Twitter Your Way to a Great Garden with #gardenchat

Since October 2010 , Brenda Haas ( BGgardens.com ) has been changing the boldness of garden tweet by tweet . Using the hashtag # gardenchat ( do n’t glaze over from Twitterspeak just yet , I ’ll aid you out before long ) Bren ’s social networking inspiration now attracts anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 garden lovers on any render Monday night , from 9 to 10 PM ( EST ) .

Bren explains the roots of # gardenchat : “ A group of gardening Twitter user were twitch about get and decided to make it an official ‘ event ’ on the societal net . Every calendar week there ’s a schedule topic and a guest expert who lucubrate on it and answers questions . And since the matter is announced in the week lead up to the chat , participant can submit query in improvement .

Some guest host have included such garden luminaries as Joe Lamp’l ( farm A Greener World TV),P. Allen Smith , and celebrity chef Guy Meikle . The boyishly charming , hilarious , baseborn - to - a - fault Billy Goodnickappears on video , recorded when Bren catch up to me at last year ’s Garden Writer ’s Association symposium in Indianapolis . ( Watch me present Bren with a rolling wave of my in demand Crimes Against Horticulture law-breaking scene bar tapeline . )

Fiercesome Fun

Here ’s an excerpt from one of my preferent garden people , Jayme Jenkins ( ahamodernliving.com ) , who co - hosted the # gardenchat school term on Cocktails in the Garden on June 4 , 2012 . Just before the official starting , Jayme tweeted “ So … is it bad that I ’m co - host # gardenchat about cocktail gardening in about 30 min and I feel like have a beer instead ? ” Sixty minutes later , 932 tweets wobble through the ether , touch on on everything from sweetening cocktails with agave sirup to puddle johnny - jump - up ice cube to something about bacon . ( With cocktails ? ? ? Ewwww ! ! ! ! )

But there ’s serious garden advice too , like evening commit to sustainable landscape design , how to get Kid active in the garden , New homesteading , and lawn fear steer .

The coolest part is that even if you do n’t make it to the real - fourth dimension tweet event , you could chat the # gardenchat web site , tap theTranscripts tab , and read or download the Q&A stream any metre you feel like it , but I suggest you unite the fun or escape out on asking questions or sharing your own knowledge .

For reader who ’ve head clear of Twitter due to a raging case of technophobia , # gardenchat makes it wanton to get on control board . Bren has created a clear explanation to kick - start your mind - expand , garden - meliorate journeying . One press the How To take part lozenge and a few paragraph of meter reading , and you ’re good to go . Do n’t experience like reading ? On the same varlet you ’ll find a delightful video where Bren ( and her shocking pink blouse ) explain how to get rolling .

Twitter Basics

So what ’s a hashtag , anyway ? That tic - tac - toe - looking symbolisation is what Twitter use to allow masses explore for a special condition , in this font , anyone sending out a tweet that they want other # gardenchat follower to line up . As Twitter defines it : “ The # symbolisation , call a hashtag , is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet … mass use the hashtag symbol # before a relevant keyword or phrase ( no spaces ) in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets and avail them show more easy in Twitter Search . ” ( study more )

About Brenda Haas

Bren did n’t define out to make a gardening entropy phenomenon . When asked what she thinks is the value of # gardenchat , I opened a flood logic gate :

“ Well for me , I enjoy irritable stuff , so being able to make a societal bearing for a grouping of garden partisan who is rewarding ! In the past two year my own garden has repeat thanks to being inspire and building the confidence to try different angle of gardening I ’d never imagined I would do . This is all from what I ’ve learned from booster on Twitter using social metier . ”

apart from administering # gardenchat , Bren stays fussy at home in Ohio .

“ We moved to the nation in 2003 – 18 acres ( 11 wooded ) where my husband and I have raised our 2 kiddos , 6 cats and an Australian Shepherd named Olivia ! Did I mention we have 18 + show rabbits that make much of the innate compost for my veggie gardens and rose ? !

Bren is also a mythic photograph and videographer , often travel to garden manufacture trade show , then recording the expiration - on and bringing the info back to minor independent garden sum who ca n’t make the trip .

The # gardenchat hashtag stream has also become combat-ready 24 - 7 with shares from garden partizan from around the world ! Their lean of friends check in from New Zealand , Brazil , UK , Canada and Ireland .

Why You Should chequer Out # gardenchat

It ’s plain from your interestingness in Fine Gardening ’s blogs that you have a passion for gardens , just like Bren and thousands of others . So take a few minutes to correspond out what ’s going on , then jump into the whirlwind and expand your gardening mankind with # gardenchat .

intelligence FLASH!I’m compose a garden design record title , “ Yards : plow Any Outdoor Space Into the Garden of Your dream . ” It ’s the garden figure book you ask to read before you read all the other ones . You ’ll learn the retrieve cognitive operation that professional designers like me utilize to make garden that are n’t just drop abruptly gorgeous , but also serve as an extension of your home , while tread mildly on the planet .

Here ’s what Amy Stewart , New York Times best - sell generator of Wicked Plants has to say : “ Billy Goodnick hand over the most laid - back , user - friendly and entertaining garden advice you ’ll ever read . ask over him into your backyard – now ! ”

The book comes out in March 2013 ( cuz I ’m still write it ) but you’re able to pre - govern today atAmazon.com , indiebound.org , Powell.com , and soon to be list at Barnesandnobel.com .

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Brenda’s luscious photo compositionPhoto/Illustration: Brenda Haas

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