One of the first lessons I learned as I began my journey to grow a
garden in the New Mexico desert. Never buy the $1 pre-packaged flower mixtures
at a dollar store. I never got flowers to grow, but I sure got weeds to grow
and proliferate. Let's look at a mix that does make sense.
Social Media has become an important tool in my quest to become a proficient
gardener. Social Media is defined by the online dictionary Merriam-Webster "as forms
of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and
microblogging) through which users create online communities to share
information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)."
Facebook is an excellent Social Media resource for finding answers
to questions. At the same time, Pinterest allows me to have a clutter-free home
as I do not have to have shelves or boxes of scrapbooks that hold pictures,
ideas, and answers. Now all this information is kept organized in virtual
scrapbooks. Instagram is another Social Media tool that allows you to track
your successes and failures in video and images. A blog is an excellent tool to
track your gardening efforts. I use Blogger for this gardening blog, which I
started in 2011. Now let's look at each of the Social Media tools listed above
for a more in-depth look at how you can use them for your gardening efforts.
Google does
not fit the definition of Social Media but felt it was worth mentioning because
the internet is an amazing resource, and Google is used multiple times per day
in my quest for information. If I have a question, Google makes searching the
worldwide internet an easy way to find an answer.
Facebook is
the number one Social Media tool that I use in my endeavor to become a
successful gardener. In addition to sharing my gardening story with my Facebook
family through posts, images, and videos, Facebook provides me with an
opportunity to converse with other gardeners and find answers to my unending
list of questions and as a motivational tool. Groups are a safe way to find
answers to gardening questions because of the rules and administrators that
monitor the posts.
The following are Facebook groups that I am a member of and find
helpful. Some groups are specific to a certain region. Some groups provide
general gardening information such as Gardening Today in Iowa; Iowa Vegetable
Gardening; NMSU
Sandoval County Master Gardeners; Straw Bale Garden; The Garden Professors
blog; Bluff
Country Master Gardeners; and Gardening USA.
A couple of reminders. First, this is a very limited sampling of
groups that you can join. If you do not like a specific group, it is easy to
leave the group. So search for groups that meet your needs and that you can enjoy
belonging.
In addition to groups, you can follow your favorite farms,
gardens, and gift shops on Facebook. Business pages are a great way to get
ideas, get motivated, plan upcoming projects, and stay up-to-date on upcoming
events. I am currently friends with the following businesses and have found
them extremely beneficial: Seed
Savers Exchange, Decorah, IA; Mabel Flowers & Gifts,
Mabel, MN; Heavenly
Made by Linda Wolfs, Decorah, IA; Hidden
Springs Flower Gardens, Spring Grove, MN; Oak Hills Day Lily Farms,
Preston, MN; Pinters
Garden and Pumpkins, Decorah, IA; and Reiman Gardens,
Ames, IA. If you have any suggestions for Facebook groups and friends for
readers of this blog to a friend, please share links by posting a comment.
Pinterest is
synonymous with motivation. As I mentioned in Below Zero, January 7, 2018,
Garden On The Rough blog
article, I can lose track of time Pinterest for ideas and have to be disciplined
when spending time on Pinterest. I am sure that you will agree that it is
easy to lose track of time when using Pinterest, but I think that is okay
because, in my opinion, it is the best source for ideas.
Check out my Garden on the
Rough Pinterest board for ideas. Pinterest is most valuable when we
can share ideas, so I hope you will post links to your gardening boards in a
comment.
Instagram is
the perfect platform to tell your story or, in my case, brag about my successes
and whine about my failures with new and old friends. It is also a simple and
fun means to keep in touch with my online gardening friends.
As an amateur photographer, flowers, vegetables, fruits, trees,
fences, birdhouses, sky, and old buildings are excellent props that help me
take professional-looking pictures. The palette of colors is a great help also.
Facebook has made it easier to utilize Instagram now that both
accounts can be connected.
Blogger, owned
by Google, is free. Free was appealing to me back in 2011 when I decided to
start the Garden on the Rough blog and had no idea what I was doing. I
still enjoy using Blogger to this day and plan to continue using Blogger for
the Garden on the Rough blog.
I consider myself a storyteller and love sharing my stories and hope to entice
others to share their stories, ideas, and pictures by posting comments as they
read each article.
