Main streaming veggie gardening
How many of you gardeners out there are a bit lonely in your gardening “hobby”… how many of you have friends and family that – when they see or hear about your garden – say “that’s nice dear” and steer the conversation away from such “fringe” activities?
That may change in the future.
Home veggie gardens are starting to attract the endorsement – and even promotion – by large corporations.
Could veggie gardening be turned into another cereal box promotion of a Hollywood flick thing?
Demo farm by Burpees
Burpees announced this week a “Save $10,000 on Groceries” promotion.
They’ll be doing a display garden in Doylestown, PA which promises to show people how they can save $10,000 a year ($500 for urban dwellers with a container garden).
I haven’t found the specifics… $10,000 is A LOT of money. Not sure what the square footage of growing space will be or how large the family would be that could save $10,000.
Sidebar: We do plan to record our harvest for all of 2009 and try to calculate how much that would cost if purchased from a grocery store.
Anyway, Burpee is the largest seed company with a long history (founded in 1876). And they’re a Pennsylvania company. Nice they’re doing it locally.
So it fits.
Virtual garden by Hellmann’s
Also this week I read about Hellmann’s – the mayonnaise company – with an urban gardens program in Canada. They’re sponsoring 94 8×4 garden plots across Canada.
They’ve gone quite a bit further with their website. Basically they’re latching on to and promoting the “real food movement” and not in a dismissive, “lip service” way.
Their website is completely designed around it… they’ve setup a forum moderated by a chef (Chuck Hughes).
They’ve added educational materials including information about buying local.
They’ve partnered with Evergreen, an environmental non-profit for a garden section with “tips & tricks” and various guides.
And then there’s an application (which I spent a bit too much time on yesterday) that allows you to design your garden virtually.
You choose from a list of veggies and fruit and the application designs the garden.
Fringe to Mainstream
Some people will believe these corporation are only motivated by ulterior (profit) motives.
They are for-profit corporations. So I’m sure they have some marketing goals. That doesn’t necessarily make their intentions evil.
When movements go from fringe to mainstream, some may argue they get diluted or corrupted. Popular = unworthy.
Certainly if you broaden the base of participants, the level of commitment within that base will vary. And over time some individuals will become less enthusiastic.
However, other folks will be introduced to an idea that will stick with them. And will make a difference to them individually, in the lives they touch and perhaps to the world at large.
These “showy” corporate programs get noticed, get people talking, get people thinking, get people considering and questioning, and hopefully… get people doing.
No related posts.
Doug Green said:
Just a quick comment – there is indeed increased attention being given to veg gardening in the media and corporations. And it only makes sense (imho) for corporations selling food materials used in veg-cooking to work with gardeners or those using their product. So I see it as enlightened self-interest. Searches about veg gardening are up on the Net. Still not as high as other gardening areas but higher than in the past few years. Nice to see you folks working at promoting what is indeed an important part of the garden scene.