Etsy Seller Interview with Tom, Theresa and Bryan of GardenInMinutes

How GardenInMinutes got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

Our Story

It all started with our founder and super-gardener, Theresa. After years of traditional row gardening, spending hours digging, weeding, and watering and having mild success, a friend introduced her to square-foot gardening. Square foot gardening allowed her to grow much more in less space; however, she still had to constantly spend time fixing drip lines that would leak or clog every few months, moving emitters and soaker hoses to try to get even watering, and repairing garden beds that would only last a few seasons.

So she talked to her husband, Tom, an engineer by trade, to see if they could figure out something better for her garden's irrigation. After designing several prototypes, they came up with the Garden GridTM watering system that you see today. The Garden GridTM evenly partitioned the garden into planting areas (ideal for square foot gardening), provided gentle, full-coverage watering that didn’t damage plant foliage or contribute to fungus issues as hand-held sprayers and sprinklers often did, and even conserved some water!

After the first growing season using the Garden GridTM, Theresa tripled her garden’s output! There were no dry spots, no leaks, and no constant maintenance. The Garden Grid saved her hours of time and effort, and it still does to this day! Tom, knowing Theresa would always want to garden year after year, designed The Garden GridTM to last! Some of Theresa's original prototype garden grids from 2013 are still in use in her gardens today!

Our Products

Garden In Minutes® is based out of northern Florida in a rural town called Fort White, where we make, design, package, and/or ship all of our product lines. We source materials and parts across the U.S. and globally for all of our products.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

Our favorite is our 4x4 Garden Grid™ watering system, since this was the very first size we ever designed and sold. It’s also our second-most popular size (4x8).

After that is our 4x8 metal raised garden bed kit. This is newer, and we’re so proud of it! It includes our corrosion-resistant metal raised garden bed, our 4x8 Garden GridTM watering system, and our Garden GridTM manifold with water flow control valve. We love it because customers asked us to make it! They wanted metal garden beds with square ends instead of round ends that also fit the garden grids that they had. So, we did just that! The 4x8 is our most popular size since introducing them in January 2023, and it’s what we garden in and feature on our social media channels.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

It took a couple of weeks after launching our shop to receive our first order. We didn’t really know what we were doing, but we figured it out 🙂

After optimizing our listings for keywords, social media is our primary driverforo Etsy. We post regularly across Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Youtube.

Managing GardenInMinutes

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

Tom and Theresa manage our shop along with our small team of employees. Bryan manages all things digital. One tool in particular that has been very helpful is ShipStation. Along with Etsy, we operate our website and other sales channels. ShipStation aggregates all sales into one place and sends customers all tracking updates. It’s an excellent tool.

The future of GardenInMinutes

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

As we continue to grow, our goal is to introduce more products that help solve the challenges we see with existing gardening products. Overall, we want our products to be looked at as the best and most convenient way to grow a long-lasting, beautiful garden.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Understand your product’s relevant search keywords, and that will help you understand the potential demand for your product. What search phrases are your products going to be relevant for? How many times are those product types and keywords searched? What problems do your products solve? Make this apparent to customers. Does your product have seasonality? If so, be prepared for this! Lastly, be kind, knowledgeable, and helpful to customers. You never know whose day you’re going to make!