Getting Involved With Garden Bloggers

Beauty can be found in every garden, and through our garden blogs, we are sharing the beauty we see in our own gardens through pictures and words.

There are many ways to get involved with garden bloggers around the world. For those new to garden blogging, who might be trying to figure out what’s going on and how you can join in, here’s a partial guide.

Blotanical

By now, most garden bloggers are familiar with Blotanical, “where garden blogs bloom”, create by Stuart of Gardening Tips N’ Ideas. I have indeed noticed that my blog is ranked first in “most favourited” and often is most visited, too. Wow! I would like to thank everyone who listed me as one of their favorite blogs and soon I’ll return the favor by listing my own favorite blogs.

What is holding me back from tagging my favorites right now is that a couple of the blogs I want to mark as favorites won’t show up for me, so I am waiting for Stuart to help with that. Then I’ve got enough points as a Blotanist to mark 24 favorites, and I intend to do just that!

What’s a Blotanist? It’s bloggers like Carolyn, and Jodi, and Kate, who use the site quite often, thus earning points. And with those points they can pick more favorite blogs.

Really, if you have a garden blog, you should visit Blotanical and get yourself listed.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Many garden bloggers are familiar with Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, hosted here at May Dreams Gardens. Without much prompting, we faithfully post what is blooming in our gardens on the 15th of the month and then leave a comment on my bloom day post to let everyone know where we are.

If you are new to garden blogging or just started seeing the bloom day posts and wondered how to join in, it’s easy. You just do the above. No asking permission, no rules, no hassles. Botanical names are strictly optional. And in the winter-time, even blooms are optional!

I usually post my bloom day post a tiny bit earlier than the 15th, like late on the 14th, to give everyone a chance to find it and add their comment as they post. Jump in any month to join us.

Garden Bloggers’ Book Club

Once you’ve joined us for bloom day, why don’t you join in the Garden Bloggers’ Book Club? It’s pretty easy to join, too. You read the book that’s chosen, post a review about it, and then let me know about it via a comment or an email. Then I’ll link to it in a ‘virtual meeting post’ at the end of the two month period.

We’ve just started a new book for February-March, Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education by Michael Pollan, so there is plenty of time to read the book and post about it before March 31st.

Or if you are more interested in another book by Pollan, you can review that and make it your post for the book club.

Garden Bloggers’ Muse Day

Carolyn at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago hosts Garden Blogger’s Muse Day on the first of every month. This is a great opportunity to share your favorite poems, songs, verses and quotes about gardening. You just post your favorite muse on your blog on the first of the month and then let Carolyn know via a comment so others can find you.

Garden Bloggers’ Design Workshop

There really is something for everyone in the garden blogosphere. Over at Gardening Gone Wild, they host a monthly posting about a design related aspect of gardening. Again, it’s very easy to join in. Post something on your blog about the topic of the month and leave a comment to let them know you’ve posted something. Then on the 31st of the month, they’ll do a wrap up post with links to all of the various blogs that posted on the subject. For February, the topic is Color in the Garden.

Links and Comments

Now if all of the above seems just a bit too organized and too much bother, there are other ways to join in the garden blogosphere and interact with passionate garden bloggers.

You can extend a conversation or add your own ideas on a topic with a post on your blog that includes a link back to the blog that gave you the thought or idea. Nothing gets me to visit a blog faster than seeing a link to my blog embedded in a post. I use Technorati to find links to my blog but you can also do a google search for “links: your blog url” to find out who or what is linking to you.

Or you can just visit other garden blogs and leave nice, relevant comments and often as not, that blogger will check out your blog and perhaps add it to their feed reader and come back for future posts. Don’t be shy, everyone has to leave a first comment. Then that first comment gets the ball rolling and you just never know where it could lead.

Garden Bloggers Spring Fling

Where it could lead is a visit outside of the virtual world of garden blogging to the real world of Austin, Texas, the garden blogging capital of the world, where this spring you can meet some real garden bloggers face to face at the Garden Bloggers Spring Fling. This real-time meeting is being organized by garden blogger Pam at Digging and with help from Melissa at Zanthan Gardens, Diana of Sharing Nature’s Garden and Bonnie of Kiss of Sun.

The guest list is growing, as is the excitement. It will be great fun to get out of this blogging world of asynchronous communication and for just a few days communicate synchronously with other garden bloggers.

What more could anyone want than to go to a gathering of other people and not have to try to figure who else is a gardener, so you know you’ll have someone to talk to? Everyone there will be a gardener, so garden and plant talk should be non-stop.

No Excuses For Not Joining In

So fellow garden bloggers both new and experienced, no more excuses for just posting on your blogs and not joining in. There really is something for everyone in the garden blogosphere.

You can start now by “coming through my garden gate”, leaving a comment to say “Hi”, and making your plans for the next bloom day on February 15th.

Other Links of Interest on Garden Blogging

Feeding Birds and Blogging – more thoughts on garden blogs and blogging

Blogging Art and Practice – general blogging info from Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening, one of the pioneers of garden blogging.

Green Thumb Sunday – a weekly garden picture sharing opportunity

Voices at Garden Web – lists and previews of more garden blogs.

Mouse & Trowel – occasional posts on blogging topics and home of the Mouse & Trowel garden blogging awards.