Fw: A good Internet list of Garden and Home Composting Sites

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-----Original Message-----
From: Jim McNelly <c*@cloudnet.com>
Tools for the Gardener Who Digs Around
Online

By Joel M. Lerner

Saturday, January 1, 2000

The increasing amount of e-mail I receive indicates that more and more of
you are Internet-savvy. Here are my favorite Web sites for "Net nuts" who
do some digging in cyberspace as well as in gardens.

General Gardening

* The Garden Web Forums (www.gardenweb.com/forums/) claim to be
the largest community of international gardeners on the Internet. If you are
interested in a particular topic--from "market gardening" to "bassins et
plantes aquatiques"--there is a good chance you will find a forum to fit.

* Plant America (plantamerica.com) is the place to learn who's who in the
industry. It offers Horticulture Yellow Pages, listing, for example, those
who work in horticulture services, universities and extension. The site also
offers the most complete CD-ROM photos of perennials and woody
plants on the market.

* Garden.com (www6.garden.com) is as good an interactive site as you
will find. There are loads of good garden and landscape tips, including how
to design your grounds and get your questions answered. The site claims to
offer more than 20,000 products and a complete selection of materials.

* Gardenweb.com (www.gardenweb.com) is well designed to surf around
the world. The focus is plants-oriented, with a botanical glossary, garden
exchange, contests, bazaar, calendar of events, rose expertise, a huge
directory and direct links to plant experts from some of the top companies
in the world.

* The University of Maryland (www.agnr.umd.edu/ces/) offers the same
great advice on the Web that you can get by calling the university, plus a
list of free and nominal-cost publications.

* Virginia Tech and Virginia State Universities
(www.ext.vt.edu/news/releases/garden.html) have a noncommercial and
information-packed site that directs you to the correct offices if you need
more data. Topics are listed by subject for easy reference.

* Cornell University (cce.cornell.edu/programs/ ag/landscape-hort.html)
offers one of the most complete databases of landscape and gardening
information I have seen. You can design a garden, access a 3,000-plant
database and tap into many other resources. You'll be here for a while.

* The University of Delaware (bluehen.ags.udel.edu/deces/) offers
information on many garden and agriculture issues, including diseases,
plants and landscape design.

* Ohio State University (www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/hcs/hcs.html) has put
together a comprehensive site on everything from plant suggestions to
getting a degree in horticulture. It has a search mechanism and an
easy-to-follow list of options that will take you into virtual and actual facets
of horticulture.

* Come Into My Garden (www.hal-pc.org/ trobb/horticul.html), a site
developed by Tom Robb, features a great collection of information and a
complete list of master gardener programs--with humor and animation. The
information is a personal collection of extremely helpful tidbits in no special
order. Plan to spend your Saturday browsing.

* Ask Ms. Grow-It-All (homearts.com/depts/garden/groq12f1.htm) is a
clever, easy-to-peruse site about many garden issues. Click through
question after question and learn valuable tips.

Composting, Conservation and Nature

* Rot Web (net.indra.com/ topsoil/Compost_Menu.html) is a wittily
named site presenting composting and numerous other environmentally
sound methods of gardening. This simple, easy-to-navigate location has a
huge body of reading material.

* The Agriculture Department (www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/compost.html)
breaks composting into its simplest form. It's good general information and
is laid out so you just hit "print" and get a hard copy of the document
without the advertising found on commercial sites.

* The Agriculture Department also offers information on mulching, soil and
water conservation, wildlife, ponds, wetland practices and many other
backyard conservation considerations
(www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/CCS/Backyard.html). It's a no-nonsense,
fact-filled site that's enjoyable to travel. The links take you to a virtual
library of other wildlife and nature preservation addresses.

* The Wild Ones Handbook (www.epa.gov/glnpo/greenacres/wildones/)
is exactly what it says, "A Voice for the Natural Landscaping Movement."
It offers information on every aspect of natural landscape design, from
seed collection to references and site preparation.

* The Bug Store (www.bugstore.com/) is a site where you will find the
latest on beneficial insects to protect your garden. They can be purchased
right on the Web and shipped fresh.

Herbs

* Dr. James Duke, one of the world's most knowledgeable people about
medicinal plants, has developed a site (www.ars-grin.gov/duke/index.html)
with an incredible collection of herbal knowledge. It's the best I've seen, in
cyberspace or in print.

* Herb World (www.herbworld.com/), built by the Herb and Marketing
Network, is good, easily accessible education for amateur browsers or
serious herb growers. You can click onto a list of related associations,
company contacts, exchange programs, chat and question-and-answer
opportunities, a newsletter, a plant locator, herb gardens and more.

Native Plants

* The Virginia Native Plant Society (www.vnps.org/) offers local native
plant information. If you ever wondered what all the fuss about native
plants was about, this site will clarify all.

* Grand Prairie Friends (www.prairienet.org/gpf/natives.html) offers a
listing of native plant societies nationwide. Each society gives its own twist
on native plants, an idea that is fast turning into a movement. You can
easily spend several hours here.

Water Gardens

* Pete's Pond Page (reality.sgi.com/peteo/) is Pete Orelup's compilation of
material on pond equipment, suppliers and instructions. It was a little slow
in loading, but when it did, I saw why: Orelup presents his world of water
gardening in an enjoyable mix of text, diagrams and photos of everything
from bridge to bio-filter construction.

* The Internet Pond Society (w3.one.net/ rzutt/index.html) fills in any
missing spaces on water gardens. After you exhaust this storehouse of
information, go to the links to numerous other resources by clicking on
"Visit Other Pond Pages."

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