Gardening for a New Decade

Back in January, 2000, with the excitement of the millennium celebration still reverberating in my head, I was about to embark on one of the toughest years I’ve ever had. My company. Garden.com, had just enjoyed a spectacular Holiday season, and the site was all-abuzz with over 1 million members looking forward to Spring. Indeed, the millennium’s first Spring brought amazing growth and success for our 100+ growers, suppliers, members and employees.

But, like a terrible drought that you have little control over, the dot.com bubble burst, and our online garden could not survive without a supply of water. Forced to let our staff go, shut the site down and sell the company, my wife and I retreated from the gardening industry, unsure when or if we would ever return professionally to gardening again.

I like to say that the biggest gift I received from Garden.com was a passion for gardening, however. Which is why, after a couple of years went by, I began to germinate the seed of an idea for a new online gardening resource. After a couple more years of waiting for the right conditions, the seed began laying down roots in 2008.  In 2009, we broke ground and spread our leaves, growing and building a structure that would hopefully give way to many blossoms and bountiful harvests for gardeners everywhere.

So, it is with the excitement of the new decade’s celebration still reverberating in my head that I look forward to DigtheDirt’s first official Spring season online. Like every great garden, we most likely have a few more springs to really reach our full potential. But with a new team of amazing people and an ever-growing group of fellow gardeners helping to build a truly special virtual garden, I am anticipating a great year!

Happy New Year Dirt Lovers Everywhere!
Cliff

Tags

gardening, spring, happy new year