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!