Searching for good gardening videos to include here has revealed a real need – for MORE good ones that teach useful, environmentally responsible and accurate information in videos that people will watch. So we’re encouraging respected businesses in the gardening world to make some, or make MORE.
Types of Companies that Benefit from Making Instructional Videos
- Local plant-sellers, the retailers who want good repeat customers, not the clueless ones returning with their newly killed plant asking for a replacement or refund. A few garden centers are making videos, but many are unwatchable thanks to bad sound, shaky camera, et cetera.
- Landscape design/install companies. We’ve only found two of them in the U.S. that make videos to show their customers how to keep their new garden alive and maybe even thriving.
- National businesses – makers of tools, hoses and nozzles; sellers of seed and branded plants, and more. Teach your customers, build their trust as a source of accurate information.
Type of Videos We’re Looking For
Videos we feature here are instructional, not infomercials or straight-up ads. Think public-TV, not QVC. So it’s fine to use your pruners or potting medium in the video itself and show your name and logo on the title and credit pages. Think “Brought to you by” and “Sponsored by.” Repeated mention of a brand name is the sign of an infomercial or ad, which can’t be promoted here or shared by many people via social media.
Companies making instructional videos are using them throughout their marketing media (website, YouTube channel, Facebook, etc). GGVideos then promotes those videos on this website and on our YouTube channel in the correct category for browsing and searching. (Peruse our 17 handy playlists on Youtube.) We also promote videos in our newsletter, on Facebook and on Pinterest. We’ve created graphics for companies to use in bragging that their videos were selected by our curators. (“As Seen on…” and “Named a Best Video.”)
Videos don’t have to be expensively produced, just good enough to be watchable (and of course containing no falsehoods or advice that’s environmentally harmful). Read our tips for making good-enough videos without hiring a professional videographer. Scroll down to examples of homemade videos by garden writers, especially.
What Topics Need Videos?
Some topics, like how to take a soil sample, are covered well and often in videos, but other important topics are not. Here’s our growing list of video topics we hope to see covered in videos we would then promote.
How to plant, with separate videos for annuals, perennials, trees in pots or balled and burlapped, and especially how to unpack and stake vines.
How to water, all plant types (especially evergreens, which don’t show warning signs of impending death). Demonstrate watering of new and established, and during regular times and period of drought. And please demonstrate hand-watering, not just the slow-drip technique, for gardens where drip irrigation is impractical. Also, show us techniques that are water-conserving. (Here are the videos we’ve found about watering ornamentals so far, and it’s a discouraging collection.)
How to prune, perennials and various shrubs and small trees. Include regular pruning done yearly or when problems are noticed (e.g. when branches impede walkways), as well as rejuvenation/renewal pruning and pruning to reduce size. Make short videos for each topic. (E.g., cover each type of hydrangea separately, rather than lumping them all together). Include what to do with overgrown, out-of-control foundation hedges.
How to weeding, favorite techniques and tools of experienced gardeners.
Lawn Care, how/when to mow, edge, start, repair, rejuvenate, fertilize your lawn.
Miscellaneous. How to create a garden border/bed/island (could be split into several short videos). How to slow down/retain water on your property, especially for yards too small for full “rain gardens” or gardeners who don’t have the budget for them. (Typical “rain-garden” instructions are overwhelming, but rainwater-slowing techniques could be simple and more widely applicable.) Containers for the front porch. Basic tools real gardeners use and recommend. How to hang up a garden hose, then use it again in a way that doesn’t create twists and knots. (Not the official put-hose-away-for-the-winter technique, which takes too long, but what gardeners might actually do every day in the summer.) How gardeners should USE hardiness zone information (rather than just explaining what they are).
Company-Produced Videos now on Good Gardening Videos Site, YouTube, Pinterest and Facebook
Find their videos by putting the company name in our search box. There’s no charge for having these video promoted by GGVideos, and never will be.
Garden Centers
Behnke Nurseries, Al’s Garden Center, Pasquesi Home and Garden, Jim Jenkins Lawn and Garden Center, H.J. Benken Garden Center, Hawkins Corner Nursery, Logge’s Plants, Bachman’s Floral Home and Garden, Urbans Greenhouse, Tagawa Gardens.
Landscapers
Land Designs LLC, Garden Continuum, NaturalLawn of America.
Garden Products
Milorganite, Organic Mechanics, Planet Natural Garden Supply’, Peaceful Valley, Osmocote, Espoma.
Plants
Proven Winners, Annie’s Annuals, White Flower Farm, Knockout Roses (Star), Renee’s Garden Seeds.
Garden Media
Fine Gardening, Sunset, Garden Design, Better Homes and Gardens, Timber Books.
