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."
It’s been just over a year since I joined with Amy Stewart and Michele Owens to launch GardenRant, a venture I’ve called the most fun I’ve ever had with my clothes on. Elizabeth Licata joined us in January and it’s definitely been a case of the more the merrier. We try to cover the larger issues involved in gardening, like global warming and pesticide use, plus the gardening media and anything fun that remotely relates to the topic. And I do mean remotely, though in our own way we do stay on topic.
So how does a team blog relate to the individual blogs of the team members? Good question, one we’re all wondering about. What to post where, when to cross-post – oy, the questions!
So here’s how it’s shaken out. The posts with the broadest appeal I’ve published on the Rant, all basically on topic, and here at Takoma Gardener I’ve commented on my favorite plants from time to time, reported on my gardening projects, and gone off-topic at will, especially during the dead of winter. So, I end up putting my best stuff on the Rant and poor ‘ole Takoma Gardener gets whatever pops into my mind once or twice a week. (Bad blogger!!) And how are my friends and family supposed to follow my writing when so much of it is mixed in with three other Ranters and lots of guests? Coz you know how it is with non-blog-readers – ya gotta make it easy for them or it just won’t happen.
Finally, my point. I’ve created a new feature in the right sidebar - "My GardenRant Articles." There you’ll find links and brief descriptions of almost all of my articles on the Rant, plus links to articles by guest writers I’ve solicited and sometimes edited. Sometimes heavily edited, between you and me, though thankfully sometimes not at all.
Anyhoo, for my personal support team, there it is – no more searching! And for editors looking for an urban or ecogardening columnist or editor, take a look.
Now you’d think that having a personal blog and working on a team blog would be enough, but you’d be thinking wrong. A year ago I started a blog for the DC Master Gardeners that’s now morphed into DC Urban Gardener News, and I’m happy to report that it’s now a team blog, too! Seriously, yaaaay! Not only does DC Urban Gardener president (and former Washington Post writer) Ed Bruske contribute frequently, but we even have guests, lots of them, and the blog may be on its way to serving a real community service – the voice of green activism. And just as importantly, it’s waaay more fun as a team project.
And then there’s Wild Wild Takoma, the "official blog" of Takoma Park’s community wildlife habitat drive, and the news there isn’t so bright – not another soul has contributed to it. The drive to become certified as 
wildlife habitat community is a joint project of all sorts of groups, but apparently there’s not a blogger in the bunch. Well, the blog still earns us points toward certification, and because we’re using the free services of Blogger, what the hell. And as soon as the National Wildlife Federation awards us community certification – the first in the state, mind you – that blog is history.
That’s it for blogs; now what about my websites? Well, there’s DC Urban Gardeners, The Gardening Coach, and a new gardening information site I’m launching, finally, this month. No link yet, but soon – maybe next week. (Do they always take longer than we think they will?)
Photos: Top, one of the best front-yard gardens in my neighborhood. Bottom, proof that gardeners love July 4th parades is this gathering of gardening buddies at Takoma’s parade this morning. (And I must say, a fabulous one, with steel bands, lots of kids, our share of politicians, even political theater. Gotta love it.) On the left is Judy Tiger, premier gardening organizer in Washington, D.C. In the center are Ed Bruske and his daughter Leila, whose idea it was to find a parade to watch. Smart girl. On the right is Kathy Jentz, editor/publisher of Washington Gardener Magazine. Across the street from us was Mike Welsh, Takoma Park’s City Gardener and a Maryland Master Gardener.
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.
