I have just returned from the Independent Garden Center (IGC) show in Chicago with loads of inspiration. The event consisted of a trade show, networking opportunities, and numerous speakers, all targeted to independent garden centers across the country.
We have been showing the Clarington products at the show for the past three years. This year one of the best parts of the show was the great line-up of speakers. It was nice to see a strong emphasis on quality plants and products, as well as organic and sustainable gardening across many of the presentations.
Below are just a few of the highlights from the show:
Slow Food
The president of Slow Food, USA, Josh Verteil, offered heartening statistics of our food system, like the addition of nearly 3000 new Farmer’s Markets in the U.S. over the past decade and discussed the ingenious ways city gardeners are finding to grow their own food in small spaces. My favorite example was a truck in Brooklyn that is driven around with a vegetable garden in the bed: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdP3g2aUPSA
I also appreciated that the speech strongly encouraged garden centers to cater to gardeners growing food. Josh brought up how difficult it can be to find bulk soil, raised bed kits, irrigation systems, compost and worm bins, etc. in many garden centers. He also suggested offering transplants throughout the growing season, not just a batch of tomatoes and cucumbers in the spring. I know I have a hard time finding fall transplants in my area, so I hope my local garden centers were listening!
You can learn more about the Slow Food movement at www.slowfoodusa.com
Garden Rant
Amy Stewart, from the blog Garden Rant, gave a great presentation for garden centers looking to be a bit more “green”, I was especially intrigued by a couple of the programs she brought up during her talk: below are links to the Wildlife Habitat and Plant a Row for the Hungry programs.
The Wildlife Habitat program from the National Wildlife Federation helps gardeners learn how to make their yards more hospitable to wildlife by offering sources of food, water, shelter, etc. More information on this program and resources for making your garden a wildlife habitat is available from: www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Create-a-Habitat.aspx
Amy also discussed the Plant a Row for the Hungry program, which is sponsored by the Garden Writers Association. This program encourages gardeners to plant an extra row of food to be donated to a local food bank. According to the association web site, over 14 million pounds of produce has been donated by gardeners since 1995. More information is available on-line at: www.gardenwriters.org/gwa.php?p=par/index.html
If you haven’t come across it already, I highly recommend the Garden Rant blog, which can be found on-line at www.gardenrant.com.
