Yardsmart: Finding the right gardening Web site

Published: Saturday, May 9, 2009 9:53 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 

I was not born to the computer, but came to it willingly in my late twenties via a tiny Apple IIc. Back then my computer had a one color DOS screen slightly larger than today's hand held iPhones. There were no pictures, and storage was rated in kilobytes on floppy disks the size of today's CD.

The advent of word processing freed me from the drudgery of the typewriter. Computers gave birth to my writing career.

From those early days I evolved with computers and the rise of the Internet. Twenty years after my first computer I am nearly paperless in all my communications and am verging on a whole new realm of existence: social networking. What began a few years ago with MySpace now gives those who share similar interests a new way to interact.

For those who have not yet been to Facebook or dozens of other general networks, it's an easy way to stake some turf and have more fun in cyberspace. Facebook was designed to help people reconnect and maintain their relationships. But while I used it in business and learned how social networks function, the site was too general, and I didn't find it compelling.

All of this lured me to the Garden Party, a new online community that will become the national nucleus of the American garden. It's located at Learn2Grow.com, a site that contains the most accurate and useful resources for gardeners in the world.

Story continues below

This more focused social network feels like a neighborhood. It is a community where I created my own Web site. It is really easy to do, even if you're a beginner. I started my own blog in minutes. I created a picture gallery of some of my hottest shots. I also set up a few groups so I could connect with other folks interested in turning their homesite into an urban homestead to cut costs and get back to basics. There's also a place where I can easily post clips of home videos. I plan to set up a forum where lovers of succulent plants like me can pose questions and have them answered in an ongoing lively discussion.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image
SHNS photo courtesy Maureen Gilmer

Maureen "Mo" Gilmer, hostess of Garden Party, a social network at Learn2grow.com.

previousnext

Latest comments

Editorial: 10 years of TRAX

Sorry earlier I meant to say that tracks seems to travel at 35 miles an hour...

'Peter Frumhoff, the director of science and policy at the Union of...

The Non-BCS crowd ought to create their own title game...their own brand, and...

Letters: Democrats' ethics

That's the whole of your defense of GOP resistance to badly-needed ethics...

Your criticism should hardly be focused on Bennett alone. What about all the...

'Wired's Threat Level blog reported on November 20 that Gavin Schmidt, a...

The reality of climate change is supported by multiple lines of evidence and...

BYU professor remembered

I had the priviledge of staying in the LeBaron home on severl occasions as I...

Letters: Growing jobless rate

So the unemployment rate has dropped to "just" 10%, huh? I wonder what that...

Ahh for the love of money...what money can buy!!!

Advertisements