Unlike Hannah, our resident plant expert, I am an utter failure when it comes to gardening. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found an invitation in my flickr inbox to beta test the online gardening community folia. Maybe they could tell from my garden (a term I use loosely) photos that I needed a little help, I don’t know.

As a perpetual novice I am often frustrated by gardening information. I can’t find the plants I read about in magazines or I can’t figure out what the plants I have are called. Discussions about soil pH leave me paranoid. Our less-than-ideal growing conditions mean that most of the generalized advice out there is less than helpful, and I spend money on seeds or starts only to sadly watch my little plantlets shrivel and die. You’d think I would just give up, but no. I still harbor fantasies of eating sauce made from my own home-grown tomatoes, snipping baby lettuces just before dinner, and making beautiful bouquets for birthday celebrations. I just need some help. Folia to the rescue!

Interested folks may have to put yourselves on a waiting list for a bit as folia is still in limited beta, but once you create an account you will join a surprisingly international group of gardeners. Then you can get to work describing your gardens, whether they’re in your windowsill or covering acres of your backyard. One of the cool features of folia is that it is designed to work seamlessly with your flickr account (yup, I’m back on my flickr kick) so you can easily post photos of your vegetal progeny. That helps the rest of the community help you to identify plants, solve any pest or disease problems you might be having, plan your next landscape architecture project, or just revel in your gardening skills. There are groups centered around different types of gardens too, and I’m hoping there are future plans to let the gardeners themselves create groups. Anyone else out there have an 80-day growing season?

Another feature I’d love to see is some kind of planting “alert system” targeted to my growing region. I’m never sure when I should start tomatoes so that they’re ready to move outside in May (or is it June…or July?) I don’t know when I should move plants inside (or which plants are likely to survive such a trick.) The green thumbs out there may be laughing, but I’m not ashamed to admit it; I need all the help I can get.

So, gardening junkies, please check out folia so I can take advantage of your expertise. Fellow wilted-thumbs, please sign up so I have some company. If I ever grow anything good, I promise to share.