What a great day for a little positive gardening PR. Thanks to so many of you writing, blogging, tweeting and basically shouting about all the important benefits of gardening, the world is starting to finally hear us. Sure, it doesn’t hurt to have Michelle Obama breaking ground for the new Victory Garden on the White House lawn. But I’d say it’s about dang time somebody at some level high enough, does something to actually make gardening a newsworthy event.
So for whatever reason, on Tuesday, Good Morning America wanted a segment on growing your own vegetable garden. Two days later, a six-minute segment about how to start and grow your own groceries on the cheap, is in the can. I’m writing this post from the airport, still trying to recover from the blinding pace at which this happened. On Tuesday, having just returned from a working weekend in San Francisco, I thought I was home for a few days, and thankful to catch up on some much needed office and family time. But this was not to be. Next thing I know, I’m packing my bags and props for my $25 Victory Garden segment. GMA loved the idea of the “gardening on a tight budget” idea, and were more than willing to make this a feature of the segment.
Two days later, I’m heading home from the Big Apple and feeling really good about the genuine interest the GMA producers and hosts had in creating this food garden segment. In addition, while at the studio, I was approached by numerous behind-the-scenes folks, politely barraging me with gardening questions. I was thrilled. What’s happened? I’ve done gardening segments before, but never have so many people approached me with such a genuine interest in wanting to know more!
I am greatly encouraged to feel like we are finally getting through. So, keep up the great work everybody. Gardening is important, especially now. We have a story to tell and finally an audience that will listen.
JL
Tomorrow, I’ll share pictures and stories of my bounty of free seeds and supplies sent to me from friends I’ve never met, all around the country. By the way, the official expense to date is hold at seven dollars. That was for two bags of seed starting mix.
About Joe Lamp'l
Joe Lamp'l is the Host and Executive Producer of the award winning PBS television series Growing A Greener World. Off camera, Joe dedicates his time to promoting sustainability through his popular books, blog, podcast series, and nationally syndicated newspaper columns. Follow Joe on Twitter
I live in the city (think concrete dooryard) and we plant in pots that are about the size of a 5-gallon pail. Here in Gwangmyeong, there are a lot of us who grew up on farms and garden for fun. The cherry tomato plants are coming along well(I cheated and bought the seedlings at the local flower shop), and I’m starting some bell peppers this week. I saved the seeds from ripe red bell peppers that I bought in the market.
Thanks Theresa! Regarding the packing, yes that was crazy. With so little notice, even I was surprised at how much I managed to pack into my suitcase. Needless to say, clothes and personal care items were cut to a minimum. I even had to round up some toothpaste at the hotel because I over-compensated to make room for the props.
Between the empty pizza boxes, cake toppers, tools, soil and shredded leaf mulch (which we never even got to, I’m sure the TSA Secruity folks were scratching their heads on this one.
Anyway, we lacked for nothing for the segment and the GMA folks had gone out and purchased a good bit of things also but we barely used any of it because I was so self-contained. I even packed tomato seedlings, but thankfully Bonnie Plants came through in a big way, delivering 150 beautiful seedlings within 18 hours of my request. Wow!
By the way, thanks for sending me such an awesome package of seeds for my $25 Victory Garden. You’ll be happy to know some of them are already planted and I even did a video of that which I’ll release later this week.
JL
Great job Joe!
I have done TV segments out here in Los Angeles (DIY & HGTV) and I don’t think viewers realize the amount of work that goes into getting ready for a 4 min segment. It doesn’t matter if the filming is 4 min or 15 min, the same amount of prep time is involved. It takes time to plan out exactly how you are going to condense a 3 hour gardening class into a 4 minute sound bite. Then you have to gather/grow all your props. You always do a fabulous job and make it look easy…which is not easy to do at all!
When I saw the segment, my first thought was “How in the world did he get all that stuff on the plane?” I knew you must have done some clever packing. Thanks for sharing your inside information on how you got that done!
Theresa
Well TC, there is never as much time as we’d like but if you look at any segment on any major morning show, they’re all around 4 minutes. I know that from first hand observation and by watching segments on other subjects…any subject. I think they think our attention span goes away after that.
Fortunately for me this time, they held me over after the end of that segment and continued the conversation after the commercial break. That’s unheard of! I was thrilled about that cause we talked more about the tricks I was using to save money and then we talked about community gardens and one they were going to be doing.
So, yes, they try to pack a lot into a few minutes but at least we got some air time.
Ironically, The Today Show, had a very similar segment on Veggie gardening the very next day w/ P. Allen Smith. His segment seemed even more rushed. But I guess that’s just the nature of the beast.
JL
I was a bit surprised at how fast they seemed to shuffle you through the segment Joe. I don’t see how anyone could’ve gotten a lot from it. Seems like fast-food gardening when it should be more like slow-food. But I guess some recognition is better than none at all.
Good one ! Joe, I will tell GMA they should do more.
John
VERY cool! Congratulations on your GMA stint. It would be great if it became a regular feature, and I’ll tell ’em I thnk so.
GREAT JOB!@! And keep it up.
I DID bring the tomato seedlings in my checked luggage. I put them in a box and taped the lid closed so it was high enough as to not crush the little plants. They actually made it pertty well. However, I should have taken them out of the box when I got to my hotel on Wed to give those guys a chance to spread their heads but forgot and didn’t do that until about 6:AM on the set. Thankfully, we gave them a drink of water and the bright overhead lights, perked them up pretty well by 8:30! You should have seen my suitcase! I wondered what the TSA guys thought when they went through that bag! It had everything you need to start a garden, from the soil and plants to the tools and even shredded leaf compost to top it all off!
Thanks for asking!
JL
Great job, Joe! So, I’m curious, did you fly your pizza box seedlingss up with you as a carry on, or was someone in the prop department on top of all this? =;) Can’t imagine carrying seedlings on as a carryon these days!
Yes, I’d vote for you to be a regular there. How timely!
Thanks Pam. It wouldn’t hurt for you (and everyone else) to let GMA know we want more gardening segments, and if you feel inclined to request that a certain someone be “the guy” to deliver that message, well I’d be much obliged!
We’re so proud of you Joe. Not only did you do a great job, but it would be great if they had you back on a regular basis too! Well done.
Love the “behind-the-scene” information. And the video.
My mother loved the segment, and she recalled my paternal grandmother having used an old metal tub with a drainage hold drilled in bottom to start seedling. She’d take them out near the fruit tree nearest the house for sunlight, bringing them back in at night. (Texas Hill Country nights can be quite cool).
So thanks for sparking that memory in my mom. It was also a nice example that for, oh, eons people gardened on “the cheap”.
The best things in life really do cost next to nothing. We need that reminder all the time, but especially now. Your project is serving to get that point across.