INTERVIEW Continued from page 3 those disciplines over into the into the new industry. Even when we launched Gro-bags we had samples stuffed with polystyrene under our arms. We did that with British Moss Peat as well, so we went in with a massive great bale and that made a big impact when you carried it in. The launch of the Gro-bag was very interesting. Fisons in those days had a growing side as well a horticultural side and the original sales force years before just called on the big houses. So they used to have this small group of people who just went to sell fertilizer to the big estates. Grow bags had been in the growers’ side of the business, the ‘bluebags’ as they were called were used by commercial growers and the large estates. There was some leakage of ‘bluebags’ to retail in the early days which caused many complaints but then we realised there’s a market there because the consumer was liking the ‘bluebags’ for growing tomatoes. Converting that into a consumer brand, which was the Gro-bag that we launched and just went absolutely mad in 1975/6. The joke was you look back and we launched those without any palletisation. I went into Asda and they said this is great but a 20-ton truck would have a thousand Gro-bags on it. So, 1,000 Gro-bags delivered to an ASDA store or a garden centre all had to be handballed off. That’s how the peat and compost was delivered. The only pallets that were available then were 50 x 54, which the fork lifts struggled with the weight of, and we charged for pallets too! So, I got on a sub-committee with Arthur Bowers, PBI and other interested people and eventually after a long time we got the issue sorted as an industry; the 44 x 48 GKN pallet system became accepted as normal. These were the major hurdles that we got over in those days. From the launch of the Gro-bag it was absolutely incredible. We launched at the Chelsea Flower Show and we had an exhibit inside the main tent as it was then. It was an incredible event. If you have been on a stand at Chelsea Flower Show you’ll know how exhausting it is. I was on it for a shift during the day and I was absolutely exhausted. You had an hour off and an hour on. It was hard work, but people’s interest was phenomenal. We had a variety of plants that we had grown in the Gro-bag just to show their versatility – not only Gro-bags for tomatoes but also peppers, aubergines etc. there was a variety of crops to be grown. And it just took off. People could grow without a greenhouse. At the back of the garden. In my time. It’s the one new product development that certainly has stood the test of time. Over the years you’ve seen so many products that have been launched and were absolutely incredible but just bombed out within two or three years. Tomorite grew in popularity as a result because then we saw opportunities for cross branding, putting a 50p-off voucher for Tomorite on a Gro-Bag. Tomorite is probably one of the oldest products – it is certainly 50-60 years old.
4 May 2018
To my knowledge we’ve never advertised Tomorite. In all that time we’ve done regional advertising with retailers but certainly never any national. It’s one of those brands that’s just gone on and on and on. It must be even
stronger in the industry than Miracle-Gro, which was launched in 1989. That was the time that Hozelock launched their Clunk Click system and we both got the joint award at Glee for best product.
John goes on to recall his times working with Jim Hagedorn and the launch of Scotts Miracle-Gro but we’ll save that for a GTN 40 years special issue later this year. As Chairman of the Greenfingers Charity, John is as busy as ever, despite recovering from cancer surgery earlier this year. His love and passion for our industry oozes through him, no wonder he has driven the charity on to even greater fundraising and more gardens opened at children’s hospices – a report on the 55th garden opening at Andy’s in Grimsby is on page 12 Well done John! Footnote: As part of our GTN 40 years celebration we’re looking for more stories about the trade back in the late seventies and early eighties. Please contact mike.wyatt@tgcmc.co.uk with your re-collections of garden retailing back then. Were also looking for back issues of GTN from the early days. Unfortunately, through many office moves our archive is not quite complete so if you have any really old back issues stored away somewhere please also let us know.
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