Another tomato plant - with a ripening tomato.
7.25.2009
"The tomatoes are coming! The tomatoes are coming!"
How surprised I was, after weeks of anticipation and literally "green with envy"...my tomatoes have begun to ripen.At Scotts, each employee is put on a team and given a raised bed garden to plant anything you want - there is everything from commonplace tomatoes and cucumbers to corn and pumpkins to mums. The idea is to grow fresh produce to donate to the local food bank. Too often food banks are overloaded with dusty cans of kidney beans, damaged boxes of mac and cheese, and weird sort-of-foods like olives and banana peppers. Most people don't realize that food banks will also take FRESH produce. So instead of the usually "canned food drive"...ick...Scotts has committed to donate most of the Associate Garden harvest to the local Marysville food bank. We are allowed to keep 25% for ourselves (I've been eating a cucumber a day...).
I have officially taken over the "Gardens Intern" plot - as the other interns were included on their brand teams plots. Several pictures are posted in the slideshow gallery. It began with two strawberry plants, four tomato plants, and four cucumber plants - I had no idea what I was doing. Planted way to many in a small space - so several attempts at upward-growth fixtures (cages, ladders, etc.) later - I have quite the bumper crop. Not to mention a raised bed filled with Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix - probably $100 worth of soil in this bed alone. I also adopted four zucchini plants and two grape tomato plants that some rogue gardener planted in the plot next to mine. Over 40 cucumbers, three zucchini breads, and 12 strawberries later - and note this was the portion NOT donated - I am ready for some tomatoes. I have big plans for salsa (also growing cilantro) and pasta sauce.
As you can see in various photos, there are tons of tomatoes. At last count, there were almost 80 among the four plants! I'm struggling to keep up with stringing these bendy stems to the home-made ladder for support. I learned last weekend that grocery store tomatoes are picked green and ripened in ethylene gas. Ick.
I think I'll leave mine on the vine until ripe, thank you.
7.19.2009
7.18.2009
Miracle-Gro-ing so fast
It's hard to believe that only three weeks remain in my 12-week internship at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Time and projects have been flying by.
Scotts is having a banner year, with gardening and "stay-cationing" both trending sharply upward. How fortunate I am to be part of an organization that is successfully navigating one of the worst economic times my generation will know. While most companies struggle to keep consumers "brand loyal" (see also: "These private label English muffins are 75% cheaper?..."), lawn and garden consumers are gravitating toward premium and ultra-premium brands (see also: Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix). This may be, in part, due to the fact that people are getting LESS risky - becoming more risk averse. I provide the following example:
Gardening. Seems so easy. Dig a hole, plant a plant, water, done. Well, sometimes done. See, you have to make sure your soil isn't too acidic, worry about planting certain edibles next to each other (my cucumbers and tomatoes are in a daily epic battle), fertilize constantly, don't underwater, don't OVERwater, prune, harvest, remove dead leaves, and on and on. Not as easy as it seems. For those who haven't gardened (or seen Food Inc. for that matter), "food" is not as simple to produce as most of us blindly believe. It's tough. So when you get you only get ONE SHOT each year to plant edibles, you must do it right. Use a crappy top soil and you may (or may not) produce only a handfull of fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. Use a PREMIUM potting mix/garden soil/(or my absolute favorite) Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Garden Soil, and you'll reap a much great quantity of fruit from a much healthier plant. Yes that was a little plug for Scotts. They've given me an incredible opportunity this summer - and I must admit that the products have pretty amazing results (see photo slideshow of my "Associate Garden"). So, is a consumer going to spend $2 on a bag of topsoil, when other costs can mount up:
$5 shovel
$20 four tomato plants
$10 total cost of summer watering
$10 tomato plant support system (posts, cages, etc)
$20 summer's worth of Miracle-Gro LiquaFeed
-----
$65 investment in miscellaneous gardening supplies...yeah, I think an upgrade to a $6 bag of high-quality soil mix with continuous feeding fertilizer (those little balls are OSMOCOTE - yeah, Bloomington Brands - slide five, Michael Campi) seems appropriate. Come on, that Michael Campi link was kind of brilliant. That was too.
Ok, enough blog for now. Off to a Scotts intern event to watch the Columbus Clippers (see also: minor league baseball) take on some obscure minor league team from Syracuse.
Boom Boom,
Pow
Scotts is having a banner year, with gardening and "stay-cationing" both trending sharply upward. How fortunate I am to be part of an organization that is successfully navigating one of the worst economic times my generation will know. While most companies struggle to keep consumers "brand loyal" (see also: "These private label English muffins are 75% cheaper?..."), lawn and garden consumers are gravitating toward premium and ultra-premium brands (see also: Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix). This may be, in part, due to the fact that people are getting LESS risky - becoming more risk averse. I provide the following example:
Gardening. Seems so easy. Dig a hole, plant a plant, water, done. Well, sometimes done. See, you have to make sure your soil isn't too acidic, worry about planting certain edibles next to each other (my cucumbers and tomatoes are in a daily epic battle), fertilize constantly, don't underwater, don't OVERwater, prune, harvest, remove dead leaves, and on and on. Not as easy as it seems. For those who haven't gardened (or seen Food Inc. for that matter), "food" is not as simple to produce as most of us blindly believe. It's tough. So when you get you only get ONE SHOT each year to plant edibles, you must do it right. Use a crappy top soil and you may (or may not) produce only a handfull of fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. Use a PREMIUM potting mix/garden soil/(or my absolute favorite) Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Garden Soil, and you'll reap a much great quantity of fruit from a much healthier plant. Yes that was a little plug for Scotts. They've given me an incredible opportunity this summer - and I must admit that the products have pretty amazing results (see photo slideshow of my "Associate Garden"). So, is a consumer going to spend $2 on a bag of topsoil, when other costs can mount up:
$5 shovel
$20 four tomato plants
$10 total cost of summer watering
$10 tomato plant support system (posts, cages, etc)
$20 summer's worth of Miracle-Gro LiquaFeed
-----
$65 investment in miscellaneous gardening supplies...yeah, I think an upgrade to a $6 bag of high-quality soil mix with continuous feeding fertilizer (those little balls are OSMOCOTE - yeah, Bloomington Brands - slide five, Michael Campi) seems appropriate. Come on, that Michael Campi link was kind of brilliant. That was too.
Ok, enough blog for now. Off to a Scotts intern event to watch the Columbus Clippers (see also: minor league baseball) take on some obscure minor league team from Syracuse.
Boom Boom,
Pow
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