Too hot to garden? Stay in and create a garden blog

“A Garden is a Friend You Can Visit anytime” ~ anonymous

The temperature in the Metro area has been hovering in the high 90’s with the heat index soaring up to 100. If you can’t take the heat outside, why not stay inside and create your own garden blog to share?

Gardeners love visiting other people’s gardens, and it’s not just because digging in the dirt and getting closer to nature makes people nicer! We love the inspiration we get from other gardeners almost as much as we love the shared wisdom and passalong plants.

Since we can’t visit everyone’s garden, the next best thing sometimes is visiting other gardener’s blogs.

I’m a firm believer in keeping garden journals. In fact, I think every gardener should carry a pen and a small notebook with them while they are out in their gardens not only to record the whys and whens but also the wonders.

If we keep track of where we bought things and when we planted them and what we do to them from day to day, we will be better able to figure out what we are doing right and wrong in our gardens. I think this is especially true now that so many of us are trying to create more environmentally friendly landscapes. It’s a new way of gardening for many of us and we are learning things that we need to share with our fellow gardeners.

But I also think that gardening is both a left brained and a right brained activity -- as much about inspiration as it is about perspiration. The left side of the brain can learn and process the scientific principles necessary to make your landscape healthier. The right brain, however, can help discover enough wonders and mysteries in your garden to remind you why it is worth the extra effort to protect it.

Digital cameras are also excellent tools for learning about your garden. Pictures of garden pests, weeds, plant ailments and other garden curiosities can be shared for answers and suggestions or can be used for further research in reference books, on the internet or posting to online garden forums to learn from the knowledge of others.

To keep a garden journal you can use a plain spiral notebook, a blank journal purchased from a bookstore, or a journal that was specifically created for gardening. Or, you can invite the rest of the world into your garden by creating a garden blog.

There are several websites that allow you to create free blogs. Two of the most popular are blogger.com and wordpress.com. With little more than an afternoon of self-training, you can share thoughts, photos and even videos of your garden.

If you already have a garden blog, or know of a good garden blog that pertains to the Washington DC metro area, please share it with us.

Just use the contact link to send an email message containing a link to your blog.

From time to time, we would love to share your photos, your thoughts and even your short videos of a walk through your garden. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got growing!

To find other garden blogs to inspire you: Garden Blog Directory

To find other GREEN garden blogs: Best Green Blogs - Gardening