y

your 12 favorites from our first 6 months!

frogboy2THE FROGBOYS AND I WERE ABOUT TO PREPARE FOR HIBERNATION when we realized it’s our 6-month blog-a-versary. That woke us up! This one’s lining up to be a ribbet-ing celebration, with a guest appearance on ‘Martha’ Wednesday. Urp. To thank those of you who have helped us get this far, and as a best-of tour for newcomers, we offer this: a recap of the 6 most-commented posts so far, and also the 6 that were most-viewed. Our Top 12 (ta-da!):

6 Top-Traffic Posts

pickle-jars
PERFECT PICKLES: An old friend’s heirloom recipe for refrigerator pickles has wooed more customers than any other blog post with its garlicky goodness. And someone thought aloud (in comments) that those were my beloved frogboys in the canning jar! Note to visitors: We do NOT pickle frogs in these here parts.

UNDERPLANTING: The antidote to boring masses of pachysandra or ivy: underplanting in complex mosaics. I showed my method, at the request of various commenters on a previous story. You asked for it, you got it.

the_woods1
TO THE WOODS WITH ME: I published a favorite “doodle” by offbeat English illustrator Andre Jordan, which apparently you loved (and I got to “meet” this idol of mine as a result, thank you all very much).

THE COMPLAINT DEPT: We opened the doors on Memorial Day weekend, and the gripes are still pouring in. Got a “garden no-no” you want to add to the list? (Does dyed mulch or bad staking, or maybe garden gnomes or white-gravel mulch get you all worked up?)

pine-edge2
NO DULL EDGES HERE: Who knew you were all OCD like I am about edging your garden beds? This how-to was another popular post.

PESTO FEST: The kickoff event in our summer-long cross-blog food series with Dinner Tonight was a spicy favorite, featuring my recipe for Garlicky Green Ice Cubes. Yup. And I mean garlicky.

6 Top-Commented Posts

GARDEN NO-NO’S (104 total comments): Both in traffic (#4) and comments (#1), the Complaint Department post from May is our all-time winner. (Guess we A Way to Gardeners are a cranky lot.)

WHY DO YOU GARDEN? (89 comments). A member of our Urgent Garden Forums asked this question early on, and it eventually became our second most-commented post of all. Why do you garden?  Truth be told this topic is probably #1, since this highly commented post was actually Part 2 on the subject, if you count that original Forum dialog.

kousa-update
THE WEEPING-KOUSA DEBATE (79 comments):  Should it stay or go, I asked about a weeping kousa I’d grown from a tiny thing but never really liked. Boy, did you have something(s) to say about that.

YOU SAY TOMATO (71 comments): Tomato Week in our cross-blog food fests with the Dinner Tonight blog yielded a bountiful harvest of comments (even though I only had green tomatoes to write about).

EARLY SIGNS OF FALL (61 comments): When I asked if the first signs of fall a few weeks back were cause for a “Yippee” or an “Uh-Oh,” the jury was quickly in. Find out the verdict.

greentomato1

beetle-soup
HOMICIDAL INSTINCTS (58 comments): In early August, I confessed to drowning numerous Japanese beetles (and you confessed to some mass garden-pest murders yourselves).

Thanks again to all of you, old and new, for being there for me and the frogboys. Here’s to sharing many more seasons to come. Now back to preparing for hibernation over here, just as soon as we mow the lawn and harvest more tomatoes and divide some perennials and move some shrubs and make Batch 5 of red sauce to freeze…And P.S., if you’re looking for me I’m also on Twitter.

  1. margaret says:

    Welcome, Liberty Post Editor. I appreciate your words of encouragement (especially after such a long day!). Hope to see you again very soon.

  2. Great to see you today, Margaret.. If today doesn’t inspire others to blog, I’m not sure what will! There’s so much to learn from everyday people. Happy 6 months.. here’s to years to come!

  3. margaret says:

    Welcome, Kay. I will be here when you come calling. Of course, I may be a little less active if the cold weather sets in, as is threatened (frost!) tomorrow. Ditto for the frogboys.

  4. Hello from Canada! I watched you on Martha today. (twice…took notes the second time) I have just recently began to love gardens and have been photographing them. I look forward to learning from you! Happy 6 Months!

  5. Kay says:

    Hi, Margaret
    Found your blog just a few days ago; it was as if I’d found an old friend from the Martha magazine days. Then, to see you on the show today was icing on the cake! I’ll definitely stay in touch.

  6. Andrea says:

    You looked devine, were absolutely charming and indeed — Martha did save the best for last! An awful lot of new bloggers are in for a huge treat! You go girl… and boys;-)

  7. margaret says:

    Welcome, Jaden. How nice of you to come and say hello. It was quite a day…I am exhausted (big surprise, huh?). See you soon again.

  8. laura says:

    hi margaret,

    as a regular WTG reader, it was so nice to “meet” you on Martha’s show. you are exactly as i expected…informative, yet witty and insightful. great job!
    laura

  9. Nina says:

    I really enjoy the conversations here…Thanks for bringing it to us so beautifully! Would you consider adding rareseeds.com to your resources – they are a wonderful heirloom seed company working to preserve and introduce us to diverse cultures and quality fruit and vegetables over many years. I think it is important to know beyond where our food comes from to the beginning – where do our seeds come from?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.