Let's Brainstorm On: Herbs & Veggies

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Lots of people are talking about this. But how do you merchandise it, create tie-ins and educate customers to maike it a really profitable area of the business?
I posted this in the general section because I want to hear from growers and suppliers, too. Any ideas to make this a really successful mini-category?

[Doug Cole]

Karin Lyublanovits said:

Doug,
Where do you find the "Papa Jones" line of vegetable labels???????????? Also the 4" coir pots?
Thanks, Karin from KL Growers & The Gardener's Touch

[Doug Cole]

Hi Karin,

We get the coir pots from Griffin Greenhouse supply. They are on the east coast. Their number is 978-851-4346. I just looked in their catalog to tell you who makes them, and I can't find them.

The Papa Joes tags are Wenke grhse. Those are probably not available, but you could always contact Wenke in Michigan and ask.

[Tina]

Hi Karin,

I saw your question about veggies. We sold alot of 3.5" veggies last year. So we desided to grow our own this year. Its called home grown gourmet the website is www.hgplants.com they have nice tags. they come with plastic bright green pots. They look nice but i would prefer biodegradable.

Doug Cole said:

Karin Lyublanovits said:

Doug,
Where do you find the "Papa Jones" line of vegetable labels???????????? Also the 4" coir pots?
Thanks, Karin from KL Growers & The Gardener's Touch

[Jen Polanz]

What about more tie ins? Is anyone promoting raised bed gardens or other types of products with the veggies?

[Donna Kutil]

Sure are! With us being a beach community- we have mini grills for the beach that we will be cross merchandising. Of course Earthboxes, Coast of Maine soils, matching gloves to the display,tomato cages, kids tools & books, organic ferts, etc...

[Arlena Schott]

I love to grow herbs and I find during my Garden Talks that my viewers want to grow herbs but have no idea how to use them. I say we add recipes to the tag or hand outs even hold demonstrations at your stores on how to cook with Herbs, the vegetables will fall in to pace as they learn to combine different flavors.
Green Blessings Arlena

[Steve]

We promote pressure compensated drip tape with Garden hose fittings and pressure regulators so our gardeners get good results from their garden all summer. At .06 /ft it is cheaper than soaker hoses and far superior than soaker hoses. Ad a battery operated timer and no one has to be present to insure your garden gets watered when you are away. We also promote the use of the 5.5' galvanized livestock panels with 6' metal Tee Posts to stake Tomatos, Pole Beans, and Cucumbers. They work GREAT and are reuseable every year. Once customers are savay with our drip systems we introduce them to fertilizer injectors and constant Feed fertilizer programs for their gardens. Several of our customers approach us every season to let us know that our vegtable plants won them blue ribbons at the state fair.
Jen Polanz said:

What about more tie ins? Is anyone promoting raised bed gardens or other types of products with the veggies?

[Pike Bartlett]

We started selling a nice cold frame last winter and sales have far exceeded our expectations - but the biggest surprise has been this fall. Sales started to pick up in late July and have increased as the weather is getting cooler. We have plans to design and sell and combination raised bed / cold frame for the coming season. One of our mainstay products, the Maine Garden Hod, has seen a 30+% increase in sales this season. We're at www.mainegarden.com

Steve said:

We promote pressure compensated drip tape with Garden hose fittings and pressure regulators so our gardeners get good results from their garden all summer. At .06 /ft it is cheaper than soaker hoses and far superior than soaker hoses. Ad a battery operated timer and no one has to be present to insure your garden gets watered when you are away. We also promote the use of the 5.5' galvanized livestock panels with 6' metal Tee Posts to stake Tomatos, Pole Beans, and Cucumbers. They work GREAT and are reuseable every year. Once customers are savay with our drip systems we introduce them to fertilizer injectors and constant Feed fertilizer programs for their gardens. Several of our customers approach us every season to let us know that our vegtable plants won them blue ribbons at the state fair.
Jen Polanz said:

What about more tie ins? Is anyone promoting raised bed gardens or other types of products with the veggies?

[Erik Friedli]

We physically built a vegetable garden at the garden center with a shed facade backdrop. The shed has a green roof of annuals to add color to the area, and the porch contains organic hardgoods. We focused on Square Foot Gardening as the theme, and we sell the boxes pre-made by us, the soils, mixes, and mixed containers featuring herbs and vegetables around it. So far, this has been TREMENDOUSLY successful, and our vegetable season hasn't even started yet!

[robin waldrop sr]

our greenhouse business is in an area where veggies and herbs have always done quite well, but we also have seen a tremendous increase in sales the last couple of years. what has really helped us is creating our own branded line of these two products. friendly flavors herbs and honest johns garden favorites.
both we have as registered trademarks. the programs and flashy labels have really helped that area
of our business. along with weekend events running from mid april to memorial day. the biggest was
creating an herb day which is going on its 5th year. we get the employees involved and cook food and
baked goods and teas using herbs, and also give out recipe handouts it has been very successful.
we genarally hold it the third week in april and in northern indiana sometimes the weather can be very unpredictable at that time. so this has helped get foot traffic going on sometimes a not so weather perfect weekend. since running this herb day event we have seen general sales for that weekend keep increasing!!

[John Schroeder]

Hi Robin:

Are you using your blue pots only for the herbs and veggies, are or you using them in other products too like annuals and perennials?

robin waldrop sr said:

our greenhouse business is in an area where veggies and herbs have always done quite well, but we also have seen a tremendous increase in sales the last couple of years. what has really helped us is creating our own branded line of these two products. friendly flavors herbs and honest johns garden favorites.
both we have as registered trademarks. the programs and flashy labels have really helped that area
of our business. along with weekend events running from mid april to memorial day. the biggest was
creating an herb day which is going on its 5th year. we get the employees involved and cook food and
baked goods and teas using herbs, and also give out recipe handouts it has been very successful.
we genarally hold it the third week in april and in northern indiana sometimes the weather can be very unpredictable at that time. so this has helped get foot traffic going on sometimes a not so weather perfect weekend. since running this herb day event we have seen general sales for that weekend keep increasing!!

[robin waldrop sr]

john, we are using the blue pots strictly for annuals. herbs and veggies we use terra cotta, and use our trademarked logos of honest johns garden favorites for veggies and friendly flavors for herbs.i will say we were visited by our ball seed rep last spring and two ball marketing employees and they were drawn like a magnet to our annual displays in the blue pots with our color craze logo. first and foremost thuogh the quality of the product is number 1 the pot color/logo helps give us a clean consistent look,versus a hodgepodge of black green or other mismatched colored pots. the trays we use are white so it really makes the blue pots stand out and command attention!!
John Schroeder said:

Hi Robin:

Are you using your blue pots only for the herbs and veggies, are or you using them in other products too like annuals and perennials?

robin waldrop sr said:

our greenhouse business is in an area where veggies and herbs have always done quite well, but we also have seen a tremendous increase in sales the last couple of years. what has really helped us is creating our own branded line of these two products. friendly flavors herbs and honest johns garden favorites.
both we have as registered trademarks. the programs and flashy labels have really helped that area
of our business. along with weekend events running from mid april to memorial day. the biggest was
creating an herb day which is going on its 5th year. we get the employees involved and cook food and
baked goods and teas using herbs, and also give out recipe handouts it has been very successful.
we genarally hold it the third week in april and in northern indiana sometimes the weather can be very unpredictable at that time. so this has helped get foot traffic going on sometimes a not so weather perfect weekend. since running this herb day event we have seen general sales for that weekend keep increasing!!