www.GardenBloggers.com

A Newsletter For Your Garden Blog

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:52:00 +0000

I signed into Google Friend Connect to moderate a couple of "members" of my garden blog when I noticed that there is a newsletter gadget that you can add to your website or blog. If you use the followers gadget on your garden blog your garden blog has an account at Google Friend Connect. All you need to do is follow the instructions given for adding any of those gadgets to your blog or website.

The newsletter looks pretty interesting and easy to use, and the best part is that it is free! I've been thinking about ways I could interact with visitors and readers of my garden blog without creating posts and the newsletter gadget may be the answer.

Sometimes I get offered products to test or I may have extra seeds, plants or bulbs from my garden. My first inclination is to offer them on the blog, but I've noticed that sometimes on these giveaways people come out of the woodwork. I'd rather give them to loyal readers and people who take the time to leave comments and offering them in the newsletter could solve this problem.

If you're interested in creating a fanbase around your garden blog you could use the newsletter gadget to inform people of events you're participating in, your accounts on social networking sites, new blogs you're launching or past posts on your garden blog they may have missed.

Garden Blog Pirating

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:40:00 +0000

Two recent posts by garden bloggers sounding alarms about posts being stolen and posted on other sites.

The first one is by Kathy at Skippy's Vegetable Garden.

The second one is by RainGardener at Gardening By Trial and Error.

Check out their posts, read the comments and follow the links to see if your garden blog posts have been lifted.

I'm Not a Member of the GWA

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:43:00 +0000

In August, I attended the Independent Garden Center Show 2009 (links open in a new window) with a fellow garden blogger from the Chicago area. While walking the exhibition hall we visited the Terra Nova booth after spotting the foliage of a hardy cyclamen. As we talked about the cyclamen amongst ourselves, a gentleman working the booth asked us if we were members of the Garden Writers Association as he was handing out plant plugs to visitors of the booth. We explained to him that we were garden bloggers, but not members of the GWA. “Oh,” was his response as he turned away from us and ignored our presence as we continued to talk about his plants on display. As we walked away from the Terra Nova booth, I could not help but think we were “dissed” for not being members of the GWA.

I compared that experience with the one I had at the Hort Couture booth when I stopped by and spoke to the rep there. At the booth, I met Jim Monroe, owner of Hort Couture, who approached me, introduced himself, and talked to me about the plants on display, their marketing campaign and garden blogging. When I finished taking pictures and writing my notes, I started to walk away when I spotted someone jogging towards me from halfway down the exhibition hall waving enthusiastically. It was Jim Monroe, who wanted to make sure he said goodbye and thank me for stopping by the Hort Couture booth.

Can you guess what plants I wrote about on my garden blog?

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, Troy-Bilt and Proven Winners are three large companies that I have encountered this year doing a great job of creating relationships with garden bloggers. From the publishing industry, I can name Random House, Inc., Workman Publishing and Penguin Group, Inc. Why are these companies sponsoring garden blogger events and or providing garden bloggers with products to review? They understand garden bloggers are influencers and that they now have less garden “communicators” to turn to in the print world. When I talk about garden bloggers, I am referring to people who blog about gardening because they want to; not because it is part of marketing tool to sell books, products or services. There is a vibrant community of people writing about plants and gardening on the internet and most of them are not members of the GWA or even professional writers.

This past spring I met Robert LaGasse, Executive Director Garden Writers Association, who was in Chicago for the dedication ceremony of a community garden. We talked about the GWA, garden blogging and garden writing/publishing in the digital age. After meeting with him, I was interested in the GWA, mostly because he was such a good ambassador. When the GWA symposium was held this summer, some of the writers I follow on Twitter were tweeting about the workshops and lectures they were attending. There was a session on the importance of social media and participating in the conversations online. I grimaced when I searched and discovered someone on the panel was only followed a handful of Twitter accounts and did so with a locked account. The company the person represented also had an account, but had fewer followers than most of the writers who were tweeting about being there.

I was-- as they say-- smh.

A few months ago I was talking with an individual who did not understand how someone could be a garden blogger and not a professional writer with ties to the GWA. “Oh, so you guys are rogue garden writers,” he said when he finally got it. I guess so. Our numbers and readers are increasing every year. I am not a member of the GWA. I am a garden blogger with a garden patch all of my own on the internet, where I sow the seeds of information that people are looking for because they are not turning to books, magazines and newspapers as much. Since many companies are beginning to understand that garden bloggers have influence I will remain a rogue garden “writer,” until there is a group that is ahead of the curb and can teach me some new tricks with this blogging, Twitter and Facebook thingie.

I'm a garden blogger and you'll find we're black, brown, white and colors in between. We're old and we're young. We're renters and homeowners with large gardens and small ones. We're married and we're single. We're gay and we're straight. We're religious and non-believers. We speak English and other languages too. We're males and we're females. We look just like yours customers-we are your customers- and our numbers are increasing.

Update: A perfect example of why I'm not a member of the GWA and don't fancy myself a "writer" comes from Torontoist . If I were to attempt to write professionally, notes from an editor would look just like that, ha! Thanks, to everyone who commented on this post, Twitter and on Facebook- the conversation was lively. Monica is getting the last word, but if you come across this post at a later date and have something to say, you can write about it on your blog and I'll direct people there.

FTC Rules Bloggers Must Disclcose Payments For Reviews

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Yesterday's announcement that the Federal Trade Commission will require bloggers to disclose payments for reviews didn't come as much of a surprise. Will this ruling impact garden bloggers the same way that it will affect other niche blogs?

Probably not.

Most of the reviews that I've been offered and later see come up later in other garden blogs rarely come up with a monetary incentive. But perhaps some I've not been offered do, and those companies and garden bloggers who accept them will now have a new set of rules to navigate, unless they want to receive an $11,000 fine per violation. When I reviewed the Troy-Bilt TB57 Lithium Ion string trimmer I made sure to mention that it was given to me for free, in large part, because I was expecting yesterday's announcement. I was just being careful--not that I think the FTC has the manpower to police every blog and post that goes up on the internet to discover those that are taking money for reviews.

Can I just say that I find taking money to do a review of a tangible product a little tacky? I mean, if you're given a product that product already has a dollar value and taking money on top of that just seems greedy. At least the garden bloggers gang of ethics will now have one less thing to worry about.

First they came for your paid reviews, next they'll come for your Library Thing gadgets attached to your Amazon affiliate account. At least I hope so.

Gen-Y Gardener Debate Heats Up

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:21:00 +0000

Over the past couple of days a small skirmish erupted among garden writers and bloggers on the internet. During the GWA symposium this year there was a presentation about Gen-Y gardeners and some of the attendees tweeted portions of the talk. Gen-Y garden bloggers who were following the thread took offense to the generalizations made about Gen-Y feeling entitled, why they supposedly aren't gardening and the usual stuff that gets said when professionals need to find a way to understand a group of people.

Here area few links in chronological order that I hope shed light on the conversation taking place for those who weren't following along and arrived late. Remember how three years ago older garden bloggers were wondering why the youngsters weren't garden blogging? Well, be careful what you ask for.

Adriana Martinez, a Gen-Y gardener, reacts on twitter to the tweet that launched the Gen-Y gardeners discussion.

This week Katie Hobson of Garden Punks posted this in reply to all the talk on Twitter and the GWA symposium about Gen-Y and gardening. Those of you who have been around garden blogs for a while may remember that this isn't the first time we've had this conversation.

This post by Susan Reimer, didn't go over so well with the Gen-Y crowd on Twitter, getting a reply by Katie Hobson here and Gayla Trail here.

My thoughts on this subject:

This is all almost as funny as this one time on Garden Web when some well-meaning folk, started a thread about what they could do to involve more minorities in gardening and get them to post on the forum. You can imagine the hilarity that resulted from that thread when the members who were minorities spoke up.

As a member of Gen-X I can see why Gen-Y is getting offended. It wasn't long ago that I was in the same spot trying to figure out how all these old people could be so clueless and not understand me. I came of age right around the time this whole blogging thing was taking off and older folks were clutching their pearls at the fact that these crazy kids were posting our thoughts for all to read and letting people see them live their lives on webcams, sometimes for money, others just for attention. Those were interesting times.

If Gen-Y remembers these moments perhaps they'll be the generation that puts an end to the cycle of trying to save gardening by foisting it on a younger crop of people. What can be called gardening is bigger than any one person, or group of people, and I find it presumptuous that people think it will die off just because one day we're going to die. And if gardening is to one day die, so what? Maybe it needs a good death to have a great rebirth.

"New" Blogger Post Editor

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:23:00 +0000

When I went to play with the read more/jump break option in Blogger I realized I had to enable the updated editor. To find the option go to Settings and scroll down to the bottom where you are given the option of which post editor you'd like to use, hit save and compose a new entry on your blog.

The updates to this editor aren't exactly a secret, it has been available through Blogger in Draft for a while. I figured I'd wait to explore it until they rolled it out and forced everyone to use it so I could just join the chorus of complainers who don't like when Blogger makes a major change.

Today, my curiosity got the better of me and I updated to the "new" editor. While playing around with it I came to the conclusion that; I'm in love. For one of my blogs I have to use MoveableType and I can't tell you how awesome it is to be able to insert a picture anywhere in a post. In Blogger I usually upload the images first into the editor than I add the words around it. For my blog powered by MoveableType, I write the post then add the pictures where I want them. This simple feature has bugged me since I realized it was a limitation in blogger.

Imagine how excited I was when I noticed that the updated post editor gives you the option of selection where you want a photo in the post and the size in a separate window from the post editor. The updated editor can even be re-sized a bit, for those of us who find it a bit cramped.

Give it a try for yourself by locating the updated editor under the Settings link of the dashboard.

Warning:

I have several blogs under one account. When I chose the updated post editor for one blog, it made the change for all the blogs under that one account. So, all of the blogs were using the updated editor even though I had only chosen it under the Settings tab of one of them. The changes were reversable by going under the Settings tab again and selecting "old editor." If you are a co-blogger, you may want to give the other authors of your blog a warning if you are changing to the updated editor. Just in case it changes to the updated editor for them too, you don't want to throw them for a loop.

I'd recommend trying out the updated post editor on a spare blog so you can get comfortable with the new features like the "read more" option. If you need filler text, check out Lorem Ipsum generator linked in the sidebar.

Have questions or comments about the updated editor leave them below.

"Read More" Now Supported In Blogger

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:43:00 +0000

The "Read More" option for long posts is something that has been needed for a while. Blogger now supports it and there is no longer a need to hack your template to shorten the length of the posts.

Looks like there are two ways to implement the jump in a post, either in the editor or manually by adding a line of text in your post. You can read the announcement and see screen shots at Blogger Buzz: "You Might As Well Jump!"

BlogPress Lite For Blogger

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:46:00 +0000

To celebrate Blogger's 10th birthday, BlogPress has built a Lite version of BlogPress specifically for Blogger users with an iPhone that will be available, for free, through the iPhone App Store.

The Blogger Buzz post only makes mention of the iPhone, but since BlogPress works on the iPhone and iPod Touch, I'm assuming the Lite version it will also work on the iPod Touch.

You can read the announcement on Blogger Buzz and see the and on this BlogPress page.

Label Cloud Officially Supported by Blogger

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Blogger turned 10 years old today and they're releasing several "gifts" that are actually improvements on the platform.

Today's Birthday gift?

Blogger Buzz: Partly cloudy, chance of labels

Label clouds are officially supported from the labels gadget, no need to hack your template anymore.

Look for more "gifts" to be released soon. My guess is the next one will be the ability to expand and collapse long posts.

Kiss: Blogger Template

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:16:00 +0000

Came across a blog recently that was using a template so simple and elegant that it made me long for the days before I had a lot of things to clutter up my sidebars.

This template is pretty "masculine" and would be a nice template for a male garden blogger or a blog about garden design where the focus is on the plants, colors or foliage.

KISS. Demo here. Download here.

This template was originally a MoveableType theme but was converted to Blogger a couple of years ago. That being said I'd recommend trying it on a test blog before applying it to your live blog in case some functions don't work with recent Blogger updates.

Convert Garden Blog Visitors To Readers

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:21:00 +0000

Good post by Kylee of Our Little Acre about the various options, we garden bloggers, should provide visitors of our blogs so they are converted to regular readers.

See: Want Me To Read Your Blog?

And she says she's not internet "savvy."

Label Clouds In Blogger

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:18:00 +0000

It has been a while since I've given label clouds for Blogger much thought. They seem to have gone by wayside in blog design, but I'm still rocking one on my blog. I like that it helps minimize the amount of scrolling that's needed to navigate a blog.

Yesterday, the blogger at www.campfireplace.com contacted me to ask if I knew of a simple way to add a label cloud to Blogger. I got my label cloud up on my blog by following the tutorial by phydeaux3 a couple of years ago. You can find his hack for label clouds in Blogger copied and reproduced all over the place but that's where it originated. It isn't as complicated as it may appear when you first read it, if I could do it, you can too. If you don't feel comfortable editing your template try it out on a test blog before you do it on your live blog and remember to backup your Blogger template before doing any modifications in case you make a mistake.

If you're not up for the challenge of modifying your blogger template the easiest option I can recommend is registering at Delicious and bookmarking all of your posts and exporting the tag cloud code there. If your blog has a hefty archive this may take a while, but you could just tag your favorites or most popular posts. If your blog is relatively new then this should only take you a matter of minutes. Once you've bookmarked your posts on Delicious simply go to Settings scroll down to Blogging and click on Tag Rolls. You'll be presented with a tag cloud generator where you can do some customizations, when you're done simply copy the code and place it in the HTML/Java Script gadget of your choice.

Update: Blogger just announced official support for Label Clouds.

How Do You Comment On Blogger Blogs?

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:00:00 +0000

If a particular garden blogger allows for Google Accounts, OpenID and Name/URL comments to be left on a blog which one do you use? I asked garden bloggers which option they chose and here are some of the responses I received on Twitter.

"I generally use Name/URL...it's nice to keep consistent ID across multiple blogs." Marie-Gardening.About.com

"Name/URL. Probably because it existed before the others and I want to keep my 'brand.' " Zanthan Gardens

"When posting comments on blogs I always use Name/URL. Sarah at Toronto Gardens. Sis Helen uses her name so u can tell us apart." Toronto Gardens

"I use my Google acct. Makes things easier since Google owns me online." Katie-GardenPunks

"Definitely Name/URL. If something requires me to log into Google/OpenID I end up not commenting at all unfortunately." Xitomatl

"I use whatever it seems to default to, usually Google (nice to keep a consistent ID across multiple blogs)" InterLeafings

As for me, I use a combination of the Name/URL option and lately the OpenID option. I'm not always logged into the Google Account associated with the MrBrownThumb blog so this allows me to keep things consistent. I started using the Name/URL option when I noticed that my MrBrownThumb Blogger profile had over 2 thousand views (now at 5,800) and I started wondering how many potential visits to the blog were lost because people never clicked beyond the Blogger profile. I sometimes get lost reading the information contained in those profiles and never get around to visiting the blog and it must happen with others too. If you regularly use the Google Account option to comment make sure the URL to your blog is visible in your profile. I have the URL to my blog(s) in the "About Me" section and under the Homepage URL field just in case a viewer doesn't scroll past the top of the fold.

If the Google Account, Name/URL and OpenID commenting option is available to you which do you prefer to use?

Blogger Is Crowdsourcing New Templates

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:37:00 +0000

Some good news on the Blogger templates front for those who wish Blogger would issue more templates.

I came across this page by Siobhan Quinn, Product Manager, Blogger.com, asking for designers familiar with CSS and for graphic designers & photographers to submit background images and patterns. If you're a web designer, photographer or graphic designer see here for more info on how to participate.

The contact form used to collect information was created with Google Docs. You can see a short tutorial on creating a contact form in Blogger here.

Soungle-Royalty Free Sound Effects Library

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:06:00 +0000

The other day I was putting together a video in Windows Movie Maker and getting it ready to upload to YouTube. I recorded the video with a compact digital camera, and as is the case of most of my videos recorded in this manner, the background noise and wind was amplified. It is distracting and annoying but I can't do much about it without better equipment.

Or so I thought.

I remembered this tweet by Ron Wolford and visited Soungle, a royalty free sound effects library, in search of something to make the video better. The video I was going to upload to YouTube was of a beehive I spotted near the Hull-House Heirloom Farm on a recent visit. I didn't like the sound in the video because it sounded windy and was too loud. So I searched Soungle for audio clips of bees and download a couple that I added to the soundtrack of the video I took. You may want to turn down your speakers a little because the sound may be LOUD.

That is the result of the sound the camera recorded and the sound clips of the bees I added to the video. Not a great job of mixing but the bees do sound louder. After I was done and uploaded the video I started to feel guilty about adding the sound clips of the bees because it wasn't an honest representation of what was recorded.

Ever since I started dabbling in Photoshop I've made sure that photos I use for my garden blogs are as "honest" as photos can be in our digital age. Sure--I crop, sharpen, boost colors and contrast in photos, but I don't go beyond what can be achieved using traditional film techniques. This has been a conscious choice of mine and something I've wrestled with for a few years and I'm pleased with how ethically I've used the medium of digital photography. In part, I've set up rules for myself because I'm always disappointed, and a little mad, when I buy a plant because of a photo and it looks nothing like the photo.

I took photographs at the beehive and it wouldn't have occurred to me to add more bees to the picture to make it better. Few people will ever see the video, even fewer will notice and less will care--but it bothers me that I crossed a line I wouldn't have crossed in a photograph.

Do you make videos for your garden blog? Do you or would you enhance them beyond adding a musical soundtrack or narration?

Two Floral Templates For Blogger

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:50:00 +0000

When I asked; What do You Like About Blogger? several people commented on the lack of new templates made available for Blogger. If you're tired of having the same look as everyone else the best solution, at the moment, is to search the Internet for templates created by third parties. The best templates available are those that have been ported from WordPress.

Here are two floral templates that have been ported into Blogger that were originally WordPress themes.

Notepad Chaos. Demo here. Download here.

Water Color. Demo here. Download here.

Before you make any changes to your template back sure to backup and download your blog in case you should make any major mistakes. I'm just providing information here and can't be held responsible if something happens to your blog by using a third party template. If you need help with installation contact the developers. If you'd like to be able to make a simple changes to your template see the Table of Contents for a few tutorials.

Looking for Landscape Contractors/Designers for a National TV Show

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:47:00 +0000

DIY Network/HGTV landscape makeover show is on the hunt for young, hip, creative and energetic landscape professionals who have an innovative eye for design and construction/masonry skills. It's a great experience and a way for you to get your name and company on TV. Please EMAIL photos of yourself and your work. Please include a brief description of yourself and your specific talents.

Email:(Put LANDSCAPE CONTRACTORS/DESIGNERS FOR A NATIONAL TV SHOW in sub)

Deadline: 03:06pm PACIFIC - 19 June

hat tip: Container Gardening

Where Do You Write?

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:13:00 +0000

A couple of days ago I started composing my blog posts in Google Docs or Notepad and pasting them into the particular blog editor I'm using. I've found this liberating and have noticed that I can create a blog post a lot faster than if I was typing away in the little blog editor provided. After all these years of blogging away inside a tiny box I never realized how constricting it felt until I started using my whole monitor to write out a blog post. It was like gardening on a windowsill and then being given a proper yard in which to plant. All of a sudden I have all this new space that I feel I need to utilize.

It got me curious, how do other garden bloggers prepare post for their blogs? So I asked and there are some of the responses I got:

Post editor bad habit- but for awhile I used Scribefire; tried out Livewriter. If the post editor doesn't lose the post I default.-Ilona's Garden

In Blogger I compose in the editor box, look at preview to catch typos, publish to catch more typos, lots of back-and-forth!-Inter Leafings

I write inside the blog editor as well.-Toronto Gardens

I use the post editor. I've tried using Word, but it didn't feel right.-Indoor Gardener

Now in post editor because Wordpress is wacky. On Blogger I would copy & paste off of word.-Anarchy in the Garden

One downside to composing a blog post outside of the blog editor is making sure I don't copy any of the formatting from whatever I'm using. What works best for you? Inside the post editor or outside?

Chicago Garden, Garden Bloggers On The Move And Spring Cleaning

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:03:00 +0000

This winter I was approached to see if I would be interested in being part of a network of Chicago based blogs for a website the Chicago Tribune was launching. This week ChicagoNow.com went live in beta and my garden blog there is Chicago Garden. I'm excited and honored that I was given this opportunity and hope that I can make that blog work. Instead of trying to explain what ChicagoNow.com will be like in the future you can see the video about ChicagoNow.com to give you an idea of what to expect when the site is fully "live." If you garden in Chicago or know someone who lives in the area please send them my link and make sure to stop by for a visit.

You may already know that Colleen Vanderlinden writes for About.com, but did you know she got hired to garden blog for TheDetroitNews.Com? You can see her profile and archives here.

I'm not sure if Gayla Trail, YouGrowGirl.com, considers herself a garden blogger since she's a published author but I claim her as a garden blogger. She was hired to write gardening articles for the TheGlobeAndMail in Canada. You can read one of her articles on soil here.

Have you spotted other garden bloggers writing or blogging outside of their garden blog this year?

I've spent a lot of my free time being part of the organizing committee for Chicago Spring Fling and really fell behind in keeping up with a couple of my blogs. If you requested a blogroll swap with this blog and I never completed it, please fill out the form again and I'll add you--this time I mean it.

When Blogger merged Google Friend Connect with the Followers Gadget in Blogger our accounts were set to follow anonymously. All of the garden bloggers I was following with this account wouldn't show up in my profile after I set them to public. Last night, I unfollowed everyone and opted to follow all of the gardeners following this blog. I hope that fixes the glitch that occured when they merged both features. If you follow www.GardenBloggers.com and you don't see this account following your garden blog, let me know and I'll add you to the list.

If you'd like to write a guest post on this blog about any issue related to garden blogging or you have news, events that garden bloggers would be interested in feel free to contact me.

Hope your spring is going well.

Regards,

MrBrownThumb

Paul James Is Garden Blogging

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:33:00 +0000

I'm sure that by now everyone knows that HGTV has stopped production on Gardening by the Yard. What may be a surprise to some of us is that you can get your fix of Paul James on the internet. Paul James has set his own personal website at GardenerGuy.Com & has even has his own garden blog at GardenerGuy.TypePad.com.

While I'm no Paul James groupie,*cough* Monica *cough*, I appreciate his work. You see, back in the late '90s when I was just getting serious about learning about plants I used to watch a lot of HGTV. During these formative gardening years of mine I had lush curly hair, great skin and Paul James to look up to on TV. Paul James made it OK for me to tell people that I liked plants. He was the first male gardening personality that didn't give me the creeps. Besides not being creepy, another trait I admired about him was his knowledge and his ability to make horticulture A) fun B) interesting C) accessible to everyone. Before Paul James, I thought gardening was for rich people and old ladies with big straw hats and aprons.

Fast forward to 2009 and I no longer have lush curly hair, great skin or Paul James on the TV--but at least he's bringing the "everyone's funny gardening uncle" routine to the internet. Over on Marie's gardening blog & on Twitter I've said that the future of gardening was on the internet. I don't see the point of gardeners crying over what HGTV has done to their network. The way I see it; the time and energy spent on "campaigns" to get HGTV to bring back the 'G' is time better spent in the garden or spent persuading your favorite gardening personalities to take to the internet, where they can create content and interact with gardeners.

Reading the Gardener Guy blog I learned that HGTV has allowed him to publish "vignettes" of various topics he covered on his show on his website. Part of the post reads:

So in effect I've created my own web-based network, which I've decided to call GGTV.

That's exactly what I said these garden celebs & garden bloggers should do! It is like he's reading my mind and the minds of all the other gardeners who now get most of their information & entertainment on the internet. I've done some snooping around and noticed that Paul James has registered GardenerGuy.TV and the domain forwards to GardenerGuy.com. Paul James, or whomever is handling his web presence is pretty forward thinking, but isn't thinking ahead enough. Paul James has the chance to be a gardening pioneer on the internet. Instead of just rehashing clips from the show he could record new "shows" with a camcorder or even a simple digital camera with video capabilities, and sell his own ads or do product placements within his show.

I don't understand the need for the separate .com when he is already blogging on TypePad and only a few of his fans have found the blog. Instead of paying to host GardenerGuy.com, which has very little content, he could advantage of the domain mapping TypePad offers like Kate did with KateSmudges.com.

Looking at GardenerGuy.com I can't get over the use of the black background. Colors have meaning and you can choose colors for your garden blog that communicate with your readers in a way that compliments the words you type & the pictures you post. But it isn't the black background alone that makes me cringe, it is the abundant banner ads that say: "internet rookie looking to turn a profit, ASAP!" Many of us make the mistake of filling a new blog or website with ads quickly--who can resist the idea of potentially making easy money? I know I've been there.

There is very little content on GardenerGuy.com to make all of those ads effective. If I wasn't visiting the site because it belonged to Paul James, I would have closed the window the moment I saw all of those ads. Don't get me wrong, I'm pro-monetized garden blogs and if I were Paul James I'd sell links to some of those sponsors and image ads to others to minimize the clutter. Just make sure to clearly label the links as ads or you'll get a visit from the garden blog ethics police.

Paul James even has a gardening forum of his own but it is located at GardenerGuy.madmooseforum.com. Paul James is a "brand" and there isn't any excuse for hosting a forum on an off-brand domain. It is bad webmastering to send your visitors/readers to another domain to visit your forum.

The Paul James website sucks so much I think the only fix to it would be to nuke it and start over. I'd go with the GardenerGuy.TV domain and the custom domain blogging option that blogging platforms offer and make it a video garden blog. I'd lose the forums until the comments section of the blogs are so crowded with fans that it becomes a necessity to spin off the forum. Since he's paying for hosting at GardenerGuy.com I'd host a content management system that's scalable and current for the video garden blog. Of course the chances of Paul James ever reading this are very slim, but if you find yourself in a position where you want to turn your garden blog into a .com I hope that these thoughts help you avoid some of these common mistakes.

If you're a Paul James fan you can visit: GardenerGuy.com & GardenerGuy.TypePad.com.

Remember folks: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised--so catch it on YouTube.

Chicago Tribune Lays Off Garden Writer

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:23:00 +0000

ChicagoBusiness.com is reporting that the Chicago Tribune has laid off Elizabeth Botts. Elizabeth Botts is the garden writer for the Home & Garden section of the newspaper. For a brief time Ms. maintained Chicago Gardener, a garden blog on the Chicago Tribune website. The blog is no longer active.

When she launched her garden blog she gave me a mention in an article in the print edition of the Chicago Tribune. At the Chicago Flower & Garden Show I had the pleasure of finally meeting Beth in person. A couple of days ago I emailed her to ask her for advice and now I'm starting to wonder if I'm bad luck. Not long after I had communicated with Ketzel Levine by email she was laid off by NPR. You can now find Ketzel Levine at Ketzel.com and hopefully Beth will make the transition to the internet because I know she has a lot of fans in Chicago.

On the web: Tribune cuts jobs, parent seeks approval for $13M in bonuses.

Update: Beth Botts has recently launched her own garden blog GrowingInChicago.Com

Registration For Chicago Spring Fling To Close On 4/12/09

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:39:00 +0000

On May 29th through the 31st garden bloggers and writers will meet in Chicago, IL to tour gardens, gather for meals and discuss issues related to garden blogging. Garden bloggers attending will be hosted by Chicagoland garden bloggers who are part of the organizing committee for the event titled Chicago Spring Fling.

Over 50 garden bloggers & writers from across the United States have registered and made plans to attend. If you've been considering attending you should know registration for Chicago Spring Fling will close on 4/12/09 at 11:59 P.M. CST. But there's still time to register and take part in the events. Hope to see you there.

Macy's Chicago Flower Show 2009

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:14:00 +0000

Macy's 2009 Flower Show Celebrates the Colors of Spring

"Macy's 2009 Spring Flower Show, themed Dream In Color, will bloom at Macy's on State Street from Sunday, April 5 - Sunday, April 19, 2009. Macy's will welcome back the spring season with a vast and vibrant landscape of flowers, plant life and pink flamingos on the first floor of the historic State Street building. Beginning April 5, floral enthusiasts and visitors alike will share a unique opportunity to experience spectacular landscapes not typically encountered inside an urban setting."

There is no official media preview of the Flower Show but Marisa Reeves, the Media Relations Manager, has offered garden bloggers an exclusive tour of the flower show on Friday, April 3rd at 1 p.m. Garden bloggers will get to walk the show with the visual director and a representative of the floral partner of Macy's 2009 Flower Show. If you would like to participate leave a comment here and I'll send you the details or you can send me your email through the contact form.

More information about the show & events scheduled can be found here.

Update: See photos from the show at the following blogs:

MrBrownThumb- Macy's Flower Show 2009

Garden Girl- 2009 Macy's Flower Show

My Skinny Garden-Macy's Flower Show, Belatedly

Quaker Go Grants

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:09:00 +0000

Quaker Oats is running a couple of promotions and a program to help feed hungry people and children. As part of The Quaker Go Project, Quaker is offering grants in the amount of $500.00, called 'Go Grants', to help people combat hunger in their communities.

When I came across this I thought it would be a great opportunity for gardeners who participate in Plant a Row for the Hungry or who work in community gardens that aim to grow food for the hungry.

To apply for the grant visit the link above and submit the online application describing your project and how it would combat hunger in your community.

Choosing Colors For Your Garden Blog

mrbrownthumb@gardenbloggers.com (GardenBloggers) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:59:00 +0000

How much consideration do you give to the colors of the flowers you will plant in your garden? Do you give the same consideration to the colors of your garden blog? You should. Colors, like words have meanings and can be used to say something about your or your garden blog. I've posted on how to add color to your sidebar and adding a background color to individual widgets in your sidebar.

You can easily change the color theme of your garden blog via Layout>Fonts and Colors. If the options available there aren't what you were looking for you can always turn to a variety of hex color code generators and color swatches available on the internet. Before you get started watch Color in Motion by Claudia Cortes. It is an "Interactive Experience of Color Communication and Color Symbolism." The site requires Macromedia Flash Player to be viewed but it is well worth it. Available in English & Spanish.

Here are a few places you can visit to generate color pallets for your garden blog:

Color Pallet Generator An easy to use color generator that allows you to input the URL of a photo and it generates two styles of color pallets for you. Use your favorite garden/nature photo to generate a color scheme for your garden blog.

Color Hunter A color pallet generator that use flickr photos to create a color palette a little more sophisticated than the one above.

Kuler Is a flash-based app from Adobe Labs color palette generator. You can create your own color palette or explore color schemes created by other people.

Daily Color Scheme A collection of color schemes added daily.

Colour Lovers More than just a collection of color pallets. It is more of a community of people who are...well...colour lovers. h/t Tangled Branches for reminding me of it.

Color Scheme Designer 3 Another color scheme generator, but this one shows you a light & dark version of your color scheme along with the ability to export the necessary code.

Downloads/Browser based:

ColorZilla A Firefox add-on that lets you pick the color from sites you're visiting.

ColorSchemer A small app similar to ColorZilla but there is also a color pallets gallery available on the website for you to browse.