Get Your Hands Dirty: 9 excellent blogs for beginning gardeners

There's something about getting your fingers into the soil, planting seeds, and watching as things magically start to grow. Whether you've got several acres to play with or plan on borrowing space from a gardening co-op like Hyperlocavore, you can find tons of gardening apps to help you get started.

If you're looking for a bit more in-depth information and perhaps a bit of encouragement from someone who's been there before, check out these nine gardening blogs. Inspiration and advice abound, and you'll be growing again in no time!

1. In the Weeds is a gardening blog at On Earth, in which writer Paige Smith Orloff chronicles her adventures living on a small farm in rural upstate New York. Her self-effacing style is very encouraging for those of us who might not know a rutabaga from a raspberry. Each entry has a recap of what she has seeding, weeding, needing, and feeding in her garden, as well as a recipe that uses some of her harvest.

2. Desperate Gardener chronicles the efforts of a gardening aficionado who is "desperate to be a gardener in a city that only receives 58 days of sunshine a year." Stuffed to the brim with useful information about everything from ripening tomatoes to how to buy seedlings, this blog is a great inspiration to those who want to garden in the city.

3. The Manic Gardener is the blog of Kate Gardner, a native New Yorker who moved to Montana and now tries her hand at gardening in the challenging environs of her urban Bozeman neighborhood. She has a wonderfully humorous writing style and an attitude that you can garden anywhere, given enough determination. An excellent read for those whose love of plants persists despite a lack of acreage!

4. Gardening Tips & Ideas is written by Stuart, an avid gardener who's been compiling gardening tips on the web since 2005. His posts run a wide gamut from how to use mulch to creating an artist's garden. Most posts cover general gardening tips, growing plants, landscaping ideas, or reviews of garden furniture and tools. Stuart's wide range of knowledge makes this an interesting blog to come back to.

5. Gardener's Journal is the official blog of the employee-owners of Gardener's Supply, a catalog of all things fabulous, practical, and garden-related. Unlike many company blogs, the Gardener's Journal isn't just a thinly-veiled advertisement for the catalog. Written by experts from all aspects of gardening, posts cover various topics from pruning raspberries to organizing a gardening day of service. Many feature recipes and DIY projects, as well as in-depth discussions you can apply to your own gardening adventures.

6. You Grow Girl has been growing on the web since 2000, a gardening community started by writer, photographer, and designer Gayla Trail. Trail describes the site as having a "contemporary, laid-back approach to organic gardening [that] places equal importance on environmentalism, style, affordability, art, and humor." Her posts tend to be longer than the average blog but are chock full of excellent tips, ideas, recipes, and thoughts on gardening, nature, and the world in general.

7. The Grumpy Gardener is the gardening blog of Southern Living writer Steve Bender, and it is absolutely worth a read. An equal mix of side-splitting humor and useful gardening tips, Bender's articles include such tongue-in-cheek advice as "Task #1 — Try not to kill things." Practical subjects include proper mulch usage and how to water a lawn efficiently, composting techniques, and what to do with autumn leaves.

8. The Casual Gardener, by Shawna Coronado, is a great place to browse if you like a more visual style. Videos about everything from clearing invasive mint plants to building a raised garden bed can be found among her posts, as well as plenty of photographs and textual explanations. Coronado's style is casual, informative, and pleasantly unintimidating, which makes it great for novice gardeners.

9. Rooftop Gardening is dedicated to those who create gardens on rooftops, balconies, or other small spaces. Here you'll find first-hand accounts of the garden design process, tips and techniques, and even descriptions of experiments with unusual setups like vertical gardens. In addition to writer Paul Houcek's personal anecdotes, the Rooftop Gardening blog pulls articles from around the web, giving readers a wide range of subjects.

Gardening can be relaxing or stressful, fulfilling or disappointing, economical or expensive. Knowing there are others out there who share your passion for green things growing can make all the difference. From organic vegetables to stunning flowers, small-space gardens to micro-farms, these websites will keep you inspired and eager to get out and get dirty!

[Image credits: Kate Ter Haar, Heather Cowper, Oakley Originals, K. Gray, Bart Everson]

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