Blessed are the Question-Answerers

Funny thing about expounding on the subject of gardening, whether on TV or on line - it can quickly turn you into the Ann Landers of gardening problems.  My first warning of this danger came after I wrote about TV's Paul James and was showered with questions for him.  I'm hoping that someday when Paul takes a break from the Tulsa heat he'll Google his name, find my humble posts about him and the questions for him in the comments thereto, and get a laugh.  Maybe it'll draw him out from his Garboesque elusiveness.

But back to those pesky questions.  Notice I'm not running around looking for someone else to answer them, and certainly not researching them myself.  And that's basically the practice I'm following now that people are writing ME directly with their garden questions.  This phenomenon started locally (me being the big kahuna of the gardening world that I am around here), but now it's spreading to on-line readers everywhere.  So the questions come but they don't get answered and I look like a heartless jerk.  I guess I've looked worse in my life.

A SOLICITOR OF QUESTIONS 
The big news I want to convey in this little post is that there ARE people who'll answer gardening questions and I'm here to direct traffic in their direction, happily.  Just look at Doug Green, the ex-nurseryman who's become quite a garden-writing entrepreneur, both on-line and in print.  Subscribers to his free emailed newsletter actually get their questions answered, or at least incorporated into his newsletter and other writings.  So to Doug I offer a hearty high-five and a thank-you!  Granted, because he's a busy guy and no fool, he first directs question-askers to his search engine because he's probably answered the damn thing already.  (And, I might add, most questions are answered by the most cursory of Google searches and yes, that's a hint.) 

Here's what Doug writes in his invitation to subscribe to his newsletter:  "Subscribe and discover a different way of looking at the garden - an environmentally sound, tongue-in-cheek, gotta-have-fun way of gardening."  Sounds a lot like a team blog I know of.  But then Doug may be parting company with us when he describes his style as "Entertaining: I have a bit of a sense of humor and refuse to take gardening seriously."  He must be referring to minor points like whether to love or hate annuals because, as anyone who's read our Manifest knows, gardening MATTERS.  And I can report that Doug's exactly on target when he advises garden writers everywhere (on the Garden Writers Listserv) to get on line and fast, advice that's usually met with deep denial on the part of print writers, I'm afraid.

Though curiously not linked on his site, Doug also has a blog, where he's currently lamenting the failure of Blogger to let him upload pictures to illustrate a story.  Lord knows I'm in solidarity with him on that point and have our own e-frustrations to share (coming soon).

So I'm hoping that Doug keeps on answering, and I may even send him a few myself, on referral.  Meanwhile, are there any other question-answerers out there?  I have a vague memory of finding a blogger who solicits them, but vague memories and actual links are two different things.  For my part, I'm considering stealing the instructions that Genie posts prominently on her blog: "Need garden advice?  Then you probably shouldn't send me an email."  Me, either.

FORUMS
They're popping up everywhere, but how are they at answering your gardening questions?  Starting with the original Dave's Garden and GardenWeb but now including the blogging world's own Stuart, they're making an important contribution to online gardening and I've consulted them myself with great success.  Way back when I was starting to make hypertufa pots my Google search led me straight to Dave's Garden for instructions and discussion by real hypertufa-makers, all of which proved invaluable.

So readers, how do you get your questions answered?

Comments

[Genie]

I've been amazed at how quickly I get answers by just asking a question in my blog -- people are speedy with helpful and varied comments. Even if I don't get the right answer from my visitors, they usually give me enough to start with so between Google, the Master Gardener who works in my office, and my own vague high school biology background, I can figure things out. It's handy.

I'm not sure how anyone gardened successfully before the Internet, though. I've gone to books for answers to questions, too, but what I find most helpful about the Web is the profusion of photos to help me identify bugs or diseases. Where a book might have one photo, by doing a Google Images search, I can find dozens of photos (or hundreds...or thousands...) in a variety of iterations, and one is almost certainly going to match what I'm looking for.

The funny thing, though, is that even with my own admonition (mostly because I'm so new to this) that I'm not a worthy source of information, I still get lots of questions from people about how to do this or that. I try to just point folks in the right direction and hope they find their way!

Genie
http://www.theinadvertentgardener.com

[Heather]

You just need to appear inept, Susan! If you have any questions about how to do that, shoot me an email. I know more about that than gardening. :)

I can't think of any time I've had a gardening question that didn't get answered beyond my expectations on GardenWeb. But I'm also a relentless web researcher. If it's out there, I'll find it. I guess most people probably aren't as tenacious if they think they can just ask someone.

[Kathy Jentz]

As Martha Stewart recently said on her show - the second you are published you automatically are seen as 'the expert' - your life changes.

[Carol]

How do I get my questions answered? Google, books, and experienced gardeners. Family and friends ask me questions, and if I don't know the answer, helping them find an answer helps me learn more about gardening and plants. Why do they ask me? It must be that degree in Horticulture that I got "back in the day" and they know I love to garden and talk about gardening. (No, I do not work in the "horticultural industry" but that's a long story!) I live to garden and work to support my gardening habits.

[Xris]

"(And, I might add, most questions are answered by the most cursory of Google searches and yes, that's a hint.)"

In my line of work, the applicable acronym is RTFM. You can ask your geeks for a translation!

I'm trying to reverse-engineer the acronym to a gardening equivalent:
- Rake to Find Money
- Ready the Fancy Marigolds
- Remember: Toads Favor Mud
- Repeat 'Til Full Mulch
- Resist Topiary Follies, Mary
- Rubes Totally Find Me

Anyway, I'll think of something ...

[Angelina]

I will happily spend many hours on-line and in my local library or book store to find answers to my gardening questions...and I generally do this before bothering to ask another gardener for advice. However-there are times when what I really need is to discuss my question with a person because sometimes I need to hear someone tell me that they've successfully tried something I've read about. And then, of course, some experienced gardeners will tell you what no book will ever tell you, such as: your garden will not shut down immediately if you stop weeding it.

Now that I am a much more experienced gardener myself, I love to be able to offer encouragement and answers whenever I can to those who are just starting out, even if they could be looking that same information up on Google.

But I'm not a professional garden writer getting asked questions all day long.

[M Sinclair Stevens (Texas)]

I don't agree with Heather that all you have to do to stop the avalanche of questions is appear inept. The two plants I get the most questions on are posts where I admitted killing said plant.

Often questions I get are either answered in the same post or in the comments. And no matter how I explain that my meager store of knowledge is based on very narrow site-specific experience, I get questions from all over the world asking, "Can I grow that here?" I refer people to their neighbors and their local nurseries and their County Extension Office but I often wished they would write back and say what worked for them.

With the explosion of garden blogs in the last year, I'm finally getting my wish. More and more people are writing about what grows and doesn't in their little corner of the world. I love it!