Highlights from the January 2015 Home and Garden Show

There were so many fun things that happened this weekend. 

Where to begin?

Our #1 highlight from any show/fair/farmers market is the people. We love meeting people and talking with them about their gardening experiences.

We want to thank the people connected with The Home and Garden Show for allowing us to be a featured booth, especially RaeAnn Saunders. The H&G staff was present and available if anything was needed. We also want to thank The Oklahoman and Tim and Jim, the writer and photographer for doing a story about Garden Anywhere Box. So many people that stopped by our booth said that they read about us in the paper and came to the Home and Garden Show just to see us. How exciting!

Here are a couple of pictures from the show. Larry is demonstrating the watering system in the first picture. Our friend and mentor, LB stopped by to talk about GAB with people. He has been a long-time friend and big supporter of Garden Anywhere Box from the beginning.

 

Rodd Moesel stopped by our booth at the end of the show. I'm sorry that I missed him. I had just taken a load of stuff out to the car. Rodd was a part of the Oklahoma Horticultural Society booth across the way. I knew of the Moesel family in high school (Go Knights! Northwest Classen!).  They ran a very successful nursery called Moesels Hort-haven.

Rodd went on to found American Plant Products and Services, Inc. APA is a 35 year old wholesale company that sells greenhouse structures, equipment and supplies, as well as nursery, garden center and landscape supplies. The business was started by Rodd in 1974 with a $500 4-H Scholarship and now has sales of over five million dollars annually and approximately 30 employees.

Because of the article in The Oklahoman, old friends saw it and stopped by to say hi.

The picture to the right shows Larry demonstrating how the watering system works to an old friend from elementary school. 

We were happy to see the librarian,now retired, from the elementary school that my older sons attended. She read the article in the paper and wanted to stop by. It was nice to see her again and nice that she got to see the boys all grown up. We all remember her fondly. Good times. 

Speaking of schools, we love when teachers stop by our booth. Several teachers want to get boxes for the classroom. We believe that Garden Anywhere Box is perfect for schools. Because the boxes are portable, you can garden year 'round. Unlike a garden in the ground or a raised bed, GAB can be brought inside the classroom. It can also be taken home for the summer after school lets out. You can't do that with a raised bed. 

We have an idea for a fundraiser that we believe would be beneficial for us and the schools. We are just getting started with this through the Agriculture department of Larry's high school alma mater. The Ag. dept. has an annual plant (flower) sale. This year they hope to expand and sell vegetable plants as well. We would partner with them to sell boxes. For each Starter Kit sold, the school will receive $25. This could add up fast. This would provide extra money for the school, new customers for us and lots of people gardening.

Another highlight from the Show was a cooking demonstration from Uptown Grocery. Their chefs made the best kabobs. Our booth was near the Lifestyle Stage, so we got to hear different speakers and sample the food. Bonus!

I was visiting with a lady who said that her town had just begun water rationing. She was

waiting on her husband to be able to show him the boxes. Unbeknownst to me, her husband was stopping by different booths to learn about guttering and rain barrels and other means of water conservation. When he got to our booth, he started talking with Larry about the boxes. It wasn't until later that Larry told me that this man owned an Ace Hardware store and was interested in selling GABs. He is trying to do all he can to accommodate the drought that his city is faced with.  We are really excited about this. Obviously, we want to sell boxes. This is our family business and we have bills to pay...but this will also be a great opportunity to get more people gardening and save water in the process.

Garden Anywhere Box uses up to 70% less water than a traditional garden. The plastic on top keeps the weeds out, but it also keeps the moisture in. The only evaporation is through the plant. This method of gardening is perfect for drought-stricken areas.

Speaking of water conservation, Larry was asked to be on KTOK 1000 on Saturday. The Garden Show was doing a live broadcast. Larry has been on there before and was happy to have the opportunity again. He was asked about water conservation using the boxes. He was able to share that Garden Anywhere Box is a great way to garden and conserve water at the same time.

In our booth, we had a loop of GAB videos playing on the television. One was our News 9 clip from last summer. Another video was a cartoon that one of our sons made that is on our Garden Anywhere Box You Tube channel. This is a short, cute cartoon that shows how the boxes work. Two different people approached our son about his talent and want to visit with him about other projects. Very cool! Our son is self-taught in animation. When he was twelve, he asked for a flash animation program for his birthday. After we figured out what that was...lol...we bought him one, He learned how to animate cartoons. He and his brother used to do a cartoon series in their teen years.  They did the voices, drawing, music and animation. It was very good in my humble mom opinion. Very proud of my talented children! 

 Here are pictures of three of our sons explaining how the boxes work. Mom fail moment because for some reason, I did not get a picture of our #3 son. He was also talking to people and showing how the boxes work. I also do not have a picture of our daughter who is 15. She and our daughter-in-law (wife to #2 son) stayed home and made Grow Packs for the boxes. 

We had our baker's rack set up with plants and books. People really liked our "Chicken Greenhouses". I save the containers that rotisserie chicken comes in and use them to start seeds. When they get big enough, Larry will transplant them to cups to continue growing until they are ready for GAB. 

We were very busy the whole weekend. There was a lull Friday night towards the end, but I understand that it was because the Thunder was playing.

We love sharing Garden Anywhere Box with others. GAB has made such a difference in our lives. This truly is an easier and successful way to garden. To get your own Garden Anywhere Box or to learn more, visit our website at www.gardenanywherebox.com

We will be at the Home and Outdoor Living Show in March. Hope to see you there.


An update to our story... This event and these pictures occurred just two weeks after Larry was released from the hospital. He developed pneumonia the day after Christmas. We were in the hospital for eight days. While there, his x-ray showed that his heart was enlarged. He left the hospital pneumonia-free, but with 3 stents in his heart. Three weeks later he had a stroke. I call him the "Energizer Bunny." He just keeps going and going. His stroke was not as bad as it could have been, but at times he has trouble saying all that he wants to say.

Thoughts About Gardening in a Box...

Small rant...One of the speakers across from our booth at the Home and Garden Show said that gardening used to be very popular, but then it started to decline. The gardening industry panicked and began offering "gardening in a box." Our ears perked up since that is what we offer. After listening to him...and going online when I got home to try to clarify for myself his line of thinking... I concluded that he was talking about flower gardening. 

Quote from the article ..."It’s such an exquisite example of the pandering, avarice-driven, disrespectful motives espoused by portions of the American gardening industry. “Our exclusive garden in a box makes it simple” sums up their true opinion of today’s American gardener: You’re too busy, too lazy, and way too stupid to learn about garden design, so send us $125 and we’ll ship you your next garden via UPS. Plunk it in according to the diagram, and boy, won’t you be proud.

“BUY IT, PLANT IT, WATCH IT GROW!” Do you sense what they’re NOT saying? Don’t learn, don’t investigate, don’t experiment, don’t decide which perennials you love, or those you hate. Don’t worry about your soil, don’t think about disease, don’t even water the thing, for that matter … just buy it, plant it, and watch it grow." (Yikes!) 

I think what he does not realize is that not everyone fancies themselves a gardener. Some people need help. Some people want easy. That does not mean that they are lazy or stupid. It just means that they look for another way to solve a problem. 

Even though I "think" he was talking about flowers (it does not matter), his words still resonated with me. We offer an easier way to garden. It is folly to insinuate that a person is not a true gardener just because they don't want to spend laborious hours in the garden trying to figure it out. 

I realize that there are some people who are gifted that way. My mother was. She would spend hours in her flower garden. She knew the Latin names of the plants. She had so many different colors and kinds of flowers. Her garden was beautiful. Planning, planting and design gave her joy.  I did not get that gift. I did not have the "gardening gene."  I did not have joy in the garden. 

As I got older and got married, I wanted to have a garden...not flowers, but vegetables...but I discovered that I did not have green thumbs. In fact, I did not have much success at all. I did the work, but still my plants did not thrive. My husband and I would work really hard in the spring, tilling, weeding, making straight rows, planting seeds. By July, it was hot and weedy and I had very little harvest to show for my work.  I was done...for the year...until the next year with renewed hope, I would try again...with similar results.

It got to be too hard to try again. I was older and did not want to work so hard for so little to show for my efforts. That's when we started gardening in boxes.  

With Garden Anywhere Box, I have success. I do not consider myself either lazy or stupid for wanting an easier way to garden. If it is a garden in a box, so be it. It works. Some people love to garden in the ground. They love the process. I do not begrudge them that at all. I think it's amazing to see beautiful gardens, flower or vegetable, that are thriving and huge, but I know the work that goes into making them beautiful. I am not that person.
I have found a way to grow and harvest vegetables without tilling the ground. weeding or investment of "sweat-equity" in the garden. I do not apologize for that. I revel in it. I want to shout it from the roof-tops. I have found joy in the garden. To those of you who were not born with green thumbs, who have given up on ever having success in the garden or who have never tried... Garden Anywhere Box works. You CAN be a successful gardener.

And the part about being "too stupid about learning garden design"...your education is just beginning. Once you realize that you can be successful in the garden, it's time to start really learning. What do you want to grow? What is companion planting? What herbs repel bugs? How can I attract bees to my garden?  What does it mean to grow organic and why should I care? What are GMO's? "Oh, the place's you'll go"...in your quest for gardening knowledge.

You CAN garden in a box 

You can garden in your socks. 

You can garden here...or there. 

You can GARDEN ANYWHERE.

I discovered a quote by Alice Walker a couple of years ago. It says, "In search of my mother's garden, I found my own." That is how I feel. I didn't arrive at my destination the same way as others, but I did arrive.