Okay, I’m going to come right out and say it - I hate maps.

Especially when they are like the USDA Zone Map when I need to know what the outline of my county looks like to know if I am in a particular planting zone.  If I am being honest, I don’t even know what the name of my county is, much less what it looks like on the map!  Still, there is a lot of important information to be gleaned from knowing your planting zone so there has to be an easier way, right?  Right!

The National Gardening Association has created a section of their website that is tailor made for people like me who can barely even point to the state I live in (that’s the state of Georgia, not the state of confusion).  See, all you have to do is go here and enter your zip code.  Not only will this site tell you what your planting zone is, it will also give you a regional report, a link to public gardens and events in your zip code and even a list of plants that work in your zone.

(HINT:  if you don’t know your zip code, look at a piece of junk mail.)

For more information, visit the National Gardening Association’s USDA Hardiness Zone Finder on the web at garden.org/zipzone

IMPORTANT NOTE:  On Saturday 5/15/09 at 12:00 p.m. EST I will be a guest of Katy Copsey, host of “America’s Home Grown Veggie Hour” on a local Internet radio show on Radio Sandy Springs where we will talk about community gardening.  You can listen to the show live from the website, so please tune in.

It Takes a Community…

What an insane month it has been here at MEGHQ!  My writing projects have largely had to take a back seat to the founding of the new Riverside Community Garden in my neighborhood here in the “upper west side” of Atlanta.  The good part is that not only have I accomplished the beginnings of the garden, it happens to be right across the street from my house so I can sit at my desk and literally watch the garden grow.  Sometimes it is really good to be me!

The weather has been predictably unpredictable this season thus far and the years of drought conditions have more than prepared us to receive the tremendous influx of rain we’ve had already.  I just hope the weather cooperates with me enough to get the garden tilled a second time next week so that we can get some plants in the ground before the end of the month.

Seriously though, we need the rain, but I just hope it doesn’t work against the gardeners too terribly much.  I’ve been quite gun shy about planting this year having started the season so late with an April 1st move to Atlanta that left me no time to start my own seedlings.

Back to the good news:  Support for the community garden has been tremendous with more than 15 plots reserved before we even broke ground, so needless to say I am really excited to see what this season holds for us!

In Other News…

• While I cannot divulge too many details just yet, I am currently in negotiations with a publisher about writing a book on urban gardening.  Yeah, seriously excited about that.
• If you aren’t already, you’re welcome to follow me on Twitter as well as becoming a fan of the Riverside Community Garden on Facebook.
• Love you.  Mean it.  TGIF and have a GREAT weekend!

Seems the good folks at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System have seen fit to use one of my articles as a reference in a recent edition of their Metro News.  In the section called “Sensible Trivia for Affordable Urban Gardening”, Dr. Jannie Carter, Extension Assistant Director credits my article “Tomatoes bought my house: The unbelievable story of Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter tomato” over at Tomato Casual (www.tomatocasual.com).

I have to admit it is nice to get credit for my online writing!  All too often people have a false sense that anything they find on the Internet belongs to them and they have no need to give credit where credit is due.  While I am an avid gardener I make my money as a freelance writer and a large portion of that is done online.  When people steal the work of other writers like myself they devalue the hard work that we put into what we do.

Thank you to Dr. Carter for crediting my work in her great piece on urban gardening.  I encourage you all to check it out!

Here comes the rain again…

Since the rain is due in our area any time now, I though it was timely to include this info on cheap rain barrels.  Thanks to my partner I came across a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to take advantage of rain barrels but cannot afford the expensive ready made versions that are on the market.  The Atlanta Watershed website has a step-by-step guided tutorial that will walk you through creating a rain barrel system for your home that is incredibly easy to do and is very cost effective! Check it out here.

MEG Update

I am happy to say that all but one tomato seedling has made it into its seasonal home now and I’ve also started some Boston Pickling cucumbers as well. The herbs are all doing beautifully as are my lovely marigolds.  Before we know it there will be veggies to harvest and so many tomatoes and cucumbers in the kitchen that I will be spending hour after glorious hour pickling and canning to my heart’s content!

The Garden is Growing!
I am finally able to let the cat out of the proverbial bag and announce that after my recent move into the awesome Riverside community in the suburbs of Atlanta I am in the process of preparing to break ground on the Riverside Community Garden!  What’s more, it looks like the site is going to be directly across the street from my house so I will be able to sit in my office window while I work and watch the garden grow!  I am so excited about this development that I can barely contain myself!

Fred Conrad from the Atlanta Community Food Bank will be helping us to get things going and we are proud to help support them by planting a row for the hungry, something that I have strived to do for as long as I have been a gardener.

Stay tuned to MEG; there is sure to be something new growing all the time around here and I don’t want you to miss anything!

That’s right!  It’s not even the end of April yet and we’ve had an early birth here at MEG HQ!  The first tomato of the season has sprouted forth and promises to be beautiful and delicious!  I had to post this photo as soon as I discovered the baby because I knew that Shibaguyz would be drooling with envy and I couldn’t resist!

This is my first experience growing the hybrid tomato plant variety called “Patio” but it is definitely a hearty grower.  I am generally not one to grow hybrids but my late start in the season had me grabbing the first seedlings I could find and this one one of the first.  Thankfully I supplemented my three hybrid tomato seedlings with four heirloom tomato plants all of which are thriving already!

Happy Earth Day everyone!  Be happy and be green!

Today was the day. 

I’d rather quickly dropped my early season tomato seedling purchases into larger pots a few weeks ago and hadn’t paid attention to the fact that one of the pots had no drainage.  Yesterday a cursory check revealed the need to plant my beloved Mr. Stripey heirloom tomato plant immediately or risk losing it to rot. 

Plant, we shall!

This is the first tomato plant to be planted in the ground this year so it was a milestone day of sorts.  You can read more about my love for tomatoes and my ongoing tomato-centered chatter in my weekly posts at Tomato Casual where a community of like minded folks await.

In my mailbox today I discovered this beautiful reusable shopping bag that I won from Jason James (sorry dude, I was spacing out that day) and Shala at Double Danger and Maegan from Be Smart, Be Green.  It’s wonderful, it’s durable, it’s spacious and I can’t wait to take it shopping and show it off!  Compared to the puny reusable bags you see in the supermarkets these days that are made from really cheap materials, this one is hands down a far superior bag and it is incredibly cool, to.

In other news, Shannon from Shibaguyz and I have agreed to become the inaugural members of the Floppy Hat Society to show our true love and devotion to the time honored tradition of gardening and bad hat wearing.  It takes a real man to wear a floppy hat, folks; just wait ‘til you see me in mine!  I’m actually a bit worried though because Shannon is making the hats and he has been known to get a little Bedazzler happy from time to time…