TheUndrGardener, Slave of SmallGreenPinky.com, UK
Tig (yes, his real name) actually comes from a computing background. His career has been wide reaching and chaotic and there is very little in the computing and internet world that he hasn’t done (at least, that he would want to) and that includes turning mobile telephone companies into ISPs long before 3G existed.
He met Pinky over a year ago and was smart enough to eventually ask her to marry him. Thankfully, Pinky wasn’t smart enough to say no! Since then he has become quite enthusiastic about gardening and horticulture and is very interested in the wildlife associated with it, especially Bees (but those who know him already have recognised how obsessed with Bees he is!)
What is your profile name on Twitter?
Is that your real name?
Thankfully no, my parents didn’t quite hate me that much. It’s a name given to me by Pinky when she wrote her first thing about me on Twitter, so I adopted it. Sadly Twitter is character light, so I had to drop the letter ‘e’ from ‘Under’
Who do you represent?
Small Green Pinky
How long have you been using Twitter?
Too long. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Twitter for many years. However, the current Twitter community I have become part of is full of wonderful and very interesting people, so it’s a love story this time around.
What does Small Green Pinky do?
Small Green Pinky is about reaching out to gardeners of all backgrounds, with the focus being on those who are just starting out, or considering starting out. It’s about showing that gardening need not be expensive or overly difficult. As the website tagline says, we are “Gardening for everyone”
What is your role there?
I’m the main person in charge of creative and marketing. I’m also the webmaster, even though Pinky is a highly skilled IT person (in many different disciplines) I have more time on my hands. So I shoot most of the stills and videos, do the video direction and editing (but Pinky writes the scripts) and keep the site ‘on theme’ visually.
Why did Small Green Pinky choose to use Twitter?
Because it’s Twitter. The organic, always alive nature of Twitter aligns with what we do. We don’t need to sift through game invitations or other such Facebook related garbage.
How is that working out for you?
Amazingly well, I love so many of the interactions that we get on Twitter and the people there appear to like what we do.
Tell us more about what Small Green Pinky does
How long have you been doing this?
We are new, very new, just a few months in.
What are the key motivations?
We have an extreme dislike for concrete gardens, it’s such a waste of perfectly good growing space. But we also know how rewarding gardening is, not to mention how important green spaces are for the future of our planet.
Is there anything you are currently working on that you can tell us about?
Well this is one of them, the #SGPTwinterviews was a project I thought up while stumbling out of bed a few days ago. We’ve also got the continuation of the hydroponics system review.
How about the future?
I’d love to say more but we have so many projects on the planning and design board that none of them are quite mature enough conceptually to start talking about. There are some really awesome ideas up there so we think it’s well worth the wait.
Who personally inspires you on Twitter?
Most of the people I follow, which is too large a group to write about here. As with anyone involved in marketing something, I do have a few diplomatic or strategic follows but, for the most part, they are less than 1% of my list, the rest are people I really do get ideas from.
Is there anything you want to know about SGP/Pinky?
Yeah, when can I get more than a few hours of sleep? Twitter and analytics tend to be my last thing I do before I pass out and the first thing I do when I wake up 😉
Seriously though, I can’t wait for Pinky to let me have her Twinterview. However, she’s being careful about answering it properly but also wants to wait for ‘a specific time’ before I get to see it. It’s not often she’s mysterious with me so it’s driving me crazy (which I think she likes too much)
What got you started gardening?
That’s a complex answer. I come from a farming family and used to work on the farm each summer. My Grandmother was an amazing gardener, who used to win local awards. However, as much as that should have inspired me, it didn’t seem to. It was only after meeting Pinky and taking a visit to RHS Rosemoor while on holiday that something happened deep inside my soul, while taking iPhone pictures of bees, that made me realise “This is what I need to be doing with my life!”
What keeps you gardening?
Pinky, this website, my love of flowers and the pollinators who rely on them. The fact that if we don’t keep a healthy and balanced ecosystem then we shall kill off our planet. Oh and getting to drink tea all day while working, then gin as a post-work reward provides good motivation. Oh and the toys, err, tools (stupid typos) like the mini-digger Pinky let me have for a project!
Who or what are your main influencers/influences when it comes to gardening?
My Grandmother, who I previously mentioned. Pinky, of course, because she has the chance to kill me in my sleep if I don’t mention her – Seriously though, Pinky is awesome in the garden, her unnatural ability to remember things means she can tell me almost anything about the plants that interest me.
In a perfect world, what will you realistically have achieved over the next 10 years?
Oh God, asking me that could generate almost 10 years of answers. We have a HUGE number of plans both personally and professionally. We are creating some gardening technology, for example, and wish to keep creating such things. We also want to do some unique community projects that I just can’t share right now as, well, we want to do them first.
That’s it for this #SGPTwinterview, thank you for reading and we hope you enjoyed it. If you have someone you would like us to ‘Tinterview’ then please use the contact-us page, or let us know on Twitter using the #SGPTwinterview hashtag and we shall add it to the list of considerations for the future. While we can’t Twinterview everyone, if they are someone who fits in with the site theme, then they’ll honestly be considered. If you actually wish to be Twinterviewed, then we’d also love to hear from you.
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