Yep, the tantrum-throwing stage is over. I can stand on my own two feet, say a few recognisable words and even hold a fork properly. I've entered the blogging "toddler-phase".

On this day three years ago I set about to <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">dominate</span> join the online gardening world. My plans were to take over the world, make some quick bucks and flog my blog off to the highest bidder. As you can see, Plan B became far more enticing.

Not long into my blogging experience I began to meet ... people. Apparently there are other human beings connected to computers all over the world. These are REAL, living persons rather than the androids I expected. They took an interest in what I wrote - or they were just being friendly - and it wasn't long before friendships were being forged across the oceans.

They commented on my blog, I would sometimes reciprocate. They would send me emails, I would often lose them in the myriad of junk mail my inbox collected. Yet, these people persisted and this blog has grown.

Now, I'm not going to bore you with stats because I've come to the realisation that quantity is a poor cousin to quality. But, I can assure you that my pageviews are still increasing, comments are growing and new subscribers are joining all the time.

Instead, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you...yes, YOU! Don't look around or behind you, I'm pointing to YOU. Without you, my faithful subscriber/reader/commenter/twitter-follower, this blog wouldn't have passed its first year, let alone three of them. My blog's success is purely because of YOU.

As I have done for my past birthday celebrations, I've honoured those readers who have taken the time to comment by compiling a list of the Top 10. This year, however, I'm going to increase that number to twenty. Thanks for your words of encouragement, challenges, debates and inspiration.
<ol>
 	<li>80 - Nancy Bond <a href="http://nancybond.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Soliloquy</a></li>
 	<li>62 - jodi <a href="http://bloomingwriter.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomingwriter</a></li>
 	<li>41 - Frances <a href="http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fairegarden</a></li>
 	<li>32 - Helen <a href="http://www.patientgardener.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Patient Gardener's Weblog</a></li>
 	<li>31 - Racquel <a href="http://perennialgardener.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Perennial Garden Lover</a></li>
 	<li>30 - Barbee' <a href="http://barbeeslog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbee's Blog</a></li>
 	<li>30 - Crafty Gardener <a href="http://craftygardener.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crafty Gardener</a></li>
 	<li>30 - Linda <a href="http://gardengirl-lintys.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Garden Girl</a></li>
 	<li>27 - LetsPlant <a href="http://ayardinfortpierce.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Yard in Fort Pierce</a></li>
 	<li>27 - VP <a href="http://vegplotting.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Veg Plotting</a></li>
 	<li>27 - Robin <a href="http://robinsnestingplace.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robin's Nesting Place</a></li>
 	<li>26 - Esther Montgomery <a href="http://estherinthegarden.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Esther in the Garden</a></li>
 	<li>26 - Cinj <a href="http://cbmvwag.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cinj's Chat Room</a></li>
 	<li>25 - Pam <a href="http://www.penick.net/digging" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Digging</a></li>
 	<li>25 - Anna FlowerGardenGirl</li>
 	<li>24 - Mr. McGregor's Daughter <a href="http://mcgregorsdaughter.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mr. McGregor's Daughter</a></li>
 	<li>21 - Lin (Southern CA, U.S.)</li>
 	<li>20 - Sylvia (England)</li>
 	<li>17 - Joy GardenJoy4Me</li>
 	<li>17 - Our Friend Ben <a href="http://ourfriendben.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Poor Richard's Alamanac</a></li>
</ol>