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Better get there the day the truck arrives with new material or you’re in for half-dead, badly stressed plants. The failure to water trees and shrubs is even worse than the failure to water annuals and perennials. You don’t have to know anything about plants to hold a hose — or to tell your subordinates to hold a hose.
At the same time, the garden center at the closest HD has improved greatly. Better options and quality than in the past. Would I buy big shrubs and trees from them? I don’t ask for advice at HD garden centers anymore.
What kind of advice are Home Depot’s “Certified Nursery Consultants” giving?
Gardening here is only a good 4 or 5 months anyway. Most hirees are like I said rookies and young people. Not really any gardening experience but they really try. At least they try to find out info for you by consulting the manager in charge. And finally…I’m sorry about the woman who bought petunias instead of pansies. But personally, I think that planting annuals is a great way to learn about gardening through experience.
In the past it used to be a laugher what they were selling to their customers. Now my big complaint is no rootstock info is present. I try really hard not to react online.
Garden Center at The Home Depot
Word of mouth of a positive experience goes a long way, as does word of mouth of a negative experience. Founding the pro-science educational nonprofit Good Gardening Videosthat finds and promotes the best videos on YouTube for teaching people to garden. So, what kind of advice have YOU gotten from Home Depot lately? If you're going to maintain your garden or yard, you'll need the right tools.
It’s not a problem with Home Depot. It’s a problem with people expecting experts in places there shouldn’t be any or people to be experts on everything. Creating DC Gardens, the nonprofit campaign to promote the public gardens of the Washington, D.C. The best thing to come out of MG training was that I met some nice people. I agree the HD jobs are low-pay and presumably dead-end, and would have no problem if HD didn’t brag about how highly trained and knowledgeable they are. “Certified consultant” and all that.
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Sprayers can be carried by hand, worn as a backpack, or towed behind a tractor. My criticisms are of HD’s corporate policies, especially in the marketing department that’s responsible for touting their certification, and posting bad info on the website. I’m as sympathetic toward worker bees as the next lefty, I swear.
One of my best friends works at HD in the garden center. She has a Masters in Environmental Science and knows more about plants than pretty much anyone I know. She works there because a) she likes plants and b) it is a job. She works her butt off, and unlike other people in my town sitting around collecting unemployment, she works. The program here is from UC Davis. My recommendations for disease and pest problems come from that training and are aimed at doing the least environamental harm.
I’m discouraged when customers ask me for something that will kill every insect in their yards and ask me for flowers that will not attract bees. I’m dying to know more about your talk with Erica Glasener and her experience advising at Home Depot. Let us know if you are ever going to tell THAT story and I will pour myself a drink and pull up a chair. I know it must be frustrating, but every convert you get also talks to their friends, family and neighbours.
I actually cannot fault the employees at many of those places. The same exact situation exists here in Sweden as it does where you are located. In many cases this is a thankless job with a pay-cheque to match and that explains a lot. They’ll never pay for the expert advice employee. Alas, some of the garden center employees THINK they are giving good advice. Actually, Home Depot used to have a real expert write for their website, but they inexplicably refused to give her name or cite her credentials.
I hate all of the chemical fertilizers and pesticides so I’d never recommend any. I’d encourage them to inoculate with mycorrhizae or beneficial bacteria and create their own home made compost pile. That wouldn’t go over very well with the management. Well, I think it’s very telling that HD employees were busy throwing away tomato and basil seedlings last weekend, after having left them outside all night, in April, in Boston. While there was a freeze warning, no less.
We have lowered our expectations to a level that allows places like Home Depot to tout in-house “certification” as somehow meaningful. Remember, the advice you receive can be the difference between feeding your plants, and poisoning the environment. It’s telling that in Pam’s comment above she credits her local Home Depot employees with not running and hiding when asked a question, like another box store in her area. Susan rants about anything that misinforms or discourages gardeners – from old-school quacks to mistaken do-gooders to local laws that mandate conformity. Wow, he “worked closely with a Master Gardener!
Use axes to get rid of tree stumps and thick branches that may block sunlight over your garden, and pruning shears for thinner branches. Cultivators are tilling tools that agitate the soil in a specific pattern so they can control weeds without destroying crop plants. For easy dispersal of pesticides, weed repellents, or water, invest in a sprayer.
We have so many excellent gardening call-in radio shows in Austin that there is really no need. The only good info I’ve gotten from staff at any plant retailer came from the owner or from a llong time employee at a smaller IGC. Otherwise I usually end up with a short term employee who knows very little. In my experience, HD employees are somewhat worse on average than IGC employees.
Garden tools
Shovels, rakes, pruning tools, axes, pick mattocks, hoes, and more are available at great prices at Walmart to grow all kinds of crops and cultivate your space. Don't forget to check out the gardening tips and ideas section to get the most out of your yard. Garden tools Prep for growing season with the right picks for the job.
