Green Gardeners, Blue Thumbs And “Black Thumbs”

Writing this blog is a great learning experience— seeing what people want to know, but do not know about water-efficient gardens, irrigation systems, and water conservation in general. We get interesting questions from gardeners of all levels and are happy to guide you in your quests.

We also know that many people consider themselves “black thumbs”, as in ‘I kill every plant I buy’ and consequently are hesitant to give gardening a try at all—much less jump into the world of water conservation and conversion of their landscapes into something even more “unfamiliar”. Having worked both in the wholesale and retail parts of the nursery industry, I think the budding “first time” gardeners are often overwhelmed with the thousands of choices they face when going to a garden center or even contemplating the idea of going there at all. What plants do I buy? What kind of fertilizer? Organic? Non-organic? What’s the difference? Do I need a different fertilizer for every kind of plant? How do I prepare the soil? Which of these shovels do I use? How do you dig a hole? What is potting soil? Planting mix? What about insects? Are they all bad? (No, actually, most are not.) How much water do I put on them? How do I know when to water? Forget the garden—let’s just go home. How do I get out of here?!

Enter our heroes, The Qualified Green Gardeners! Go to www.bewatersmart.info and click “Finding a Green Gardener” under “Announcements”. This will effortlessly carry you to a page chock full of information and reasons to contact a highly qualified Green Gardener Trained Professional. Each of these professionals has his or her own specialties; all are trained to make your life easier and get you going on the path to the garden you are having trouble visualizing. The Green Gardeners are the ones who can take the “panic factor” out of your garden plans and show you in easy steps the basics you need to install and maintain a water-wise landscape. They LOVE answering questions and take great pride in knowing how to help you in ways that do not overwhelm you.

Whether you need a short consultation or someone to guide you through every step, there is someone waiting to help you. They can also guide you to special incentive programs and rebates available through many of the local water providers. They will show you how to save money, time, and best of all can teach even the most “hopeless” gardener the basics that you’ll need to build just the environment you desire. Once you know the underlying principles of gardening you will find yourself more confident to try them out rather than going back in the house to garden vicariously— watching HGTV. Instead, pick up the phone and talk to some of these wonderfully talented and passionate professional gardeners, landscapers, designers, and arborists and discover—finally—that you can have a Green Thumb tucked nicely in a pair of Blue Thumb gloves.