if I were going to go to that much work, i would, myself, want to make it into an article for something like Fine Gardening, where it would reach a wider audience.also, over the years of GW participation, I have seen many labor- intensive posts receiving very little response, and that is both disappointing and dissuading. for me, that is.

however, when you, katy, have gone to the huge trouble that you often have, to do ongoing posts- like your new zealand photo 'hortilogue', i am one of the many who have been ecstatic to reap the benefits of your work. it's certainly worthy of magazine/newspaper inclusion.
best,
mindy

kt, I've been thinking about this post off and on today. I really like the idea, I think it's a good one and might work depending on what the topic was and who presented it, and how it was presented. Some topics benefit from, and in fact require, pictures. And would possibly go on for a longer period of time than just a week or a month.

I, and at least two other NE Forum members that I can think of off the top of my head, know a bit about winter sowing. I wouldn't mind putting the effort into teaching how to do that, even though there is a forum devoted to it. Some people don't like to leave the comfort of a forum they've grown accustomed to, and don't want to have to introduce themselves all over again as a newbie to a bunch of new people (although I assure you the folks on the winter sowing forum are very friendly and welcoming). A "course" on winter sowing would cover several months, since it is usually an ongoing process that occupies people from just after Christmas until at least June.

Then there are other topics, such as composting or lasagna beds, that I have experience at, but I am by no means an expert.

Maybe if people posted what they want to learn about, it would help us get some idea of what topics would get the most "action." Personally I'd like to know more about rooting things from cuttings and companion planting (what goes with what), and I'd like to learn more about native plants.

One last note: I would expect "students" to behave themselves. I would be very disappointed if any of the "courses" degenerated into disagreeableness. And I promise I will not be the class clown.

I think I should make it clear right up front that there are very few things in life that I would consider myself as having any amount of expertise in and none of those things come under the classification of horticulture. I will however share with you that I have a remarkable talent for sensing where to find a heavily populated bed of quahogs, can cajole Joe into doing most projects that he would rather avoid around the house, and regardless of the situation I can always make my kids laugh. My lack of expertise in terms of putting together a lecture/presentation is frankly what is motivating me, take for example a problem I have had with my thirty plus high bush blueberries over the last fifteen years, I just simply donÂt understand how to prune them. Yes I have read books (and butchered them), watched videos on youtube (and butchered them), asked friends advice (and butchered them). So for me this is the winter to immerse myself in the language of the blueberry. Sharing my journey to a better understanding of this plant with you all would certainly be helpful to me and perhaps to someone else as well.
dawiff,
Some topics benefit from, and in fact require, pictures. And would possibly go on for a longer period of time than just a week or a month.

I think your right and perhaps we should just let the time frame/frequency evolve based on interest.

I, and at least two other NE Forum members that I can think of off the top of my head, know a bit about winter sowing. I wouldn't mind putting the effort into teaching how to do that, even though there is a forum devoted to it. Some people don't like to leave the comfort of a forum they've grown accustomed to, and don't want to have to introduce themselves all over again as a newbie to a bunch of new people

Sounds Great, for myself winter sowing has always been one of those things I mean to take a look at (IÂve bought the seeds two years in a row) but for one reason or another I have never followed through. Your thread could be just the kick in the pants I would need.

Maybe if people posted what they want to learn about, it would help us get some idea of what topics would get the most "action." Personally I'd like to know more about rooting things from cuttings and companion planting (what goes with what), and I'd like to learn more about native plants.

Topics of Interest
1. rooting things from cuttings and companion planting (what goes with what), and I'd like to learn more about native plants
2. pruning shrubs

I promise I will not be the class clown. I certainly wonÂt make any such promise!!!

I think this is a great idea. Katy did something like this with her Lichens 101 thread and I learned a lot; it provided the motivation to do some research at other sites and even in books.

If someone is going to go to the effort to do a "class" like this, it should probably, eventually, have another home besides GW. A thread here could later be excerpted or adapted to another site, like Katy's Rusty Spade blog. Things have a way of disappearing after they've scrolled off the top page of threads on GW, so putting in the effort should have a pay off ... somewhere. I think that would take care of Mindy's reservation about this, and would also provide a more permanent medium for the information.

Things I'd be especially interested in, besides pruning and natives, are mostly related to design. I can grow plants pretty well, but composing (or editing) a garden is way out of the ball park for me.

Class clown? Oh, no, not on this forum.

DtD, thanks for pointing me at the Rusty Spade blog, I didn't know it existed. I like the idea of maybe moving the class there , or to some other permanent spot, at some point. I don't remember Lichens 101, maybe I was winter sowing at the time, I missed it.

Kt, you're going to be class clown? Should we make you stand in a corner now? Hehe.... I bet you will love winter sowing, BTW.

Another topic I would be interested in is Damaging Insects in the New England Garden. Does any one else have a topic they would be interested in exploring?
Topics of Interest
1. rooting things from cuttings and companion planting (what goes with what), and I'd like to learn more about native plants
2. pruning shrubs
3. design
4. Insect damage in New England

My question is...where do you plan to hold classes on the suggested topics? On this
forum? On the Rusty Spade blog? I have some suggestions re kt's blueberry problems, just don't know where to post.

I think the idea is that they'd be here; I just suggested copying them to a blog as a way to keep them available in the longer term.

I am a good student, but a poor teacher. I keep bumping up against how little I know! I will certainly participate in discussions, as time permits, but couldn't put together a lecture that would interest anyone other than a novice!
Sorry to disappoint,
C

Nandina,
I am soooo relieved you have some suggestions re my blueberries but I am going to ask that you hold on to your thoughts for a short time while we consider the best forum to present and maintain whatever information and discussions about that information. Things are pretty slow here right now so I would like to hold on and wait a bit in the hopes of haranguing others to join in on the fun.
Mayalena,
I certainly understand that you may not have the time to commit to researching and exploring a topic right now but we would like to know what topics would be of interest to you.

If I might barge in and interrupt, currently what are people doing for server space? Back in the dark ages, the local ISP bundled a certain amount of space in with a basic account. While most people seem to have totally ignored this feature, we did make use of it for a variety of things, including a couple of hardy rose articles. Last month, we finally joined the 21st century, and got high speed access. While I haven't cancelled the old account yet, I will, and have no idea what will happen to to our web page then. The photographs can, hopefully, go to some picture hosting site (for some reason, Photobucket hates me) but I don't know where people are currently storing text.

MG - We recently switched from a commercial-grade DSL account that came with lots of server space, which we used for one web site; we were also able to serve several more sites from our home using a little linux computer - an old PC. I've moved all of those sites - some have gone to pro web design-host outfits, one (a band) moved to MySpace, and one (local league of women voters) is being hosted by Network Solutions (that's the main registrar for domain names).

Garden photos, which I used to slip into one of the little non-profit sites that were on our home server, are now on Google's Picasa server (highly recommended for ease of use). I also have a blogspot blog - that's another Google thing - which I completely neglect most of the year. It's easy to insert images stored at Picasa onto blogspot pages. The blog format takes a little getting used to, and it's not perfect for everything, but is a great way to store things like short articles.

Thought I would update. I have been working on a new blog specifically for archiving written information that would not be appropriate for FAQ and you may not want lost in the continuous roll of conversation.
1. So far I have decided that blogger would be a preferred location as when I last looked it was the only one that was set up to have multiple contributors. Of any one knows differently or has a strong opinion re Wordpress ect please let me hear about that sooner than later.
2. Thought the title "Digging Deeper" might work.
3. Any thoughts?