About this blog

Stuart Robinson, the outstanding Australian gardenblogger, has named “14 Garden Bloggers to Watch,” based on their entrepreneurship and innovations.  “These are the true movers in our category and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next,”  he says.

Well, I like to keep up with what on-line gardenwriters are up to, too, and I do it by reading Stuart’s Gardening Tips ‘n’ Ideas coz I know he’s keeping up.  So thanks, Stuart, for drawing attention to some cool stuff that some cool people are up to.  Here’s what I learned from the list:

• Now I finally know where those “Green Thumb Sunday” buttons all over the blogosphere came from.  I still don’t know what it is, though, and I especially don’t understand the pay-per-post feature that Stuart complains of.  I read the link; I still don’t get it.  Use third-grade language, please.
• I’ll pass Katrina’s Little Gardeners on to my friends who teach gardening to kids, and check out Mr. Brown Thumb for myself – they’re both new to me.
• Toronto’s Beth Lawrence has a great-looking site and she does podcasts.  Hmm, maybe I can interest her in doing a little gardening video.
• To Marc at Veggie Garden Info and Kenny at Veggie Gardening Tips I have one question:  Where the hell are you?  This has to be my pet peeve about blogs, especially gardening blogs.  It matters where you are.  Why hide such an important bit of information?
• Here’s another puzzler:  How can Doug Welch have low traffic and still have 1,500 subscribers to his feed?  Don’t they count as traffic?  Okay, I’m ignorant on this point, so enlighten me.
• I’m already a fan of Angela, Hanna, Carol, Kathy and Colleen and echo their inclusion on this list.
• And I won’t pretend I wasn’t tickled to be listed myself and all I have to say is Stuart, you’re number one with me, too.  How can I forget your scooping me on the big GardenRant buy-out?  (The cleverest April Fool joke I’ve seen in decades.)

THE AUSSIE’S GOT ME MUSING

• Man, bloggers are SO on top of trends.  While publishers are begging their writers to start blogs and create platforms for themselves, bloggers are THERE, especially the bunch highlighted in this list.  They’ve got platform to spare, and I’m taking notes.

• Stuart’s list is just the latest example of the amazing generosity shown by gardenbloggers to their peers.  Print garden writers tell me it’s the same with them, so maybe it’s something about gardening itself.  And if someday a researcher proves that playing with plants and dirt makes people nicer, I won’t be surprised at all.

$$$, ANYONE?
Just mentioning Stuart’s hilarious reference to a $1.3 million buy-out of GardenRant reminds me of a good idea I once had – to turn garden writing and coaching into a second career, however modest.  And in the year since my employer went out of business and I wrote that piece, nothing has turned out the way I thought it would, but opportunities keep popping up and I keep having fun.  Only thing is, maybe I’m having too much fun.

So for the record, this blogger is for hire as a writer or editor in any medium.  And as much as I’m enjoying the little media whirlwind around me this summer, maybe it’s time I take a page from Jerry Maguire’s football-playing client and start asking people to “Show me the money.”

Here I post about what’s new and good in organic and sustainable gardening practices, and great-performing, low-care plants. Also stories about my garden, news in ecogardening, and my adventures in the trenches of Washington, D.C. or farther afield. And occasionally I’ll go off-topic altogether, especially in winter.  (See categories My Life, Culture, Nature, People/Media and Local.)  A gardener’s gotta have a life.

My role models for teaching sustainable gardening are gardenwriter Ann Lovejoy, Washington State hort researcher Linda Chalker-Scott and television’s Paul James of “Gardening by the Yard.” Oh, and Paul Tukey of SafeLawns.org fame. More will be discovered over time, I’m sure.

Urban gardening is a topic I added in 2009, and that means covering urban gardening projects, as well as container and balcony gardening, backyard-sharing, the White House Kitchen Garden, and really anything I think is important to cover! It’s all good.

Affiliate agreements

The only source of income here is the occasional link to a company with whom I have an Affiliate Agreement contract – primarily Amazon. So the few times I recommend a book, I’ll include a link to its page on Amazon and if you buy one using the link, Amazon pays me 8 percent. I rarely recommend anything because honestly, I’m not much of a shopper myself.

Income sources not used on this blog

Notice any Google Adsense ads cluttering up the place? Also, I don’t do link exchanges, or take payment for links. Don’t ask.