Cha-ching! (3-22)

If you're thinking of going gung ho into organics at your garden center, you might want to heed the advice of horticulturist Nick Rosenberg, a member of the management team at Athens Organic Supply Home & Garden Center in Athens, Texas: Be prepared to do a lot of teaching.

"The first thing we tell our customers is healthy soil produces healthy plants," Rosenberg said. "The main objective of organic gardening is to produce healthy soil, which leads to healthy plants. We tell people to work with nature, not against it. We also let them know that you have to have realistic expectations—especially when you’re working with nature. It takes a little bit of time to establish an organic gardening routine. But the biggest advantage, overall, is that it’s awesome for the environment. We tell our customers it takes more dedication up front. But once you get it rolling—get those microorganisms going—it kind of takes over. We’re picking up where Mother Nature left off. Failure only comes when people give up."

Rosenberg and Co. reinforce what they teach at the store through a newsletter (also available online) and through the company blog. The sum of all the parts is that Athens Organic Supply Home & Garden Center has become THE resource in East Texas for information and products that help produce healthy organic lawns. And whenever you're THE resource, you get to enjoy THE Cha-ching! 

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