If you allow yourself to miss even one deadline, it’ s easy to allow yourself to miss one more. Before you know it, you’ re posting sporadically, then not at all.
If you allow yourself to miss even one deadline, it’ s easy to allow yourself to miss one more. Before you know it, you’ re posting sporadically, then not at all.
KEEP YOUR POSTS SHORT
When you’ re writing for print, there is a certain amount of space available on the page. Your job as a writer is to fill that space. With a blog, there is no such requirement. A blog post can be as long or as short as you want it to be.
Lean toward short. People reading on a computer, tablet or phone want to quickly get the information. How short can a blog post be? It can be as short as a picture with a caption. For example, in one of my posts, I showed a heart-shaped trellis created by using two arched trellises and setting them at an angle. I also included a sentence linking back to other posts with tips from the same gardener. The entire post was only 102 words long. Without the extra sentence, it could have been even shorter and still been long enough for my readers. There is definitely a place for long posts, but don’ t be afraid of writing short.
HAVE TIMELESS POSTS ON HAND
Stuff happens. Maybe you were planning to write a long feature for your next issue, but something came up and you can’ t finish that post by deadline.
You can publish anyway if you have a draft post on hand, ready to go on a moment’ s notice. It should be a post that works year-round, such as the tip on the heart-shaped trellis. Make sure you do the basics to have a successful blog. Keep publishing!
In 2016, Connie Oswald Stofko received the Silver Award for E-Newsletter Overall from GWA and the Business of the Year Award from PLANT WNY, Western New York’ s association for green businesses. She worked as a reporter for a weekly newspaper, as a writer and editor at the University at Buffalo and as a freelancer.
HOTOFF the press
Jan Coppola Bills Late Bloomer: How to Garden with Comfort, Ease and Simplicity in the Second Half of Life St. Lynn’ s Press • 160 pages, $ 18.95 Pub. November 17, 2016
There are times in gardeners’ lives when what they want to do and what they can do are at odds. Their knees and backs may be complaining and their energy isn’ t what it was— yet the desire to get their hands in the dirt is as strong as ever. What to do? Learn how to successfully rethink the approach to gardening as we age. Jan Coppola Bills, a second-half-of-life gardener, says that it’ s all about maintaining a joyful, healthful connection with the soil— but without the toil. Late Bloomer is part garden philosophy and part on-theground strategies and tips from the author and expert gardeners across the U. S. With color photos on almost every page, this inviting and practical book is organized around the four tenets of the Late Bloomer philosophy: Simplicity. Beauty and Harmony. Comfort and Ease. Relaxation and Letting Go.
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Cheryl Corson Sustainable Landscape Maintenance for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council 85 pages, free • Pub. October 2016
With generous funding from the District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment, this free PDF download addresses green infrastructure maintenance best practices. It also details what contractors need to know when approaching any designed landscape for the first time— whether new or historic. This book offers practical advice to contractors, and is part of the curriculum of the new Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional voluntary certification program.
Jill Jonnes Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape Viking • 416 pages, $ 30 Pub. September 27, 2016
Four out of five Americans live in or near cities, surrounded by millions of trees that make up urban forests containing hundreds of species. Despite the ubiquity and familiarity of those trees, most of us take them for granted and know little of their specific natural history or civic virtues. Jonnes’ survey ranges from early sponsors for the Urban Tree Movement, the fascinating stories of particular species, such as Washington, D. C.’ s famed cherry trees as well as the American chestnut and elm( and the diseases that almost destroyed them) to the institution of Arbor Day and the most recent generation of tree evangelists who are identifying the best species to populate our cities’ leafy canopies.
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Judy Nauseef Gardening with Native Plants in the Upper Midwest: Bringing the Tallgrass Prairie Home University of Iowa Press 132 pages, $ 24.95 • Pub. April 15, 2016
Landscape designer Judy Nauseef shows gardeners in the Upper Midwest how to restore habitat and diversity to their piece of the planet by making native plants part of well-designed, thoughtfully planned gardens. In contrast to most books about gardening with native plants, Nauseef provides specific regional information. Nauseef emphasizes the need for careful planning and design to create comfortable, low-maintenance spaces that bring homeowners outside. Her designs solve problems, such as a lack of privacy, shade, or sun; plan for water use; replace troublesome nonnative plants with native plants that attract pollinators and enable homeowners to enjoy living sustainably on their land.
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