THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Modern Mint at 300
Modern Mint Reaches 300 Blog Posts!
Less than 3 years since we started blogging at Modern Mint, we have reached our 300th blog post today, with this one! 300!
It has been a monumental effort by a few different people (Darren, quite a lot, Chloe, a fair bit, then some other fantastic garden writers too…)
There have been some amazing and incredibly useful posts along the way. Some awful ones too (hands up again Darren!) But it goes without saying that you need to throw yourself out there and do it, in order to find your voice.
And after 300 blog posts we think Modern Mint really has got its voice.
The First Blog at Modern Mint was a short little number. We started our days as a garden design outfit here in Chelmsford, Essex and that is reflected in the blog. The website was 5 pages wide. These pages consisted of:
- homepage
- about page
- contact page
- blog
- portfolio
The Modern Mint green was a lighter shade, rather than the little olive number we have now. Even the logo had a different tag line…
The second stage of the Modern Mint blog was a call to arms for gardeners. We wrote extensively about best gardening practise and interviewed lots of wonderful people in the horticultural industry, who spoke passionately and with great clarity on their specialist subjects.
For example, we wondered where the herbicide loving gardeners had gone? John Walker told us about earth friendly gardening. Flower grower Carole Patilla shared her thoughts on growing flowers. And we met a cycling gardener from Liverpool who inspired us immensely with his new business.
Our most popular blog of this time, one still linked to often and helping people get out and garden is this one…
9 Ideas for a Cut Flower Business
We also ran several projects at the Chelsea Fringe, one year curating an ebook of 100 word essays on gardening, by gardeners. You can read ‘Contemporary Green’ here, for FREE.
The third stage of the Modern Mint blog is when we really came into our own. We updated the website, taking out the portfolio and turning it into a full-time shop – because that is what you wanted from us!
We kept being asked what we thought the best tools were for use in the garden, or the best garden furniture or if this product could really be of use…. or did we have anything to give a difficult family member at Christmas, as a gift?
We knew from the queries that we were curating some remarkable products that people would appreciate. Rooting them in the garden, or the natural world, or giving them an air of the earth friendly (check out this brilliant book, for example!) helped us forge our identity as an online shop with a grand following.
“Thank you for sending me my lovely Nunki a few weeks ago. I loved the kind and simple way it was packed – with bits of wool. I have recommended your site to another friend who will be buying a Nunki from you very soon.”
A satisfied customer, recently… who then bought our last Nunki weeder. We hope to have some back in stock soon…! Keep checking back!
The Modern Mint blog now tells you about why we have certain products on here. Why we use them. How you can get the best from them.
That really is where we are at – Modern Mint at 300 – an online (and Christmas Fairs) shop with a love of the natural.
Do check out the rest of the blog – we have been 300 posts in getting here!
Monty Don British Gardens Episode 4
I hadn’t seen the new Monty Don series ‘Monty Don’s British Gardens’ but I was sent a message one evening to say stick it on – episode 4 especially! On the episode were three gardens I make and clip the topiary in… the photo above is my quizzical boxwood emu… which looks ridiculous out of context of the wider topiary garden it sits in… but hey! Showcases what you can do with boxwood, when given enough time to let it grow! But also on the episode were Waltham Place, one of my favourite gardens and a place I teach topiary …
Topiary Art In Hong Kong, The Henderson
Here are a couple of photos of the topiary work I have been doing in Hong Kong for the Art Garden at the bottom of the brand new skyscraper, The Henderson. The building has been designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and this November 2024 the garden at the base of the structure will be planted up, with lots of topiary originally designed by Gillespies Landscape Architects, grown by Tarzan Nursery in China, and then clipped and refined into shape by…. me. Will update with photos from The Henderson Art Garden when all is completed and the garden is opened, but …
EBTS Boxwood Growers Forum
Through the European Boxwood and Topiary Society I worked with Chris Poole and Sue Mesher, members of the EBTS board, and we set up a Boxwood Growers Forum. This was to discuss how to make sure this wonderful topiary plant stays in the public conscioussness – we know many growers, suppliers and distributors have stopped selling it as the cost of replacing boxwood that has blight, or is nibbled by the boxwood caterpillar, makes it unviable to offer to clients and gardeners. But Boxwood is a phoenix plant, and there are ways to deal with the problems associated with Buxus. …