Someone stole my idea!

Today's Garden Center Magazine just featured one of my blog ideas on their "Steal this Idea" section. (and generally among my garden center owner peers its more of a borrowing or sharing of ideas than an actual theft...and Richard Jones the editor asked first :-)

Here's the quote:

Give Your
Customers Tools

I’m not sure how many of you have a blog for your garden center, but if you’re considering starting one and looking for some inspiration on how to do it, your first stop ought to be Dave’s Garden Talk.

Dave Williams runs Williams Nursery in Westfield, N.J., and he’s one of the first garden retailers I’ve met who really seem to “get” what you can accomplish with social media like blogs.

He’s great at offering inspiration, advice, and even helpful tools to his readers, most of whom are also his customers. For instance, check out this recent post from Dave’s Garden Talk. It’s got that inspiration, advice and a tool for gardeners, and a great idea you can steal to share with your own customers. And if you want to steal the whole blog idea, that’s ok too:

"It's time to start thinking about transitioning your pots and gardens into a new season. Before you begin, its the perfect opportunity to evaluate what performed great, and what were the duds.

"You may be convinced that you'll remember what you planted next year, and what did well, but I think when Spring excitement starts, most people forget what was going on in the garden two seasons ago.

"If you have a camera, take some pictures of your containers, your annual beds. and your perennials. If you know the names of the plants I've created a simple inventory spreadsheet were you can keep notes. You'll be amazed at how much time you'll save next year by filling it out."

[Editor’s note: I don’t want to overwhelm Dave’s blog with direct downloads from our site, but if you’d like to see the spreadsheets he put together, just click on the link above and check them out in his blog. He’s happy to share.]
Richard Jones, Sep 23, 12:09