A friend and I were having dinner the last week and ended up talking about our gardens. (Surprise, surprise, right?!) She is a much more organized gardener than I am – having a master list of plants, with purchase dates and growth success. (I make a map at the end of the season – partly so I can see what I want to move around next year, and partly so I can see if everything comes up again in the spring. But, I don’t have a master list of plants. Maybe that needs to go on my list to do this winter!)
Later in the conversation, my friend mentioned that she has a gardening Go To guy – Don Engebretson. He has a web site and does a column for the Minnesota Horticultural Society magazine “Northern Gardener.” On the way home, I tried to think of just one person or book or website I’d consider my “Go To” resource and couldn’t. I have, instead, an assortment of resources. I like to sort of compare and contrast and see what they all say, and then I throw in my own experience.
Do you have one “Go To” resource – be it a human, book, web site? I’d love to know!
4 comments:
Sure do. I go to our extension horticulturist, John, quite often. I swear he knows everything. I also use a few books first, but always defer to John. My hero.
It is good to have friends like you do that share your passion. I learn a lot from other bloggers. I have been gardening a long time, but am amazed what I learn from others, almost daily.
I certainly have more than one. Don Engebretson's website is great, so is Terry Yockey's site, www.northerngardening.com. I also use the U of M's site quite frequently with disease questions. Mike Heger's book, Growing Perennials in Cold Climates, is a must-have, but I have an entire shelf of gardening books of all kinds, plus, of course, my public library, which has a great garden collection and is often the place I start when I'm not sure where to go.
Donna, That's cool that you have someone like John, whom you trust, as your Go To person! I can't believe my good fortune in the friends that I have -- many of whom do share a passion for gardening. It's sort of the garden version of "it takes a village . . . " And, you're so right about the bloggers! I'm relatively new to the blogging scene, but I do take away something valuable almost every day.
Mary; Thanks for the tip about Terry's site! I don't have Mike's book, but I think I've seen it in the bookstore and may even have had it in my hands! I like the U site, too, but find the navigation difficult sometimes. (The bug page, for example, assumes you know what kind of bug it is. Sometimes, i only know that it's long and orange with black bars.)
You're right about the bug section of the U's page. I find the extension's What's Wrong with my plant section great, though. It starts out with what kind of plant is it (vegetable, tree, etc.)....and goes from there. Here's the link: http://www.extension.umn.edu/gardeninfo/diagnostics/index.html
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