Gardening forums and community gardening web sites can be very valuable resources for gardening information, and are chocked full of experienced gardeners. Many times when I am faced with gardening questions, or am interested in a new facet of gardening, one of the first places I go for answers is either a gardening forum, or a community web site.
Gardening Forums
An online forum is generally a web site that is set up so that users can post questions, or talk about their own gardens with other gardeners. The forums are generally set up with different categories, then threads inside each category, that makes it very easy to find posts that you might be interested in checking out, and joining in on. A forum is a great place to ask for advice when something has you stumped.
If you are interested in getting more information about, say raised bed gardening or container gardening, a forum can have mounds of information on the subject. If you come across a gardening problem you can pose a question about it in the forum, and will usually receive quite a bit of help from the very knowledgeable forum participants. So grab a nice cup of hot cocoa and enjoy these gardening forums.
Here is a list of some of my favorite forums that I visit frequently:
GardenWeb - GardenWeb has one of the largest array of forums on the internet for just about every gardening topic you can think of. GardenWeb features gardening topics from annuals, to beekeeping, to frugal gardening, to regional forums, and everything in between. If there is a gardening subject that you are interested in, GardenWeb has a forum for it. There are some of the forum topics that are not very busy, but most are very lively with experienced gardeners that are eager to give you advice.
Dave's Garden Community Forums - Dave's Garden features some of the best gardening forums on the internet. Dave's Garden boasts 256 forums on all gardening topics and even includes subjects like home repair topics, crafts, country living, and cooking. Many of Dave's Garden forums are for subscribing members only, but they also offer quite a few that are free (such as the Beginner Vegetables forum). The subscription price for Dave's Garden is $19.95 a year, or you can choose a two month trail subscription for $5.00. The $20 a year subscription is very much worth the money, in my opinion, for all the features and tools offered at Dave's Garden.
Helpful Gardener Gardening Forum - Helpful Gardener Gardening Forum is another friendly forum to find very helpful gardeners. The Helpful Gardener is somewhat smaller than the previously mentioned forums, but has over thirty different gardening topics, from organic gardening, to growing bonsai, to seed swapping. Helpful Gardener is a great place to connect with many other gardeners.
Away To Garden Q&A Forums - Away To Garden features very nice forums that have about 540 members. This forum has topics on flower gardening, vegetable gardening, and houseplants just to name a few. Away To Garden has a very nice atmosphere with plenty of friendly members. It is surely a place to connect with some great gardeners that share their passion for gardening.
You Grow Girl Forums - The You Grow Girl Forums has over 5,200 members and features some interesting forum topics such as Eat It. Use It, The Animal House, and You & Your Garden, just to name a few. This is another great gem of the gardening forums world on the internet. You will always find friendly and helpful gardeners in the You Grow Girl Forums.
Community Sites
What I call a community site (for lack of a better term) varies just a bit from a forum. A community site is one where you can not only participant in a discussion, but you can also upload pictures, write your own blog posts, and share other details from your garden. These sites can be a great avenue to connect with other gardeners and get an in-depth look at what they are doing (and saying) in their gardens.
Here are a few interesting gardening community sites:
Dave's Garden - Yes, Dave's garden is also what I consider a community garden. Not only do they feature the popular forums section, but they also have a community where gardeners can upload pictures, and create their own blogs. One feature of Dave's Garden that I love is the PlantFiles and BugFiles, where members can give their opinions on different plants (flowers, vegetables and everything else), or bugs. Members can write their own reviews of a particular plant or bug, and give the plants a positive, neutral, or negative ranking. Whenever I have questions about a particular vegetable, Dave's Garden is usually my first stop. Once again, it is definitely well worth the $20 a year!
The Mulch - The Mulch is a very unique community that enables members to establish a profile, and even supplies members with plant care reminders. Just give The Mulch three plants that you want to grow, and they will email you reminders of when to sow the seeds for the particular plants, the best times to transplant, when and how to water, and much more. The great thing is it is all free! The Mulch also has a Plant Encyclopedia, Plant Care Articles, and a forum. The Mulch is a community site that is worth signing up for.
GardenTenders - GardenTenders is also a very unique site that allows members to share gardening projects, write their own blogs, and find online gardening buddies. You can even watch or submit your videos, participant in contests, and chat in the forums. It is definitely a site that has to be saved in my Bookmarks.
Vegetable Gardener - Vegetable Gardener is a Fine Gardening website that allows visitors to create a profile, upload image galleries, and post their own blog posts. It has over 2,200 members, and features great articles written by staff writers and contributors.
Start Connecting With Other Gardeners Today!
I hope that you enjoyed this list of forums and community sites, and would love to connect with you at one of these sites. If you have a great forum or community site that you love visiting, please feel free to mention it below!
This is the final installment in Use Social Media To Connect With Other Gardeners Series, and hope that you found all the posts to be helpful in connecting with other gardeners. If you missed the previous posts, here they are:
Use Social Media To Connect With Other Gardeners
Use Social Media To Connect With Other Gardeners - Twitter
Use Social Media To Connect With Other Gardeners - Facebook
