During this lull in the gardening period, at least for a lot of us I am wondering if there is a place here for recommendations. Things like best gardening book, great gardening video, really informative new article. Mostly new and up to date stuff, but like flowers the classics would be nice to know also. One of my favorite books is "The Complete Compost Gardening Guide" so I will use that as an example. I found this article on about soil testing to be one of the best I have read: http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agcom...
I just think ideas like that would give use something to do on days the garden is not available. I did not realize the huge difference in a ph of 6 and one of 8.

You know, that is a good idea! We do have a place for recommending vendors, but not a good place for just general recommendations for other items of interest. Maybe a "sticky" in the All Things Gardening forum would be a good spot for something like this?

That's an interesting idea. I like the idea of a collection of informative links along with recommendations for tools and what not. I'll give this some thought!

Thanks, dave!

I have a few stream-of-consciousness musings. Not really enough to count as "thoughts".

I love the idea of collecting recommendations of things in addition to vendors!

But sometimes I get tired of scrolling past 3-4 stickies at the top of some forums. Especially when the sticky is long and chatty, and the real reference part is just part of 1-2 posts.

Maybe there could be something more like a reference library, even if part of it paralleled the forum structure. We would know to GO to the library to find the FAQs and stickies, instead of having reference material in the most heavily traveled part of the forums.

Hmm, we could solicit initial content for that library with idea-of-the-day type discussions. "My Favorite X". Give people several weeks to get info together and contribute it by just posting to a comment thread, then some volunteer would condense the threads. At work, we have peer reviews after that kind of thing.

There might be an ongoing process for adding to lists of recommendations. If not moderated, maybe a system like "Thumbs" for agreeing and comments for disagreeing.

I've been thinking about some way to condense or combine some of the forums' sticky threads, without stepping on anyone's toes. No ideas, really. Unless they could be pushed to the left with an icon like "see this forum's stickies" or "view and add to FAQs". "Adding" should be moderated, or a group effort of some kind. Perhaps links to recent posts that got many thumbs, or links to long-term favorites like "most stars".

Rick
I had not even thought about discussion of the topics, I was thinking about just maybe a forum: example "Recommendations"- If you had a book, video, or article just put in a link or short description (not a summery, just a title or enough description to describe the subject). New ones would hopefully appear every day or so. Your idea of voting on them I think would be great, but I don't see how you could have discussions about them in the same location. If an item got enough votes it could somehow be a featured Recommendation and some means of discussing it might could be figured out. Maybe it could be added the the appropriate forum for discussion, ex. an article about roses receives twenty thumbs it could be discussed in the rose forum. Just something real simple list of suggested items to help educate and keep us involved. So if we are not posting or listening to the pod cast(which I just finished doing, love the pod casts) we could sill have something of interest to check out. I am constantly searching the web for interesting videos and articles but I know a lot of people don't have the time or interest in doing that on their own.

>> I had not even thought about discussion of the topics,

I agree that getting the recommendations is the most valuable thing.

I mentioned "discussion threads" as one possible way to stimulate contributions. Seeing a discussion where several people listed their favorite "X" might encourage more people to chime in than a simple request would.

Like priming a pump.

But those were totally off-the-cuff musings. I wish I had a good idea about how to organize them or where to put them!

Here's more brainstorming or random musing:

You said:
>> I was thinking about just maybe a forum: example "Recommendations"- If you had a book, video, or article just put in a link or short description (not a summery, just a title or enough description to describe the subject).

Like a forum where most threads would only be one post long? Like one recommendation per post?

Or a forum with threads like
"Videos"
"Books"
"Links to online articles"
"webcasts"
???

I'm thinking that there might be a use for two kinds of areas: one to collect recommendations. Another to organize them for convenient access or browsing. Either one might have a use for discussions and comments ... but it would be nice if some organized archive had a way to browse them concisely.

Hmm, I wonder if the Dewey Decimal System has a useful breakdown of All Things Plants and Gardening?

Too confusing for me, I'll let Dave think on it.

This is a great idea and welcome if Dave can manage it.
I also find good videos on You tube by just searching what ever plant I want. Its not vast or complete .But if you want to know about Hellebore Care ,they have it.

Other forum sites often have a dedicated thread(s) called: "Books you may be interested in", "Books and video recommendations" or some such.
The thread is then recalled and added to as new additions warrant.

At this site, if we have a separate forum for recommendations, I would never visit it. If I am interested in composting (for example), I don't want to wade through recommendations for good books on shade gardening to find something on composting. Conversely, EVERYONE who visits the Shade Gardening forum will benefit from shade gardening book recommendations. It is my opinion that such recommendations be placed in their corresponding, preexisting forums.

I'm not fond of long lists of stickies, either. Sticky or not, if we don't want a recommendation thread, perhaps a "Recommend in this forum" button can be considered. This would be unique to each forum, only visible on that particular forum's page (not in the left sidebar). I might also suggest this not be in thread discussion format. Rather, a design similar to the already existing vendor recommendations could be appropriate. Whenever a new recommendation is added, the button could change color, flash or do something that could attract attention until viewed, just like a thread.

I agree that stickies get in the (my) way and are (IMO) too wordy.

One of my pet peeves (not that anyone asked) is that people tend to forget that at some time in the future someone may be researching and have to wade through thread titles that start with 'I really hate...' 'I like this one...' 'can you help me with...'

If people would think up front and put the subject first, example: 'Hellebores, this is a great link for' then a year from now it will be easier to find.

If @dave does make a place for the book/video/link/site type of recommendations I hope my small suggestion will help people to find what they need.

Just my 2 cents.

I'd like to see it as a separate section, just like the vendor recommendations, except with an area to put in a general subject of the recommendation, and maybe a checkbox to indicate if it's a book, or a website, or a video or whatever.

I agree with Woofie that a separate section would be most useful.

Consider: Someone looking for a recommendation for a good shovel doesn't want to have to work through every forum to find an answer. But a good shovel could fit in with annuals, perennials, shrubs, bulbs, veggies, etc. A separate section would be preferable I think. That could be subdivided by subjects such as books, tools, etc, but probably not necessary.

Karen

So often there are just a few posts in the "watched forums" I get all caught up . I thought the Recommendations would be good to explore new ideas and not be so limited in subject matter as one forum might be. True, it would not be a forum of interest to everyone, it would be the type of forum you would occasionally check in on.

>>>>I thought the Recommendations would be good to explore new ideas and not be so limited in subject matter as one forum might be.

That would be a good reason. It just wouldn't be for me.

dave said:That's an interesting idea. I like the idea of a collection of informative links along with recommendations for tools and what not. I'll give this some thought!

Maybe it could go into the Goodies section?!

Great idea, Marilyn.

dirtdoctor.com
chiotsrun.com
awaytogarden.com

Books:

Any book by Elliot Coleman, for more northern gardeners. He writes a lot about growing in all four seasons.

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible.

Northern Gardener Magazine, written by the MN Horticultural Society.

Creative Vegetable Gardening

Oriental Vegetables: The Complete Guide for the Gardening Cook
by Joy Larkcom


The Complete Book of Garden Magic
January 1, 1956
by Roy Edwin Biles

Ha! If we're throwing recommendations into this thread, one of my favorite cookbooks is "Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans, and Other Good Things," subtitled "A cookbook for when your garden explodes."