Is Social Media And Gardening a Good Mix?

 

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.