Let me be as honest and frank as I possibly can be - I am not a horticulturalist. I haven't studied to be a Master Gardener. I haven't written a gardening book, yet! I haven't starred in my own gardening TV show and I most probably won't.

But, what I lack in qualifications I hopefully make up for in passion. I love gardening! And like most people who potter around their "neck-of-the-woods" I garden because it gives me pleasure, a sense of satisfaction and a retreat from this insanely busy world.

My journey in garden blogging started in September 2005 after I realised that blogging was more than just political activists and bored housewifes sharing their frustrations with a mute world. I wanted to share my gardening journey and share some of the knowledge that I have picked up along the way.

So I started Amateur Gardening, a free blogger.com blog. The lack of control from this publishing platform drove me to despair so I began the next phase of my journey with a domain called www.gardeningtipsnideas.com. This was a very successful little enterprise until the Wiley Group, publishers and holders of the "FOR DUMMIES" trademark asked me to stop using this name as a title for my blog.

The timing was good and so I have now started the third part of this journey with this new blog Gardening Tips'n' Ideas.

As I've already explained, I'm no expert, merely a gardening sojourner uncovering what I've found to work. Feel free to add my link to your news aggregator or check back from time to time. I love to hear other's views even if they're different to my own and I'm happy to be corrected if I've stated something incorrectly. So, don't just read and leave, become part of the blogging community and share your knowledge too.

Would you like to subscribe to this blog?

Subscribing to Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas is much like subscribing to your favourite magazine. The only differences are that it doesn't cost you any money and it's instant.

If you've never subscribed to a blog before here's how you can get started.

OPTION 1

If you want receive email updates every time this blog has a fresh post then type a valid email address into the form field and click SUBSCRIBE. This is the easiest way. Once a day, an email will be sent to your address with the current postings.

OPTION 2

The other option is to subscribe to this blog's RSS feed. By clicking on the "Subscribe to this feed" button you will be taken to Feedburner's syndicated feed of this blog.

RSS feeds are usually read via an aggregator which can be a stand-alone web page, inbuilt into your current web browser or even added to your email program.

If you don't already have an aggregator set up then choose one (they're usually free to join) and the feed will automatically be subscribed to. Then you can visit your aggregator as often as you like to view posts from this blog as well as subscribe to other blogs you enjoy.