I'm a .com!

If you follow me on twitter you know that switching my website to its own .com is something I've been thinking about for a couple of years.  With my blogs 4th birthday on the horizon and some exciting new garden writing projects coming up this summer, I thought it was the perfect time to take that step.  While I was at it, I also decided to get a proper logo and do some redesign on my new site.  There will likely be some additional tweaks until it looks like I want it to.  I've also updated my blog's facebook page with the new logo.  

In conjunction with my little makeover project, I'm planning to finally attempt to explain the name of my blog so stay tuned.  In the meantime I have two questions for you...

1. How do you like the yellow background?
2. What do you think my blog name means?

Welcome Chicago Flower & Garden Show Peeps!

A special hello to the new readers from the Chicagoland Flower & Garden Show. It was great to meet you today at the panel discussion on garden blogging.

Regarding the presentation: I was so nervous that I really thought I would vomit before our discussion started. Meeting my fellow garden bloggers for the first time in conjunction with the whole public speaking thing created a very dangerous GI environment. Thankfully everyone was really nice and patient with us.

I made it a point NOT to pay attention to the display gardens today because tomorrow I'm planning to be back there when they open the doors to enjoy the show properly with Garden Buddy. I'll have my full review of the show afterwards. In the meantime, here's my review from last year. Oh, and I'll be issuing a public apology for the part of last years blog where I said the Dutch girls weren't really Dutch. Apparently I was mistaken. Not only that but one of them is about to graduate from medical school. Go on Dutch girls with your bad selves!

edit: here's my PowerPoint presentation from the panel discussion on garden blogging.

Msg Garden Show Presentation

View more presentations from myskinnygarden. (tags: blogging shows)

Broadening My Blogging Horizons: Part I

I don't know if you've noticed but even though it's prime gardening season, I haven't been blogging as much.  Not only that, but I haven't been commenting as much on the blogs I've been reading every day. 

I've probably never shared this but I enjoy writing almost as much as I do gardening.  I suppose all us bloggers do.  I actually took a creative writing class last semester at the university and I loved it. But, it certainly created a writing competition between what I needed to write for my class and what I wanted to blog about my garden.  That's all finished now - I got an "A"!  

Then, a month or so ago I got some great advice from Colleen about how I might go about pursuing other writing projects.  (thanks again, Colleen!)  I "tried out" for a few paid blogging jobs and was chosen for two of them.  One is a business related blog and the other is a Going Green blog that is published on a new online magazine called The Hatchet.  I'm particularly excited about the magazine one because I love the direction the editor is taking with this site.  He publishes articles and personal essays that are witty and interesting which I enjoy reading. 

So, I've been working hard to come up with some schedule so that I can fulfill my obligations to the new blogs, and write about my gardening adventures on this blog (my true love blog).  It's not as easy as I thought it would be but I think I'll eventually get into a comfortable rhythm that'll allow me to manage everything without needing to be institutionalized. 

There's one more big thing I'm cooking up and I'm planning to post about that over the weekend.  Thank you all  for being patient with me.

Technorati Tags: blogging,writing jobs,gardening,the hatchet

How Gardening Changed My Life

Please bear with me but I'm feeling very sappy and I'm overcome with the urge to write a big ole corny post about gardening.

Tomorrow (May 21, 2008) my blog turns a year old. I really can't believe how my life has changed over the last year as result of gardening. Actually, some of it has been more related to blogging than gardening but the two are so blended that I almost can't see doing one without the other. It's like blogging has just become another step of gardening, like putting away your garden hose when you are done.

Here's my very first blog post that was written the same day I planted my very first kitchen garden. I really cracked up looking back at the birth of some of my flower beds and the transformation of some of my first plantings. For the next few days I think I'll make these transformations the focus of my blog because I'm telling you some of this stuff cracks me up.

Somebody get the violin!

Gardening has changed my life in the following ways (in no particular order)

1. I've established new friendships that I think will last a lifetime with people who share a love for gardening. shout out to GB!


2. I've crossed e-paths with some really great gardeners across the world who have been so helpful to me for reasons I still don't understand and even met one in person. Thank you all!


3. I've found a great way to de-stress that does not involve drug abuse. HA


4. I've learned more about the environment than I ever thought possible just from paying attention to my dirt.


5. I've gone way outside my previous comfort zone building all sorts of crap and even though I've made tons of mistakes I've had so much fun doing it! Plus, my confidence about DIY stuff is out the roof and I'm pretty sure I could build a house or something. (OK maybe not a house)


6. I've been inspired to explore some other creative outlets that I hope to tell you about soon.


7. My yard is prettier and I know how to grow food!

I think my blog (and my life) will be changing in some very big ways over the next year and I can't wait. I don't have some big master plan other than to keep on gardening but I believe we should all be moving forward so that's what my garden and my blog will be doing.

Next up I'll be showing you how my Dwarf Bell of Georgia Peach Tree went from shabby to chic.

Happy Birthday to me!

Keeping Up With My (garden blogging) Friends

From time to time I'll run across a garden blog entry on one of my regular reads that talks about how the blogger discovers how people are finding their blog. I've always been too embarrassed to say that I have no clue how to do this. Is it magic?

Because I'm just wandering around the web doing absolutely nothing productive this morning, I decided to google my blog. What I found was that some other bloggers have mentioned me in posts and I didn't even know it. I feel bad! How rude of me not to pop over and at least say hello. But I plead ignorance! I swear I didn't know!

I try really hard to keep up with all my blog reading but with the invention of Blotanical, it's almost impossible for me to read every single blog that I'd like to. Unless I can figure out a way to get paid for sitting on my ass reading gardening blogs, I have to prioritize. Organization is NOT my strong point (shocking, I know) and although it was very helpful when Carol told me about google reader, I still feel like there must be something more I can do.

I really do appreciate anybody who takes the time to read my blog. And I really do feel extremely special when somebody (gasp) mentions me on their blog. I need to find a way to keep up with this so I can thank them properly. Saying "Thank You" is one of the core values in Southern Hospitality (yes, I just made that up but it's my blog!) and I'm falling down on the job.

See, just the fact that I've mentioned Carol's name means she'll stop by and say "thanks for the plug, gina." How do you do it, Carol? Are you magic?

Garden Blogger = Ego-Maniac?

I've been blogging about gardening for as long as I've been gardening. I love it. Blogging, I mean. Of course I love gardening too - that goes without saying, right? But what is it about blogging that is so addicting? What are we doing here? Are we actually adding something to society on a "global" gardening level, or are we simply stroking our own overgrown (no pun intended) egos?

I'd guess that most of us started our garden blogs to keep an "online journal" of our gardens, or at least that's what we told ourselves. I mean it's just not cool to go "hey I think what I have to say is just so interesting that random Internet peeps will want to read it", right? I suppose when you think of it, we (bloggers) are a product of society just like everybody else. Reality TV has proved that real people doing everyday crap is interesting, addicting even. OK fine, so lets say I'm convinced that it's OK that I love to blog about gardening and try to be OK with the boost my ego gets when people who's gardens I think are so beautiful comment on my humble, sometimes humiliating attempt at gardening. But how do we explain our attempt to attract (lure) people to our blogs? I get the whole "sense of community" we garden bloggers enjoy. I understand getting to know e-gardeners and developing important relationships with them even in the absence of face to face contact. I'm not talking about that - I'm talking about the importance we place on exposure to our blogs. How engaged we are in finding new readers and new ways to inject our blogs into any little opening we find. What's that about? I've gotten preoccupied about it myself these days and I need to understand it.

Every time I turn around somebody's gardening blog (mostly Garden Rant those show-offs!) is getting mentioned in a newspaper. And every time I read about it I say, sometimes out loud, "YAY! GOOD FOR HER/HIM/THEM!" But, why am I so happy for them? It's not as if blogging is all that contemporary anymore and people have been gardening, well, forever. It's really because we know that the plug will bring more readers to the blog, right? But why do we want more readers?

This week Melanie over at Old Country Gardens wrote a great post about how she makes these bookmarks out of her garden photos and advertises her blog on the back. What a great idea! Hell, I'm using an old cell phone bill for a book mark as we speak! Who doesn't need a good bookmark? Put a beautiful garden photo on it - EVEN BETTER! Melanie's point was to "get the word out." When I read it, aside from loving the whole damn project idea I thought, "what a great way to attract readers to your blog." But why do we want more readers?

Then there are the posts about advertising your blog on these cute little business cards like this one. Now this makes more sense to me because the main reason this person is suggesting business cards is to have a good way to exchange information at the garden blogger spring fling. I get that. If I'm in the midst of a large group of people who are defined only (mostly) by a blog, I'm gonna need to go "I'm gina, you know, from myskinnygarden?" Why not have a nice little card to hand out, right? But come on. We order the cards, give a few out at the spring fling, then have the left overs to hand out to other people. Because we want more readers!

Today I received an email from a freelance writer for a Chicago newspaper who had read my blog and wanted to ask me a few questions about a very specific gardening topic that he was writing an article about. As it turns out I don't know much about what he's researching but do you know how flattered and proud I was that somebody like this even read my blog let alone take the time to ask my opinion about something? All I could think of is how incredibly excited I'd be if my blog was ever mentioned in any kind of article. Why? Because it would attract more readers.

Is there some blogging pot of gold that I don't know about? Is there a magic number of hits at which some Ed McMann type person knocks on the door with a big check? I know some people have ads on their blogs but I do not believe for one second that blog ads is a lucrative business for the blog owner. I imagine at most these ads might generate enough revenue to pay for the site if the blog isn't published on a free one like mine. So, my garden blogging friends, I ask you. Why do we want more readers. Are we really trying to get people excited about gardening? Or are we simply stroking our egos?

Confessions Of A Garden Blogger

Being raised Southern Baptist, I never did confess to much of anything. We were taught that you could just tell God directly what you'd done wrong and keep it moving. This time I feel a confession is in order. Can I borrow sombodies rosary beads?


My fellow garden bloggers, I have been unfaithful. I have started another blog and spent some time previously devoted to garden blogging, blogging there instead. Let me explain.


I have decided to become an Independent Consultant for Arbonne International, a company who manufactures and sells this awesome skin care product that I've fallen in love with. The new blog I created, My Skinny Biz, is a blog sort of like this blog in that I want to chronicle my experience with this business. As usual, I have no experience and very limited funds, so I'll need to be creative.


I'm telling you this for a couple of reasons. 1. it explains why I've been M-I-A more lately. I've been extremely busy trying to get things going with my Arbonne business. Just like when I started gardening and didn't know what the heck I was doing, I have no idea what I'm doing! 2. And of course I'm hoping you'll visit my blog from time to time and for God's sake if any of you have any experience with this sort of thing, please feel free to give me suggestions. If any of you are interested in trying the products just let me know. I've been working hard on my website where my clients can purchase products so feel free to take a peak if you have a moment. Please alert me to any stupid spelling errors right away! http://www.gonatural.myarbonne.com/


So in case you are wondering why I'm doing this - well I blame the end of the garden season! I needed something to obsess over because I was sinking into a deep depression after my last tomato. I need something to be excited about! Plus, I really really love this product! The fact that it is a premium skin care product that is plant based sorta made me feel garden-ish. In fact, when I was trying to think of a name for my website, my best friend suggested "plant your face", which I loved, but my informal focus group hated. I decided on the name goNatural because the products are not made with any animal products or animal by-products and they do not conduct testing on animals. Also, everything is hypoallergenic and fragrance free which screams Natural, right? Arbonne has also been committed to using recycled packaging long before it was cool which earns points from me.

As I mentioned on my other blog, I'm usually willing to sacrifice a little for things that are animal free and lord knows it always seems to cost more, but the best thing about Arbonne, and the reason I decided to become an Independent Consultant is because of the dramatic change it made in my skin. Since I was a teenager I've had problems with my face. Ive used all sorts of crap from Walgreens products to the fancy doctor prescribed stuff but never really been impressed with anything.


So, since I have such big plans for My Skinny Garden 2008, I decided that I needed to do something to earn some money to pay for all the glorious plants I plan to grow in my garden next year. I don't expect I'll be so hugely successful at this that I'd need to quit my day job, but man oh man would that be awesome if I could work from home and garden allllllllllll dayyyy longgg??


In closing I'd like to say thank you all for reading my garden blog. You're the best. I fully plan to continue writing here. In fact, I've got posts brewing right now about Jodi's book which I just received in the mail and cocoa cocoa hull pellets for seed starting. Stay tuned!