A Way To Grow: A New Partnership

You may know fellow garden addict, writer, and general all-around badass Margaret Roach through her well-loved books, via the pages of Martha Stewart Living magazine (she was the first garden editor there), or through her superlative website, A Way to Garden. Today, I am thrilled to announce that Margaret and I are in the process of creating a marketplace of green friendly and relevant products and services that will appear on both of our sites simultaneously.

Last month marked 12 years since I launched YouGrowGirl.com. Throughout that time I have tried a variety of advertising options and platforms as a way to help support the work and out-of-pocket costs incurred in keeping the site going. Doing that without selling products, companies, or services that go against the values that I espouse has been nothing short of difficult and last year I severed the last service I was using out of frustration. Since then it has become apparent that in order to find balance and navigate the lines between my own personal integrity, the real demands of running this site, and my commitment to you to create an environment that is transparent and uncluttered with garbage, I would need to take matters into my own hands.

I have a ton of respect for Margaret and the work she does. She’s a wonderful writer and a really cool woman that I am proud to have as a friend and colleague. We are very in tune in regards to our views on gardening, green living, and the environment, so teaming up together in this way to help support each other professionally makes perfect sense. I am so thrilled to be doing this with her!

What this means:

  • Small ads will appear simultaneously in the right-hand sidebar on both of our sites.
  • All ads are vetted by us collectively.
  • We promise to do our best to only feature products and services that we either use ourselves in our home gardens and homes and that are in keeping with our values. No Big Chemical sponsorship or unconscionable ads have ever appeared on this site, and never will.
  • The revenue generated by these ads will help to cover the operating costs associated with the running of our sites and allow us to grow the content we can create and publish.
Gayla Trail
Gayla is a writer, photographer, and former graphic designer with a background in the Fine Arts, cultural criticism, and ecology. She is the author, photographer, and designer of best-selling books on gardening, cooking, and preserving.

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17 thoughts on “A Way To Grow: A New Partnership

  1. Good for you. I started selling online and only recommend stuff that we sell at the nursery, or use ourselves. If people trust you, they will trust your suggestions. That’s a huge benefit for the smaller, honest business.

  2. Congratulations. I admire and respect both of you for not just your immense garden knowledge, but also your values.

    I often ignore ads but definitely will look at anything you feature on your sites.

  3. Most of the sites I love have paid ads – those they vet and choose themselves. Many of them call the ads “sponsors” and I love that idea. (If my blog reached a larger audience, I might actually have people clamoring to “sponsor” my blog!) Good for you for figuring out what works and what you need to do.

  4. You may already know this but, you could also have your own Amazon store. I don’t exactly how it works but you can curate your own favorite items off of amazon and embed the store in your site and you get a percentage of the sales. I would definitely buy gardening supplies or seeds recommend by you!

  5. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really look forward to seeing what products you recommend. Hopefully most (if not all) will be available in Canada– sometimes a problem with gardening supplies. Especially looking for cool and space-saving planters!

  6. Sounds like a good deal all around! I appreciate you thought and intention behind your ads and your inventiveness in working together! Cheers!

  7. I’ve just poured over Margarets’ book in the last 24hrs and find a kindrid spirit in her journey. Long live the gutsy chicks.

  8. Congratulations on your new partnership! You Grow Girl and A Way to Garden are two of my absolute all-time favorite garden blogs.

  9. Congratulations on the partnership! I love both your sites.

    I would definitely trust the products you’ve both vetted. I bought the cobrahead weeder+cultivator and it’s my favourite garden tool ever!

  10. You are amazing! Have bought your absolutely fabulous books and trust you implicitly! Thank you for continuing! That is the most important thing! And I just planted some Silver firs and some purple basil is busting out. Thanks to you Ms. Gayla! Keep up the growing! Thank you! A former very brown thumb!

  11. hi,

    I just found your site (in a spell of garden-yearning), if i wasn’t at work, i spend the afternoon reading all your posts. Congrats on your book, i will pick it up when i see it. Milder weather, but still full-on winter in Calgary. I flew to Victoria for the weekend purely to see green grass and early spring blooms. Too many packets of garden seeds came home in my suitcase. I HAD to plant something when i got back so pots of pea shoots and purple diakon micro greens, mung bean sprouts, and arugula, fenugreek, and white radish under the grow lights.

    Last year I picked up Lolo Holbein’s One Magic Square, and had great luck planting a mid-summer 1m x 1m Asian Veg Plot (of my own design). Lots of yummy veg for stirfries, salads, juicing and cooking. Waiting for the fall planted garlic (another 1m x 1m plot) to sprout. So many things i want to grow this year – I’ve built a deer fence around part of my yard to keep many resident suburban deer out of my little food patch. I’ve also been growing dyeplants (japanese indigo, woad, madder, etc) the last couple of years in an interest in bio-regional, sustainable textiles.

    I’ve added your site to my Fav’s. Thnx

    Cheers,
    Jake

  12. I read both your sites and admire your dedication to personal values and principles. It shows us that you don’t have to “kowtow” to large companies and sell your soul or something you don’t support in order to have a sustainable business. I hope to follow in your footsteps someday!

  13. So great to see the site [and you!] continuing to do well. I think this partnership is awesome!!

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