Category Archives: fellow gardeners

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – April 2014

fellow gardeners, the Lot

This month is a time of transition for the Lot in its urban, Zone 6a. Last week brought a lot of new growth as both bulbs and perennials began to stir. The snow was finally gone, temperatures were steadily warming, and daylight hours were increasing. I had a pretty productive day last Friday pruning and cleaning up the garden. There are even a few photos to share for this month’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day!

One of the first spring arrivals on the Lot are the snowdrops:

041514_Snowdrop

Closely followed by the lenten rose:

Lenten Rose

And the daffodils!

Daffodil

Yes. That is snow. This morning brought a fresh, fluffy blanket of snow just in time for Bloom Day. At 28 degrees F, my fingers were chilly snapping these photos. I’m wondering if fellow gardeners over at May Dreams Gardens (home of GBBD) are experiencing the same? And what’s blooming in your garden?

A Scheduled Fling in Portland

fellow gardeners, fieldtrip, garden blogs

One of the gardening blogs I like to read is Garden Rant. Last summer I was browsing the blog as normal and found a link to something going on in San Francisco called  “Garden Bloggers Fling.” Well, it had just happened. I followed the link anyway and found the blog for Garden Bloggers Fling: Bringing Garden Bloggers Together. It’s an annual hosting of garden bloggers in a selected city. They meet over a long weekend and tour the city’s gardens and nurseries. It sounds pretty much amazing.

Garden Bloggers Fling - PortlandSo, at that point I decided I would be going to the 2014 Fling. Later I learned it was in Portland! Well, today I jumped at the registration announcement and made it. I cannot wait to meet all the other gardeners from across the country and possibly a few from outside of it. Now to secure a room and a flight!

 

Why Garden?

education, fellow gardeners

It’s the first day of the New Year and social media feeds and blogs are overflowing with “wishing you the best” messages and how to “make those resolutions really stick this year” posts. Our little family is no exception as we have many exciting plans brewing for 2014.  Among those is my wish intention of dedicating more time to gardening and logging the experiences here.

A recent holiday promotion I worked on shared a little book written by Chad Allen called DO YOUR ART: A Manifesto on Rejecting Apathy to Bring Your Best to the World. I adore this book and highly recommend it. Often while reading the book my thoughts turned to gardening. Here’s an excerpt from the holiday promotion sharing my “thing” or my “art.”

Cooking with hate frightened my husband, so I gave gardening a try instead. Now I grow beautiful vegetables and herbs he skillfully transforms into delicious meals.

There is a vital connection between people and plants. Nothing relaxes me more than tinkering in the garden. If everyone could become responsible stewards of the Earth and celebrate horticulture with me, I’m pretty sure we could solve world hunger and rid the world of reality television. The additional skill set would also help us survive the pending zombie apocalypse.

Working the soil to help plants thrive and sharing that knowledge with others… it’s why I’m a Master Volunteer Gardener.

I cannot wait to tackle this year. I’m excited by all the knowledge I will obtain by working hard in the garden. I can’t wait to meet new and interesting people who are just as nutty about gardening as me. Most of all, I’m completely geeked to help others discover and navigate gardening. Maybe it will be a new hobby that brings them a little bit of happiness as well.