Topic: Grow Your Own Magazine Free Seed Issue

[Dorthe]

Hi fellow allotment-holders

I know there was a topic earlier this year about the new magazine "Grow Your Own", but I have just been in contact with them regarding the free seeds, which are supposed to be included with the magazine. Of the 3 magazines I have bought, only once were the 2 packets actually present.. So I decided to complain...

Please see below my email, and the (very fast) reply from the editor..

I must admit that I was shocked by her reply, and will definitely not buy any more, so she has solved my dilemma about whether I should or shouldn't. So I will just stick to the Kitchen Garden Magazine..

And to add further insult to the issue, the seeds still haven't arrived!!

My emailed request:


----- Original Message -----
From: Dorthe Nielsen
To: georgina.wroe@aceville.co.uk
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 10:27 AM
Subject: Free seeds?


Hi There
 
I have bought this new magazine - Grow your own - since the first issue, mostly to look at the pictures and read what you have to say, but also for the free seeds. Now this is where I have been very disappointed. In the first (or second) the 2 packets were there, but there were no seeds in the packet of Romanesco Broccoli seeds. In the next (or was it the first) both packets were there and seeds as well. Now in the third magazine neither the seeds or the packets were present! I feel very disappointed with this. The magazine price is alone very expensive for what is not more than half hour read, and then to loose out on the "free" seeds, then I feel robbed.
 
Please could you send me these seeds that I have lost out on? And make sure that they are present in all future magazines.

And the reply half hour later:

Yes I'll put some in the post with some romanescu. Apologies if you feel 'robbed' by a magazine it takes you half an hour to read. You're either a very fast reader or need to try another magazine!
Best wishes
Georgina Wroe
Editor

[Nigella]

 :o :o :o

the cheek !

[wardy]

oooooooohhhhhh  ;D  I think you must have caught her on a bad day  ;D

Grow your own is a bit yuppy doncha think?  I only ever bought one (did get the seeds which I've sown and are up) and thought it a bit designerish.  The designer eglus. Tsk!  Very nice they are too but pricey  :)My paper shop won't be stocking it as they don't seem to be able to get it (or they just don't want to) so I'll be sticking with Kitchen Garden.  I thought the last ish was very good and I've read it loads of times and I notice my non-gardening OH reading it  :)

[MarthaMad]

I Bought the first Two Issues... but then Struggled to find the latest issue. It looks like all the news agents have something agains this mag...

[westsussexlottie]

I won't be buying it. I was thinking of trying it this month but will stick to Kitchen Garden.

[Diana]

I didn't get any coriander with the second issue (packet was there but it was empty. Emailed the ed + she popped both packets from that issue in the post. Now have loads of chilli seeds.

It is a bit yuppy + over designed + very very badly proof-read (tho I can't talk when it comes to spelling, even I noticed it!) but I do think it's found a neche in the market with its content if not its presentation.

Could do with being 2ce the size to do the content justice, but then no mag is going to meet everyone's requirements - that's how so many survive in the first place.

It'll be interesting to see if it survives the first year - that's the danger time for mags. From what I've seen so far the jury's still out - so many pros, but quite a few cons.

[Piglottie]

As a newbie, I bought both GYO and Kitchen Garden mags to try them out.  Have to agree that GYO is very light on the information front - as a newbie I found a lot of stuff was glossed over (ie basics of care etc) that I really need to know.  So, have decided to subscribe to Kitchen Garden - especially after the snotty reply Dorthe received! 

[Gillian]

That's no way to talk to your readers! The only way to make a magazine great is to listen to what your readers want and she doesn't seem to want to listen. Then again you could have just caught her on a bad day. Editor's have bad days believe me!
GYO magazine is probably aimed at someone like me. 30 (ish), works full time, weekend gardener, no children, can afford to put a little bit of money into their hobby (but not too much!). However, just because I spend less time on the allotment than your average plot holder doesn't mean I want less information, and bigger pictures in my magazine. I agree with you it is a quick read. I like the layout and photography, it just needs more substance.

I might give Kitchen Garden a go this month, see what all the fuss is about :)

[Bath_Bun]

Sounds like the editor has a real attitude problem.  I bought the first issue but thought it was for yuppy gardeners, not those of us get down amongst the dirt!!  I certainly give it a wide berth now.  I find the Amateur Gardening magazine pretty good on a weekly basis.

[honeybee]

Well i think that Georgina is a right old cheeky beggar  :o

[Marianne]

How very cheeky of her !!! :o

Thank you for your warning post as I am always up to try something new  - I will never purchase this magazine!

I really hope her mag does not take off - such a way to talk to you !  >:(

[purplegirl]

Well I bought the very first issue and I really enjoyed it. I am not one of the 'yuppy' gardeners, and I'm always spending time in the allotment. I thought the mag was real value for money and contained lots of practical information. I don't think Georgina was being rude, perhaps she is just a direct person. I do think you hsould give the mag a chance, particularly those of you who have never even tried it yourselves.  :)

[Georgina Wroe]

Hello Dorphe
Apologies for what may must have seemed a rather brusque response. It was not my intention to offend but if you were able to read the whole magazine in half an hour, I truly think - regrettably - you would be better with a different mag. Kitchen Garden is aimed at the more experienced vegetable grower - we're merely hoping to encourage more inexperienced gardeners to give veg growing a go.
Very best wishes
Georgina Wroe
Editor
Grow Your Own
PS Seeds in post

[Justy]

i subscribe to GYO and I think it is OK but I have not tried any others.  I think sometimes it is easy to forget that emails/texts do not contain any indication of humour or voice expression that you get when you talk to someone.  I think the reply could just as easily been a bit of jokiness that falls flat on an email......  but then again maybe not.  I have read stuff on this board which I have thought 'how rude' but when I have looked again decided that it was humour.  Thats why I like smileys!!!  ;D ;D :D :D

[sarahr]

Ok, the email might have seemed rude to you -  it probably wasn't meant that way. However its not very nice to go posting people's email addresses with private emails on a public forum, whether the email address is in the public domain or not. I have to email members of the public in the course of my work duties I personally wouldn't like someone posting copies of my emails to them and email address(which is public domain) all over some message board.

[purplegirl]

That's true, I agree with Sarah. I also deal with members of the public and I treat all communication as confidential. I think that if Dorthe had a problem with the magazine they should take it up with them and not drag others into a slanging match. As far as I can see Georgina has posted the seeds and has now apologised. I can't wait for the next issue!  :)

[p_eacock]

Wow guys,

I have to agree with saraha that it is not really good to be quoting personal emails on a public bbs.  Coming from the traditional allotment world it is sometimes difficut to take to a publication that does not look as though it has been photocopied and spread around the plots, full of muddy fingerprints and muck. I know I get most of mine that way. However, Grow Your Own seems to me to be aiming at a group of people we do not see that much on allotments, and I believe - really believe - that we should do our utmost to encourage any publication that aims to get those people who want to out there Growing Their Own. There is so much bombardment of people with green issues these days, people who are used to seeing the very best in both magazines and designs, that I believe Grow Your Own should be looked in that light. It is not a lightweight wanabee garden mag - it is a mag that presents people who are used to reading quality publications with the message Grow your Own.

Shouldn't that be worthy of encouragement. Wouldn't it be great if 10 000 people who were new to growing their own started reading this, AND Kitchen Garden, AND logged on to this bbs?

[raisedbedted]

If you cant do the time, dont do the crime!  

Feedback on service is valuable to all of us, if it is supported by evidence all the better.

The email address is no doubt in the magazine anyway.

There is too much shoddy service around, respect often makes way for nonchalence and flippancy these days.

I subscribed to Kitchen Garden, heard nothing for 4 weeks and eventually wrote to them.  After 3 days I got a one liner which just said "Be advsed your subscription will start from the 1st May"  I felt this was poor service.

(I havent included the email address of the subscriptions department in case I offend)

[smartie]

It doesn't seem to me that you have actually been given a terribly bad service. After all, the editor replied very promtly to your email when she must surely be very busy, and has sent you more seeds in the post to make up for the mistake. What more could you ask for?!
I can't see anything wrong with her email, I think she was probably being a bit light-hearted. Personally, i think I'd b quite impressed if a magazine editor took the time to presonally reply to my query and not leave it up to her staff!

As for her comment about trying another magazine - I think that's fair enough - no magazine can cater to everyones tastes and interests, or we'd all be buying the same one!! I think it's very honest of her to say this and not try to sell her publication and convinse you to keep buying something that don't suit you - nothing annoys me more!!

Anyway, I nearly bought the magazine last week and will prob pick it up when i hit tescos on Sunday - as a newbie I really could do with all the info and help i can get!!

[westsussexlottie]

I find it very odd that so many newbies who haven't posted before are suddenly here to defend GYO!  :-\

Read whatever suits you. For allotmenteers there's Kitchen Garden, and for the rest there's the other garden mags (including GYO). On the whole though a newbie would do better to put some time aside to read through Joy Larkcom's Grow Your Own Vegetables!