. There’s also the fuel – keeping an 8 x 6 ft. house at a minimum of 45 deg. F will cost over 100 during an average winter.

The aim of the previous paragraph isn’t to discourage you, it is to avoid adding to the amount of greenhouses owned by individuals with limited time to spare who after a year or two allow the structure to become a home for pots, boxes and various pieces of household equipment.

On a much more encouraging note, most people who buy a greenhouse tend to run out of space for all the exciting things they want to grow. For them there is a different warning. If you have the time, money and are keen on growing things – buy the next size bigger than you have planned! Keep it as a cool house – the attraction of having a warm house (minimum temperature 55 – 60 deg. F) for exotics is obvious, but your fuel bill may very well be as high as 300 per year. Unfortunately stove houses (minimum temperature 65 deg. F) have almost disappeared.

greenhouse, garden, garden design, tomatoes, serviceteam, palm trees, orchids, fucsias

Easy Tips For Organic Gardening

Organic gardening is the means of growing vegetables as well as fruits with the usage of things just identified in nature.

Why will one wish to delight in organic gardening?

1. One may easily make compost from garden as well as kitchen area waste. Though this is a bit much more time-consuming than getting ready chemical pesticides as well as fertilizers, it definitely aids to place garbage to good usage as well as so saves the environment.

2. Organic farming does not make use of chemicals that might have an adverse impact on your health. This is especially vital when expanding vegetables. Chemical companies tell us that the chemicals we make use of are harmless if used asing reported by direction, but investigation shows that also very small quantities of poisons absorbed through the skin may create such things as cancer, especially in kids.

On the average, a kid eats four to five times much more cancer-causing pesticides from foods than an adult. This may trigger different illness later on in the little one’s life. With organic gardening, these events are minimized.

Don’t forget, pesticides have toxins that have just one objective – to kill living things.

3. Less damage to the environment. Poisons are typically cleansed into our waterways, triggering demise to the indigenous fish as well as polluting their place.

4. Organic farming practices help stop the loss of top soil through erosion.
The Ground Efficiency Service says that an approximated 30 – 32 billion tons of soil erodes from United States farmlands every year.

4. Fee savings. One does not have to buy costly chemical fertilizers as well as pesticides with organic gardening. Many organic dishes for the control of bug as well as illness come right from the kitchen area cabinet. Often other plants may be expanded as partners to the primary crop. An example of this is the marigold, which aids to repel aphids from vegetables.

Mixing 1 tablespoon of liquid dishwashing cleansing soap as well as 1 mug of cooking oil may make an economical garden bug spray. Put 3 tablespoons of this combination in 1 quart of water as well as spray on plants.

5. An uncomplicated mulch of want needles will help to restrain the progression of weeds along with keeping the moisture in.

6. Organic gardening practices help to maintain the environment harmless for future generations.

Organic farming does not make use of chemicals that might have an adverse impact on your health. Chemical companies tell us that the chemicals we make use of are harmless if used according to direction, but investigation shows that also very small quantities of poisons absorbed through the skin may create such things as cancer, especially in kids.

With organic gardening, these events are minimized.

One does not require to buy costly chemical fertilizers as well as pesticides with organic gardening. Many organic dishes for the control of bug as well as illness come right from the kitchen area cabinet.