Try one thing, try another thing, just keep on trying

Yesterday I wrote about how I've had some failures with some seedlings.

I think the root problem is that the soil mix I'm using is holding onto too much water and keeping really dense.

Sometimes you want that but here in Portland, our winters and springs are very wet so the seedlings are staying too wet and dying off because of it.

At the recommendation of some more experienced gardeners I added one thing to the soil mix to see if it can help drain some water. It may or may not work, but I'll know in a couple of weeks how it does. Worst case, I try something else (I have two more harder-to-get ideas).

Whenever you hear advice or anecdotes, it's best to test them. What worked for another store might work, but it could also fail, halfway work, or any number of other possibilities. As long as you're measuring the results, give it a try. You can always stop it and try something else later.

That even applies to the advice that Repeat Customer Insights offers. It looks at your data and makes recommendations but it can't guarantee a result or predict the future. But educated guesses, especially based on your store's past performance, are better than wasting time trying random things.

Eric Davis