Yardsmart: Finding the right gardening Web site

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.

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.

Naturally I said "yes" when the Learn2grow.com folks asked me to become the hostess for the Garden Party. Since the site is staffed with some of the best knowbies in the horticulture business, I knew I would be supported by a real knowledge base. In the past I've avoided this kind of thing because so many sites are simply masses of data posted by techies or amateurs. At Learn2grow.com everyone is a pro because the Ferraro family is at the root of the site. The Ferraros have three generations of accomplished garden center operators. They know what gardeners and homeowners need, and avoid meaningless filler designed to attract search engines.