Gardening Around the Web: Research Sources

I used to volunteer at the University of Minnesota Extension on the Horticultural Line when I was an active Master Gardener (I'm lapsed! Just got my letter today...I'm going to have to remedy that). It was some of the best education I've ever had. My job was to answer the phone of course and  answer people's horticulture questions. Sounds daunting, right? 

I thought so, too. Fortunately, the first thing my supervisor told me was unless I knew the answer for sure, I needed to just get the information and call the person back. He then showed me how to research for the answers I needed because his view was, no one knows it all, not even himself. This was a man with a master's degree in horticulture so he knew way more than me. He was a good person to learn from. So in addition to learning lots more about horticulture I also learned how to do good research to get answers to my own gardening questions. 

University of Minnesota Extension
Obviously, as I worked for the U of M Extension, their site was one of the primary resources we turned to. One of my favorite tools they have available is "What's Wrong with My Plant".This is a diagnostic tool for identifying disease and insect damage. It breaks it down by type of plant, specific plant and then symptoms. It's complete with pictures which makes it easy to pinpoint problems. Also, I recommend the Yard & Garden News for Minnesota gardeners as it provides timely state specific gardening information. You can subscribe by email or rss feed.

Dave's Garden
I use this resource quite a bit in my work at the greenhouse. I've found very few plants that aren't in the plant files. What I like about this database is that it has all the scientific information I need about a plant such as zone, height, sun requirements as well as a gardener's forum for each plant. Members of the site can upload their pictures of the plant and give their comments about that specific plant. They also rate their experience with the plant as positive, negative or neutral. I find this invaluable because the scientific information is necessary but it never tells the whole story. Some plants are invasive in some areas, some don't do well although they should. To have gardeners with actual experience with the plant share their information is invaluable because sometimes what you really need to know about plant you won't learn from the scientific information or the retailer who's trying to sell it to you. The site also has insect and bird files as well as a tool for figuring out frost dates in a given zip code. 

While browsing through gardening sites today, I came across one with a headline that read "Buy Water Butts Online." Well, you know I had to check that out! Turns out that water butts are nothing more than these. I can't even fathom how they came up with that name but then again, I don't live in the UK. I do have to say that all of these are much nicer than my water butt!