Gardening in Cyberspace

Now you can exercise your green thumb on the keyboard as well as in the garden.

It seems everywhere you turn these days, someone is talking about their latest experience on the internet.... and gardeners are no exception.

Many people enjoy gardening because it keeps them in touch with down-to-earth values (and away from today's fast-pace technological change). However, a growing number of green thumbs have been tapping the keyboards lately, too.

The world wide web is a great source of gardening information for those prepared to go looking for it. You'll find people helping each other solve gardening problems from half way around the world, and from just across town, without leaving the comfort of their armchairs. And all for the cost of a local call, regardless of the distances involved.

Several companies offer a range of gardening-related services over 'the net', too. There are direct-to-home catalogue shopping locations for seed, plants and garden tools, helpful technical advice, and bulletin boards where gardeners can post notes about problems, products and proven techniques. Some not-so-proven ones,too. You can even take a virtual picture tour of gardens around the world, or plan a garden-visiting vacation on-line. If you're already hooked up, here are a few notable home pages you might want to visit: (Keep in mind, web sites are constantly changing, updating and disappearing, so this list may not be current). Or, just type Gardening into your search engine and browse through the dozens of sites displayed.

The Garden Gate has a broad list of resources and links to other interesting gardening sites. It's at http://www.prairienet.org

"Ask Ms. Grow-It-All" offers a collection of gardening tips from a pro, by the publishers of Good Housekeeping and Country Living Magazine, at http://homearts.com

The Gardening Enthusiast Homepage provides a good selection of links and other resources at http://www.dirmarketing.com

So does The Gardening Web Directory at http://www.btw.com

GardenWeb offers a selection of interesting topics and links, including a forum where browsers can leave a question or answer someone else's gardening problem: http://www.gardenweb.com/

Vigoro Canada, Inc. plans to launch a gardening site with a distinctly Canadian flavour in spring of 1996. It will include a problem-solving bulletin board for lawn and garden subjects, information about Vigoro's fertilizer products, and an on-line version of the company's popular Gardener's Report. Watch for the new site at www.vigoro.on.ca

Many avid gardeners are now publishing their own home pages as well, to showcase their own efforts in front of a world-wide audience. Pete's Pond Page highlights Pete's success in building a backyard water garden, and shares his experiences in stocking, equipping and maintaining the pond. It's at http://reality.sgi.com

The CD ROM Shop offers a selection of CD's to help you plan and maintain a garden. There's even one called "Forever Growing Garden" that allows children to grow their own virtual vegetable garden and then sell the produce at the market. Their site is at http://www.cdromshop.com

There are many other sources for computer-based gardening resources as well, including garden planning software and CD's on a variety of subjects. The Canadian Nursery Association has published a new CD that includes colour photographs of hundreds of plants and shrubs adapted to Canadian conditions, along with notes about their adaptability to various growing conditions. Ask your local nursery for details.

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