English Cottage Garden Plan

An English Cottage Garden Plan is now online at garden-helper.com. This plan represents the first in a series of professionally designed garden plans that we will be bringing to the site. The plan includes a summary of the site, a descriptive narrative detailing the entry to the garden and the garden itself as well as information about the plan designer and a list of plants used in the garden design.

We will soon update the English Cottage Garden Plan with the ability to shop for the plants used in the plan at a single page.

We hope to garner some feedback on the garden plans as we release them so please visit the feedback forum and let us know how we are doing.

I'd Gladly Pay You Tuesday ...

... For a hamburger today ...

Famous words from that fellow on Popeye. Did he ever pay up? I never noticed. What I did notice was how Popeye ate his spinach and things just got better for him. Spinach gave him great strength with which to defeat his nemesis in every story.

Spinach might not be all that exciting, but we get pretty excited whenever we release a new plant page onto garden-helper.com and the page on spinach information is no exception. Please take a look and let us know what you think.

Expect more soon and thanks for the visit!

Rhubarb is Rhubarb

"Well, Art is Art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know. "
Groucho Marx


Rhubarb information is now up on garden-helper.com

Like Us? Link To Us

Recently we have been receiving a fair number of compliments and kudos both in the forums and in email and we appreciate all the positive feedback. If you happen to have web space - a blog or personal homepage or even a garden related site of your own - and you enjoy garden-helper.com one way you can show the world [and us] that you believe in our site and what we are doing is to link back to us. This helps us get better search engine placement which has a cascading effect allowing us to dedicate more time and resources to the site to build an even better place to learn, share, plan and shop. Please consider linking to us and if you do be sure to let us know.

Specialty Seed Collections

Just a quick note before heading off to sleep that there is now a specialty seed collections page on garden-helper.com with some really nifty packages from Nature Hills Nursery. If you have a need for a quick yet quaint gift idea check these out. For just under four dollars they really are super deals and really fun to boot!

We had a very busy day in the forums today with several new members and we are quite pleased about that. A hearty welcome to all of you!

Expect a deluge of recipes including jams and jellies [that's for you, Beth] and several new plant pages.

Also be on the lookout for the first of our professionally deisgned garden plans to be offered on the site soon. These are truly gems and we think they will not dissapoint all those who arrive at garden-helper.com looking for garden plans. The long wait will be worth it.

Do You Speak Leek?

Do you speak leek? Do you enjoy the subtle flavor of leeks in your cooking? If you can't handle onions and you want a milder, sweeter alternative then leeks may be for you. If you want to grow your own leeks check out our newest plant information page on Garden-Helper.com.

Recipes to follow soon. If you have a recipe to share then by all means add them to our garden kitchen recipe forum as we peruse this forum to find new recipes to add to our Garden Kitchen Recipe Index.

If leeks could speak I wonder what they might say .... "HEY! LEEK ME ALONE!"

hummingbirds

Hummingbirds - is there anything in the animal world remotely like a hummingbird with it's feverish pace? Maybe toddler children although hummingbirds are much quieter. My own children have been amazed to see these creatures. Whether or not you have children of your own if you have a garden and you have a desire to attract these fine feathered friends of ours take a look at the newest article Designing Your Garden to Attract Hummingbirds in which we offer ideas on how best to design for these creatures. Happy humming!

Directories, Recipes, Look at These!!

Several days have passed but they have not been quiet. In fact the team here at Garden-Helper.com has been working nonstop to bring you all sorts of new content.

For starters the Garden Business Directories are now up. Expect a constant flow of new business listings as we begin to market the directories and add the ability to self serve add listings.

There has been a flood of activity in the recipes section. Take a look for some truly fantastic ways to put that zucchini to use.

Expect some nifty tools and more plant pages to be forthcoming. We have also begun to gather professionally designed garden plans and will be offering them in the Plan section of garden-helper soon.

Welcome to our newest guests on the forums as well.

Salvia officinalis

"Its' Latin name is salvere which means 'to be in good health' The Romans cherished the herb known to them as herba sacra, used to cure snakebites, depression and sterility and to promote long life. Sage has always held a magical aura most likely stemming from its unique healing and curative properties ... "

So begins the page about sage , the newest plant page to be released on Garden-Helper.

Click and Tell

Like a page on garden-helper? Don't just keep it to yourself ... Click and tell with the Tell A Friend feature. Not sure where that is? I'd show you, but I think you'll find it just fine if you go take a look.

Announcing Gardenmail.net

Garden-Helper.com is pleased to announce free email at GardenMail.Net.

Garden-Helper.com is now offering its' visitors free email accounts. Let the world know you are green and get yourname@gardenmail.net now.

Preparing for next year

If you have not already done so be sure to sign up for the new Nature Hills Nursery catalog and start thinking about next year!

Forum Avatars

Avatars are up and running in the forums now so feel free to express yourself not only in words but in pictures as well.

Bookmark

Just a quick note to introduce the first tool in the new navigation bar. Find a page in garden-helper you enjoy? Bookmark it easy with the new Bookmark link. Expect a few other tools to be coming soon - Tell-A-Friend being the first in line.

If you have other ideas for site improvements - things to make your visit more productive please let us know in the Feedback Forum.

Cheers!

Improved Site Navigation

Having taken a very close look at how our visitors travel through the site it became obvious that a better navigation method had to be implemented soon before the site content grew too much larger. About half the site is now wired with a breadcrumb navigation toolbar that should make it easier to navigate around the site.

The remainder of the site will have this navigation toolbar in place very shortly. If you have suggestions on any aspect of site design please post to our feedback forum.

Cheers!

Rosemary

Ah ... rosemary ... my absolute favorite herb. From the scent to the taste to the topiary form, rosemary is just one of those herbs that manages to conjour good feeling and memories. A new plant fact sheet for rosemary is now up on the site. Expect more herbs shortly. If you have requests for which plants to do please express them in the Feedback forum. Your input can help decide the direction we go in.

Edible Flowers

Angelica, Violets, Roses ...

There are more...

But to discover what they are you'll have to read my newest article entitled Edible Flowers in Your Garden. This article will also be freely available for use on your own website through EZine Articles and GoArticles.com as well so long as you follow the republishing guidelines described on those sites.

The picture shown here will be featured in the Garden-Helper.com Forums soon. I will be adding a "Name that plant" forum topic shortly where forum users will also be able to upload their mystery plants for identification. Look for the image upload capability in the forums within the week as well as the "Name that plant" thread. In the meantime if anyone can name this edible flower feel free to post a comment here in the blog.

Goodnight greenthumbs!

In Mr. McGregor's Garden ...

"But Peter, who was very naughty, rain straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed under the Gate!

First he ate some lettuce and some green beans, and then he ate some radishes. "

The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter

And Then There Were Forums

FINALLY!!

I have finally gotten the garden-helper forums up and running. There will be some time before all the categories and sections flush themselves out, but if you or anyone else you might know has a garden-related question by all means send them to our forums. We will be working diligently to be sure that this becomes a one-stop shop for answers to all those gardening questions we have.

So please feel free to register yourself on our forums and introduce yourself to our community. Although the garden-helper forums are a great place to provide feedback, of course you are always welcome to post comments on the blog as well.

Happy Gardening!