Who do you consider the most influential garden bloggers?
I am writing a column for Examiner and need your input.
So what do I mean by influential? Well, you tell me. Perhaps it is someone whose blog you ALWAYS read. Perhaps it is someone who changes the way you think or practice about gardening. Or maybe it’s someone who influenced you in just a single, major way.
Please let me know. And please pass along the request or include in your own blog, linking here.
You can email me at gardeningexaminer@gmail.com, comment here or use the comment form here on my blog. I need your input by Friday, January 30. My column will appear the following week with your comments and links to your own blogs.
So, who’s most influential among garden bloggers?
You can also visit here and leave your comment directly at Examiner.com.
Robin
One of my plans when I first started blogging was to create an online journal of what was going on in my garden.
Somehow, that never really happened. I had other ideas I wanted to explore and topics I wanted to write about. I suppose I also worried that no one else would be interested in my little plot of land. I also worried that if I wrote too much about what was happening in my backyard, people wouldn’t come and look over my virtual fence and chat.
Well, now that I have my gardening column on Examiner as a forum for non-personal garden topics, I can get back to some of my original objectives and make Bumblebee more about my own gardening space.
So let me tell you about my day…
Today I marveled at the perfection and beauty of my squash plants. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I am fully aware that they won’t stay this lovely. These perfectly formed and perky leaves will start to wilt. The bugs will discover them and chew tiny holes in them, some in lace-like patterns. Some leaves will wither and yellow even as the squash starts arriving by the bushel full.
But for now, I love these squash plants. They are perfect. They are mammoth. My hand cannot even reach from one side of the leaf to the other. Today, they represent the potential of abundance and are an ornament to my garden.
Today I also picked blackeyed peas. I have never grown them before, but a family friend gave me some seedlings she purchased at the local Amish market. Frankly, it was during the throes of spring planting and I just plunked them in a convenient spot. They are, perhaps, a bit crowded. And at first I thought they would need some sort of trellis to climb. But they have done just fine here, shooting up their long pods above the plants.
It was very satisfying picking a whole bucket of these beans today. Tomorrow I will shell them and find some appropriate dish to highlight their freshness. Secretly (okay, secret’s out), I am grateful that the men in my house do not like blackeyed peas. ALL MINE!
I also admired my pink bed today. When I planted the cock’s comb seedlings in the bed near the cone flowers I didn’t realize they would intermingle so companionably. But now I think I’ll do this again, since it’s a winning combination.
The cone flowers also make me smile because they are from a clump of flowers given to me by a friend about four years ago. I always think of her and her husband when I see them.
I also started harvesting the seeds from my spent cilantro plants. These coriander seeds will be a fine, fresh addition to some dish. I’ll need to begin exploring recipes soon to take advantage of the new harvest.
So, aside from the watering and bush squishing, that was my garden today.
What was going on in your garden today?
Robin
If you’re seeing this post, that means you’re also seeing the new Bumblebee Blog design!
As a beginning blogger I was happy to discover SquareSpace for hosting. Their intuitive interface was just what I needed to make me feel comfortable while I learned the basics. I also liked the fact that SquareSpace offered domain mapping–meaning that I could have my own unique URL rather than one that was part of the blog host’s name. But although I really loved the many designs that SquareSpace offered, they were–after all–just templates. The new design is uniquely mine.
See the woman gardening at the top? That’s me! (Don’t I look great?) The little dogs are, of course, my Papillons, Sophie and Sarah. The kitty cat is Miss P. (Pish, the fish, is still in the house. In his bowl.)
Please notice that when you click each page on the menu signs, the little bee follows you around. How cute is that? And for those of you who have visited before, do you recognize the white picket fence?
Hey! There’s a survey feature in the top right-hand corner! Now, I own a marketing research company and spend a good chunk of my time doing marketing research, so I’ll be the first to admit that this is what I call drive-by-shooting research. It’s not scientific. But it’s fun. And it might, over time, tell me a bit about the people who visit here.
Also, on the right is a random photo from the photo albums. These are photos of my garden as well as my travels to garden or other places. I also have a few family and friends shots. If you click on the photo, it’ll take you to a larger verison of the photo and more information about the shot. Well, to be honest, there’s not much in the way of information right now. But there will be!
My hope is that the new design better reflects who I am and what this blog is all about. Appreciating nature, good food, friends and travel. And I hope you can tell I appreciate fun and laughter!
Thank you to Lucia and Peter at The Blog Studio for plugging away at the design and technical pieces while we got this site launched. They’re the best!
Now, much of the content was imported from SquareSpace. I will be updating non-functional links and tweaking the fonts here and there. If you see any glaring issues or non-functionality, please let me know.Hey, even if you don’t see any glaring issues, let me know what you think!
Robin
