meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Beginner's Garden with Jill McSheehy

442 - What I learned... Visiting GreenStalk: The Story You Don't See Online

The Beginner's Garden with Jill McSheehy

Jill McSheehy

How To, Education, Home & Garden, Leisure

4.7 • 830 Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Struggling to tell which garden products are worth your money? You're not alone.
Today I'm sharing what I learned on a behind-the-scenes visit to GreenStalk in Knoxville—how they design, test, and support a planter I've used for five years.
You'll leave with practical ways to use a vertical planter this fall for salad greens, herbs, and flowers.

free download: Fall Salad Garden Planning Calendar
Plant at the right time for fresh greens all season.
http://journeywithjill.net/fallsaladgarden

Key Takeaways

  • How a family-owned US company designs and tests products for real gardeners.

  • Why quality materials and thoughtful R&D matter (and how that shows up in the planter).

  • Practical fall ideas for your vertical planter: salads, herbs, pansies, and more.

  • The role of good customer service—and how feedback shapes better products.

  • When a vertical planter makes sense for beginners and for large-garden add-ons.

Chapters

00:02 – Why I only share vetted tools
01:45 – Welcome & what to expect in this series
03:06 – Why fall is the perfect time for this story
04:17 – My first GreenStalk in 2020
05:40 – Five years of testing: what's worked
07:36 – Meet the family behind GreenStalk
09:06 – The affiliate weekend invite
11:31 – First impressions & thoughtful hospitality
13:48 – Community with fellow gardeners
16:02 – Touring R&D and prototypes
18:27 – Designing lids & the auto-watering system
20:34 – Quality over shortcuts
22:56 – Caring for employees in a tech-driven world
24:24 – US-made parts and sourcing
26:22 – Why this product helps new gardeners start
27:40 – My favorite fall uses (greens, pansies)
29:40 – Clearance event details + my code
30:40 – Final encouragement: why I recommend them
31:49 – What's coming next week

Resource Links

Connect

Soft mention

Sponsor(s) for this Episode

  • GreenStalk Vertical Planter – Family-owned, US-made vertical planters I've used for five years. Use code JILL10 for $10 off a $75 purchase: https://journeywithjill.net/greenstalk. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Disclaimer

Gardening advice shared in this podcast is based on my own experience in Zone 8a (Arkansas) and from the feedback I receive from others in different gardening contexts. Your results may differ depending on your location, climate, and growing conditions. Always check your local extension service or trusted resources for region-specific guidance. Some links mentioned may be affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Let's be honest, there are a lot of gardening products out there that look good online, but they fall

0:06.2

flat once you get them home. I know because I have tested lots of different gardening products

0:12.7

over the years, and if you listen carefully, you notice that there are only a select few that I share

0:19.0

with you and that I talk about. There's good reason for that. I want you to know

0:23.1

that anything I share with you is something that I have properly vetted and that I truly believe

0:27.8

is going to work well for you and your garden. One of those products that I have talked about for

0:32.9

five years is the greenstock vertical planter. But as I learned this year, this is not just a fantastic

0:40.1

product that I think appeals to pretty much any stage of gardener, but there is a story behind that

0:47.0

product that I have been dying to tell you about since I visited the greenstock headquarters

0:52.6

in March. Today, I am pulling back the curtain to give

0:56.8

you an inside look because what sets greenstock apart isn't just the planter itself,

1:03.6

although the planter stands on its own, but what's happening behind the scenes that most

1:09.0

gardeners never get to see. Before we dive in, welcome to the

1:12.8

Beginners Garden podcast. If you're a regular listener, you are going to love today's episode because

1:18.0

this is another personal one where I'm pulling back the curtain about some things that just really

1:23.7

touch my heart. So this is one I'm really excited about sharing with you. If you're new here,

1:28.8

this podcast is one that I hope you'll be able to turn to week after week for solid,

1:33.9

practical garden advice. And in October, I'm actually launching a new series called What I Learned.

1:41.5

This will be a series of practical things that I've learned either in my garden or

1:45.9

in some other area. And today it's going to be what I learned from a visit to Knoxville, Tennessee,

1:53.0

back in March, where I got to not only tour the facility that builds the greenstock vertical

1:58.9

planters that I use in my garden and I know so many of you

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jill McSheehy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jill McSheehy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.