Idiot-proof your plants

One of my favorite magazines is Cooks Illustrated. The funny thing about that is I don’t really enjoy cooking. Nevertheless, this magazine rocks.

Cooks Illustrated first won my loyalty one Thanksgiving when I decided to make hollandaise sauce to go with the asparagus I was serving. I relied on a three-page article from Cooks that detailed not only the recipe, but also what to do if the sauce began to separate on you. Normally, once the hollandaise begins to separate, it’s ruined. And sure enough, mine began to separate. I followed the instructions on how to get the sauce to re-emulsify, and presto! The sauce was saved. And darn tasty.

I guess the main reason I like the magazine so much is it makes cooking accessible, even for indifferent cooks like me. The staff chefs will try out several different recipes of popular dishes and report on the results. If they run into problems, they’ll figure out how to make it work.

Since the magazine doesn’t have to worry about advertisers, it also will test various kitchen gadgets, from garlic presses to potato peelers to skillets. You quickly learn that price rarely predicts quality. There’s always one fantastic review of an expensive gadget, but there is usually a less-expensive one that is right up there with it, and many, many more that are shown to be overpriced.

I find that the gardening magazines and blogs I like best have a similar attitude of “what really works.” On Garden Rant this week was an entry about replacing lawn with groundcovers. The writer had just discovered Stepables, and was giddily planning to test as many varieties as she could afford. And she promised to give regular updates and reviews.

I mentally salivated. How often have I lusted after a gorgeous plant that I first saw in a catalog, then found that it didn’t perform as well as I’d hoped it would? Now, part of gardening is the thrill of seeing what will happen with a new plant. But if half of the stuff I haul home wimps out on me, gardening isn’t quite so magical.

I’ve been curious about all those hardy groundcovers. And here is someone who’s going to test it out for me in a blog. She’ll probably let me know which ones are slow to fill in and which ones are uncomfortable to walk on without garden clogs.

It seems to me, with garden centers everywhere trying to figure out how to make gardening less intimidating for customers, that test drives of any plant you promote should be mandatory. If you don’t have the space in the garden center for a trial garden, you probably have space at home, as do your employees. You could even invite a dedicated customer or two to participate in testing new plants, with reports given.

If you struggle to find content for a customer newsletter, this would be perfect fodder. Don’t skimp on details. Share where all the plant grew -- in a north-facing bed, or southern, in a low, wet area or a dry spot in your yard. Talk about any pests that showed up and how you handled it and their effect on the plant. If it did poorly in certain conditions, mention that. The more practical information you can give, the easier it will be for customers to succeed with the plant themselves.

There are a lot of ways to make gardening accessible. And if you ever run out of ideas, take out a subscription to Cooks Illustrated.

-- Carol