The non-gardening stuff
Hello dear reader,
It seems that almost a foot of snow fell overnight here in Boston. And thank goodness because all this strangely warm and dry weather for the last month has really made for a dreary winter! As much as we like to complain about having to dig our cars out of the snow, you have to admit… it sure is pretty! And besides, who couldn’t use a little exercise in the middle of winter?
I’m here to talk about the “non-gardening” stuff; the part of owning a business that doesn’t have to do with digging in the dirt and admiring plants. I am thrilled to share that my right-hand woman for the last 5 months, Laura, and I have been working on several garden designs since December. And I’m still adding more to the schedule! It’s been a most satisfying and creative process. I have to give Laura most of the credit, as she was the actual Designer for these projects. As Manager, I give feedback along the way and help translate client desires into design solutions.
I also have the fun job of digging up soil samples to send to the UMass Amherst Soil Testing Lab. If you ever walk into my kitchen, don’t be surprised to find trays of dirt drying out on the floor! (I swear I keep my house very clean otherwise.) I always make sure to test the soil of gardens we design for so that we know what type of soil we are working with, and what nutrients may be lacking that we can add during the plant installation. It’s best to create designs based on what type of soil you have rather than having to do tons of soil amendment to change it to suit the plants. Work with what you got!
Other non-gardening stuff… I’ve been working on branding and marketing, which is a little bit more work than I would like, but it’s a big part of owning a business. And I will take doing that work over having to do a 9-5 for someone else any day! My very talented friend, Abby Hutt, created that beautiful logo you see at the upper left-hand corner of my website. She, along with her partner, Dave Whittemore, also created this gorgeous, new website for me. I couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out!
I’m learning to schedule marketing time into my week: I would be lost without my Google calendar, and so I have finally scheduled time in my life for posting to my Instagram and Facebook pages. I guess I’m going to have to add “update the website blog!” to that list, too.
Okay, I think that’s about all I have in my for non-gardening stuff. I can’t wait to share before and after photos with you this spring! We have a LOT of planting to do!