what can we do.......

[Riz]

to improve muslimgrower forum and get more Muslims and non Muslims interested in visiting MG forums and most importantly growing flowers and vegetables.. ?

[~Obsidian~]

Well ya could try spreading it by word of mouth on other sites, and I think the facebook group was a positive step, but I think you'll need to advertise by word of mouth! What happened to the ummah radio interview? And maybe a stall at an event - but that is a BIG step.

[Riz]

What happened to the ummah radio interview?

do you really want me to scare everyone off lol. YES i was thinking about that just today..

Mg forums have been running for nearly 3 full seasons now, and we have advertised on ummah.com 2 seasons on the trot.. we have backlinks on a few forums aswell..

[~Obsidian~]

do you really want me to scare everyone off lol. YES i was thinking about that just today..

Mg forums have been running for nearly 3 full seasons now, and we have advertised on ummah.com 2 seasons on the trot.. we have backlinks on a few forums aswell..

:) You've got all of that right, but the thing is the word isn't being spread. I've spread the word on ummah and ibnmuslim (that was thanks to bro elzaeed) but I don't think that bleating about the pros of gardening works effectively unless it is in person - when you can show people the benefits and results.

[farah]

An Ummah radio interview would be sooo cool, the forum is where I first heard of the site... Hmm and why not the stall, it would take some time and organising though, do you have any posters up at your local masjid? Or how about making a video blog even of all the various, interesting plants that you're growing?

[Riz]

An Ummah radio interview would be sooo cool, the forum is where I first heard of the site... Hmm and why not the stall, it would take some time and organising though, do you have any posters up at your local masjid? Or how about making a video blog even of all the various, interesting plants that you're growing?

I guess i could do the ummah interview, i have yahoo voice thingymajig :p

Never thought about posters or anything offline to be honest with you..

what stall are we talking about now !? and were does this occur !?

[dhakiyya]

I think you need more general chat kinds of threads, like those kinds of questionnaire type things and games - you can make them gardening related. Thing is, I don't know a huge amount, unless I have a specific question or an answer to someone elses question, I just read the threads. If there was more general chat going on I would post more I think

[Riz]

^ you mean like a chill out lounge or a "green room" were we can discuss whatever, stuff not related to growing etc....

[~Obsidian~]

Randomness? I can do randomness....

[Riz]

Randomness? I can do randomness....

is that what you mean ?. A forum for general topics, whatever the mood of the day is !?

[~Obsidian~]

Well gardening related threads as well as non-gardening related, but yeah, a general forum, for anything.

[Riz]

Hmmm..

i could rename the garden shed forum into the green room, or start a fresh forum.. what do you think !?

[~Obsidian~]

I think we should just implement the use of those kinda threads first, and then see if they require a separate forum afterward.

[Riz]

so which forum would someone start a random thread in ?

[~Obsidian~]

The garden shed, I've already made one, take a look!

[farah]

I guess i could do the ummah interview, i have yahoo voice thingymajig :p

Never thought about posters or anything offline to be honest with you..

what stall are we talking about now !? and were does this occur !?

Well years back my sisters used to promote websites around Birmingham, walking around with posters and leaflets, dropping them off in shops, libraries asking to tack them to windows - surprisingly it worked. Can't hurt to have one up in a masjid?

Also check out these pictures of stalls at the GPU event in London if you have the time:

http://www.theglobalunity.com/index.php?option=com_joomgallery&func=viewcategory&catid=2&Itemid=106

If you live in a big city like London, Birmingham, Coventry plenty of these events occur year round.

A gardeners stall would probably be the first! :)

[dhakiyya]

^ you mean like a chill out lounge or a "green room" were we can discuss whatever, stuff not related to growing etc....

is that what you mean ?. A forum for general topics, whatever the mood of the day is !?


yeah kind of like that.... doesn't have to be unrelated to gardening either, can be related to it also, just kinds of threads that promote general chat about gardening, the weather and life in general rather than specific questions and answers.... Obsidian's thread was cool, you can have questionnaire threads too, there are a few questionnaires doing the rounds on the internet, take one and adapt it by adding in a few gardening related questions.

e.g.
what is your favourite...

colour
book
tree
film
vegetable
fruit
shrub
nasheed
flower


...
that kind of thing maybe :p I made that up off the top of my head, but there are a few circulating around the internet that can be adapted to include questions/categories related to gardening :p

[Riz]

*bump*

[Foz]

i agree with the chill out/green room

need some general chit chat garden related...ie fav flower etc...as dhakkiya suggested

how about some fun basic comps.....ie best flower you have grown...best tomatoes...and winner gets some seeds?

just to liven the place up a bit really

[Sarah]

We need a campaign for the new growing season to get people on here and stay.

My suggestion is that we get people to sign up to "The Big Grow 2010" - (I'm sure there are more creative people on here who can think of a better name). Basically, we have a list of fruit and veg that can be easily grown by beginners, along with step by step tutorials on how to do it. We can get people to register and keep a track on how much it costs for them to grow them and compare it to how much it would cost to buy. Since we have members from all over the world we could see how prices compare worldwide. Our message will be be grow your own food and save money. We can then use the figures to encourage people to join next growing season.

What do you think??

[Riz]

great idea sarah.... ill make a list.. :)

[Riz]

i agree with the chill out/green room

need some general chit chat garden related...ie fav flower etc...as dhakkiya suggested

how about some fun basic comps.....ie best flower you have grown...best tomatoes...and winner gets some seeds?



:goodpost:

[~Obsidian~]

i agree with the chill out/green room

need some general chit chat garden related...ie fav flower etc...as dhakkiya suggested

how about some fun basic comps.....ie best flower you have grown...best tomatoes...and winner gets some seeds?

just to liven the place up a bit really
I liiike it :D
We need a campaign for the new growing season to get people on here and stay.

My suggestion is that we get people to sign up to "The Big Grow 2010" - (I'm sure there are more creative people on here who can think of a better name). Basically, we have a list of fruit and veg that can be easily grown by beginners, along with step by step tutorials on how to do it. We can get people to register and keep a track on how much it costs for them to grow them and compare it to how much it would cost to buy. Since we have members from all over the world we could see how prices compare worldwide. Our message will be be grow your own food and save money. We can then use the figures to encourage people to join next growing season.

What do you think??

Brilliant idea! :goodpost:

[Riz]

ok

we have the new green lounge, :GreenThumbs::GreenThumbs:

[~Obsidian~]

:sunny: Yippee!

Who's going to make the first thread there I wonder?