One of the easiest ways to engage in a Twitter chat is by using the TweetChat web site. This site allows you to log in via your Twitter account, select which hashtag you want to follow, and also automatically includes the hashtag in every tweet, so everyone else sees your messages.

My usual hangout is GardenChat, held each Monday night at 9pm EST/6pm PST.  Join us some evening. I think you will enjoy it. Transcripts of past GardenChats are available in the transcript library of the GardenChat site.

Here are 5 garden-related chats that I know occur on a regular basis. Click each link for schedule, information and transcripts of previous chats.

• GardenChat
• TreeChat
• LandscapeChat
• RoseChat
• SeedChat

Five garden-related Twitter Chats to check out is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Related posts:

1. #Gardenchat Transcript from March 7, 2011
2. #treechat – Another chat for the gardener in you
3. Project: Altoids Tin Mini Garden from Instructables

Southwest Yard and Garden Series – Season 1
by New Mexico State University, Media Productions

Description

Each episode features a travel destination with two gardens and a public garden from elsewhere in the Southwest. Innovative gardeners and basic how-to information will be part of each show, which will have segments from several states.

Education: Southwest Yard and Garden Series – Season 1 from iTunes U is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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DIY shade finder tool takes the tedium out of solar surveys

[Steven Dufresne] does a lot of tinkering with solar-powered applications, a hobby which can be very time consuming if done right. One process he carries out whenever building a solar installation is creating a sun chartto determine how much (or little) sun the target area will get.

The process requires [Steven] to take elevation and Azimuth measurements of many different points, which often consumes about half an hour of his time. While taking measurements recently, he started thinking about how he could improve the process, and came up with a stellar solution that reduces the process down to a one-minute task.

Read the entire article

Elsewhere: DIY shade finder tool takes the tedium out of solar surveys is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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100 books about the world around us: Nature, science, math, and applied crafts.

Sometimes a book is the best way to visit a place, idea, or possibility. Max wants to know how everything- from the hen to a house to a volcano- works. So the world is our oyster. I used an asterisk to indicate the books which can be found for free online. Because so many great and marvel-inducing things can be found for free online.

1. A Child’s Story of the Animal World by Edward G. Huey
2. A Practical Guide for the Amateur Naturalist by Gerald Durrell
3. A Weaver’s Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers by Rita Buchanan

See entire list

Elsewhere: Books: 100 books about the world around us: Nature, science, math, and applied crafts. is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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The Christmas deer below stands on top of what was, only a few weeks ago, a large pine tree. It, and another on the property, were infected with beetle so we had them removed for both decorative and safety reasons. The tree company took down the tree and also ground out the stump. This left a large “hump” of wood chips in this area. I saw this as an opportunity to try out this pumpkin idea on a larger scale.

I dug a sizable hole in the pile of wood chip and filled it halfway or so with compost from our bins. I then threw in our pumpkin, which as already quite soft and gooey. It broke open a little, but I chopped it up with the shovel and then put some more compost over the top. A bit of the wood chip was added as a mulch and I was done. The whole process only took about 10 minutes and figured it was worth a try.

Sure enough, last week, my wife came in from doing some watering to inform me that the pumpkins were coming up in that area .You can just barely see the green leaves at the front foot of the Christmas deer in the picture below.

Here is a closer picture of the leaves.

I have no idea if these plants will actually produce pumpkins, but we will water them and give them a little TLC and see what happens in the coming months.

Pumpkins? is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Everyone knows that the dark days of Winter is when gardeners turn to gardening and seed catalogs to fill their gardening fantasies.

How about sharing your favorite catalogs with the readers of A Gardener’s Notebook?

Leave a comment on this post with a link to your favorite catalog and where people might order their own copy. Web catalogs work well, too, so link them up, too.

I look forward to seeing the wealth of information, products and shear, unadulterated, garden fantasies you know. Send them along quick so everyone can get the benefit of them before Winter ends.

What are your favorite gardening catalogs? Send me a link…or a copy! is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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No related posts.

SproutRobot.com allows you to enter your zip code and then receive info on what can be planted now in your are and how to do it. Great way to get some timely reminders of what you could be doing in your garden right now.

Elsewhere: SproutRobot.com – Enter Zip and receive planting ideas for your zone and date is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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1. Elsewhere: Video: TedTalks: A Garden in My Apartment
2. Planting time is already here, in some states

Could you use this in your house or apartment?

Would you try it out?

How could you make it better?

What would you grow using a system like this?

Watch “Britta Riley: A garden in my apartment” on YouTube

Elsewhere: Video: TedTalks: A Garden in My Apartment is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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Watch “Wine bottle edging for your garden beds” – iPod Ready Video

Disclosure: This post is in conjunction with my paid partnership as one of the Saturday6 from Troy-Bilt. All thoughts are my own.

Video: How-To: Wine bottle edging for your garden beds project is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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GardenCampLA is a community organized, gardening-focused, unconference which calls upon local communities and people to share their knowledge, expertise and other important information on developing your garden, landscape design, and public garden environment.

What is an unconference?

Unconferences are self-organizing conferences, similar to many professional conferences, but instead of hiring well-known, professional speakers, they call on the attendees themselves to provide the content and focus for the event. Every person who attends is highly encouraged to present on some topic deeply important to them or, barring that, to facilitate an open breakout session or round table discussion or even just to engage and converse with their fellow attendees between presentations. A few organizers band together to find a venue for the event, recruit sponsors and invite attendees, but the focus of the unconference is driven solely by the attendees.

Some might question the usefulness of presentations by their peers, but we have found that there is an enormous amount of real-world expertise available in each and every local community. GardenCampLA utilizes a format that draws out that expertise and benefits everyone. GardenCampLA (and other unconferences) provide a structure and an opportunity to share this expertise in ways that traditional conferences do not. Additionaly, GardenCampLA can also attract gardening professionals who can use GardenCampLA as a way of introducing themselves to a new audience..

How was GardenCampLA developed?

The genesis of GardenCampLA was found in the BarCamp unconferences held around the world. GardenCampLA founder, Douglas E. Welch, was a long time attendee of BarCamp, which is an event that embraces any topic — although it often leans toward technology — and PodCamp — which is focused on podcasting and new media. After seeing the success of BarCamp as a way to illuminate and educate within a community, Welch that the unconference concept could also be applied to the specific world of Gardening.

What is the typical structure of GardenCampLA?

Each GardenCamp can and should be different, but there are some basic steps that suit the purpose of the day.

Much like any unconference, each GardenCamp is driven by a small group of passionate organizers in the local community. These organizers locate a venue, select a date, collect volunteers to assist on the day of the event and sponsors to cover the minimal costs of the GardenCamp.  Local restaurants can be recruited to provide breakfast or lunch.  Local stores can offer gift cards for their services to be used in a free raffle for attendees, often held at the end of the day. The organizers are also responsible for promoting the GardenCamp by reaching out to local media for coverage, sometimes bringing in various media as sponsors.

On the day of the event, attendees arrive, check in and are greeted in an opening session where the organizers briefly explain the mechanics of how the day will proceed. Typically, there will be a schedule board, divided into a grid of rooms and session times. Most GardenCamps have 3-5 session rooms for each hour of the day, as well another series of rooms or seating areas are available for open, un-moderated, “breakout” discussions. This combination of presentations and open discussions allows for a wide variety of content to be shared across the day and allows the attendees to choose among this content as most benefits them.

After the opening session, attendees proceed to the schedule board and begin placing their presentations, and breakout discussion topics on the board — selecting both a room and a time for their presentation. As the time for first “session” period approaches, attendees make their way to the session or breakout rooms and the first presentations begin.

Between each session, attendees are given 15 minutes to re-visit the schedule board and select their choice for the next session period. This process then repeats throughout the day. When possible, a catered lunch is provided, allowing the attendees to remain on-site and continue their discussions and networking between morning and afternoon sessions.

A closing session ends the day thanking the attendees, sponsors and organizers, soliciting feedback from the attendees and, in some cases, offering a door prize raffle of items from various GardenCamp sponsors.

What is GardenCampLA? is a post from: A Gardener's Notebook

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