Segment 1

In this segment, Sheri Ann Richerson, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening answers questions about rhubarb in addition to the following questions:
What is the most bizarre plant you have ever grown?

Segment 2

In this segment, Sheri Ann Richerson, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening answers the following questions:
When do you need to start planning a spring garden?
What is a cold frame?
What are your tips for midwest gardeners?
How did you get interested in gardening?

Segment 3

In this segment, Sheri Ann Richerson, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening answers the following questions:
What are some cool easy indoor plants you recommend?
Where can you buy a chocolate plant? Do you have to start from seeds?
Are those instructions for orchids in the CIG to Year Round Gardening?
How does Plant a Row for the Hungry work?

Segment 4

In this segment, Sheri Ann Richerson, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening answers the following questions:
Any other apartment tips or tips for gardening in small spaces?
What are your favorite herbs to grow to use in your cooking?
Is garlic hard to grow?
How about Oregano?
What should a beginner look for when picking out soil for a garden?
How much should grow lights cost for indoor gardening?

Segment 5

In this segment, Sheri Ann Richerson, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening answers the following questions:
What plants seem difficult or intimidating but really shouldn’t be?
What are good plants to start a garden with?
Which plants keep away or attract critters? Any solutions?
What are good things to look for in fertilizers or plant food? Anything to avoid?
Any plants that shouldn’t be planted near each other?

Segment 6

In this segment, Sheri Ann Richerson, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening answers the following questions:
Are gerbera daisies hard to grow? Any tips?
Does it work to germinate seeds from fruit bought at a store – such as apples, oranges, etc?
What are good plants for gardening with kids?
How many times can you grow something in the same soil? How do you reengergize soil?
Is there anything you shouldn’t add to compost you want to use in your garden?
How can you tell if a plant died of a disease?
What is your favorite plant based dish to make?

Segment 7

In this segment, Sheri Ann Richerson, co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening answers the following questions:
Which plants are good for acidic soil?
How long does it take to grow cilantro?
What are some plants that are edible that people aren’t aware of? Can you eat rose petals?
For the last question Can you show us your favorite section of your garden?

Now, if you have been following my blog for a while you may realize that in 2009 I wrote over 200K. I wrote five books last year which was a big help in acheiving that goal and I won NaNoWriMo 2009 with a word count of over 54k.

I am also participating in NaBloPoMo or National Blog Posting Month. It actually runs 12 months out of the year, so my goal is to put up a blog post every day on some part of The Experimental Homesteader, which now includes this blog as well.

Currently I am involved in a writing contest known as Book-in-a-Week. My goal for January 4 though 11 is to write 100 pages which will complete my work on book #20, the final book in the LifeTips series I am working on, the secret life of a gardener.

Of course there will be other contests throughout the year and hopefully some magazine and book contracts. Keep an eye on this site for updates.

I love hearing from you, so drop me a comment on any of the blog posts. Let me know what you think, what you would like to see or even feel free to ask questions if you feel I have missed anything along the way.

Hope your 2010 is filled with dreams come true!

Sheri

It’s official – Amazon is taking pre-orders on The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Year Round Gardening. Order your copy today so they are not sold out by the time the book is released in February 2010.

This book is so cool because it tells you, no matter what hardiness zone you are in, how to garden year round. It doesn’t matter if you have a heated or unheated greenhouse, garden indoors, use frost covers or cold frames, you can defy nature and grow many varieties of fresh produce year round.

Here in Indiana we have been successful with a variety of produce – lettuce, peas, radish, turnip, carrots, to name a few. This year, using season extending ideas like you will find in this book, I planted tomato plants on April 1.

Don’t miss your chance to own this fantastic book. Even seasoned gardeners are sure to learn something – and don’t let the name fool you, The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Year Round Gardening should be on every gardeners’ bookshelf!

This just in – Magical Gardens is now live on Amazon.com

Don’t miss your chance to get a copy of this Amazon Short for just forty-nine cents! If you do read it and you review it, please let me know what you think!

Sheri

Here are some reader reviews:

Hi Sheri!

I love your Magical Gardens Amazon Short. The concept of creating a garden incorporating your beliefs … how beautiful and inspiring! Soooo much detailed information in there … you really know your stuff. You give specifics on what to choose for various purposes and I love that because I would be lost trying to do this on my own.

The one thing I sooo missed was a photo of the beautiful plants and flowers … or better yet, of an example of one of these magical gardens.

Amazing work, great great job! I’m so glad I discovered this!

Much love,
Colleen

http://www.annarosejewelry.com :: inspiration bracelets

No green thumb … Will my son-in-law create my magic garden?, December 17, 2008
By Betty L. Dravis

Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t have a very green thumb. Heck, my thumb has been known to kill so many plants, it’s actually yellow… a little yellow coward that runs at the first mention of gardening.

But there’s nothing I enjoy more than a lovely garden ablaze with brilliant blossoms in every shade of the rainbow aesthetically placed among rows of greenery so lush I feel like I’m in a tropical paradise.

I bought this Amazon Short in hopes I could lure my son-in-law into creating a fabulous garden in my back yard. His thumb is so green, I often fear he might one day become green all over, like the “Incredible Hulk.” … lol … But all kidding aside, he’s a master at creating magnificent garden settings. You should see their backyard; the pool area is to die for! Whenever I visit them, I feel like I’m swimming in a natural pool amongst the lush foliage of Kauai, Hawaii’s Garden Island.

I applaud Sheri Ann Richerson, the author of Magical Gardens, for her awesome gardening skills and for her contribution to “greening” the world. She not only has over twenty years of newspaper, magazine and creative writing credits, she’s a well-known speaker, a garden coach and writes on a regular basis for “Garden Solutions Magazine.” She has too many credits to mention, but she’s a Purdue University Silver Level Master Gardener and a Horticulture Gardening Institute Instructor and is a Global Warming Ambassador for the National Wildlife Federation … just to name a few.

In addition, her farm, Exotic Gardening Farms, is a certified wildlife habitat.

Richerson is known for her magical garden themes: Moon Garden, Fairy Garden, Tarot Garden, God or Goddess Garden, Zodiak Garden … and the list goes on. She encourages people to use their imagination to come up with their own themes.

In this short story she details all that’s required to create those gardens and more. Don’t they sound captivating? They certainly enchanted me, but since I know my limitations, I’m hoping this article inspires my son-in-law to create something special for dear old “Mom” … come springtime, of course. I’ll let him get through the Holiday Season without hitting him with my latest project. Am I generous or what?

I highly recommend this article to anyone who’s interested in gardening. Richerson is also the author of a poetry book, Perspective Visions: Enigmatic Masterpieces, which in the author’s own words is “a unique work of art showing the darker side of life and love.” I haven’t read it yet, but it sounds intriguing.

END-NOTE: The five stars are for the author’s gardening credits, skills and the helpfulness of this short article; her punctuation would not pass the “green” test.)

Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, December 2008

• 2007 Our Food Heritage, Past, Present, Future Baking Bread Together, Helps to Keep the Family Together, contributed some recipes, multi-contributor cookbook. (Simsbury, CT: Family Cookbook Project, LLC, 2007)

• 2006 The Herbarist, contributed one chapter on housekeeping with herbs. Look for copies through The Herb Society Of America. Here is a link http://www.herbsociety.org/herbaristtoc06.php

• 2006 Herbal Almanac, contributed one chapter on chocolate and one on herbal hydroponics. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2006)

• 2006 Magical Almanac, contributed one chapter on wishing herbs and one on wedding superstitions. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2006)

• 2005 All Things Chocolate, multi-contributor cookbook. (Marion, IN: Lead, Inc., 2005)

• 2005 Herbal Almanac, contributed one chapter on fire in the garden. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2005)

• 2005 Magical Almanac, contributed two chapters, one on fire legends and fire magic, and another on healing water. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2005)

• 2004 Magical Almanac, contributed one chapter on the ghosts of Key West. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2004)

• 2003 Witches Spell-A-Day Almanac, contributed twenty-five herbal spells. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2003)
.
• 2003 Herbal Almanac, contributed one chapter on an herbal meal for the one you love. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2003)

• 2003 Magical Almanac, contributed two chapters, one on the monkey man of India, and another on the magic of urban legends. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2003)

• 2002 Moon Sign Book, contributed one chapter on medicinal astrology. (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., 2002)

Compelling poetry sure to draw one into another world, Perspective Visions: Enigmatic Masterpieces, is a unique work of art showing the darker side of life and love.

The works in this book were written over the course of many years. The first poem was written when the author, Sheri Ann Richerson, was just ten years old.

As time progressed, the poetry took on a darker, almost haunting perspective.

Perspective Visions: Enigmatic Masterpieces is sure to conjure up mysterious images and undeniable, hidden feelings of lust, love and the darker side of life.

Reader reviews:

101 English Garden Tips

101 English Garden Tips is a fun, fine book, liberally packed with a wealth of wise, useful garden know-how. Sheri Ann Richerson is an experienced, super passionate gardener, and here she shares with her readers both her enthusiasm and her considerable understanding of gardening. A handy, useful, interesting and delightful book; would make an excellent gift for any gardener.

Thomas Leo Ogren, author of Allergy-Free Gardening, Safe Sex in the Garden, from Ten Speed Press, and Random House.

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101 English Garden Techniques is chock full of essential information, broken down into logical, manageable chunks. Whether you’re passion is for roses or rock gardens, you’ll find instructions here on how to get started. Sheri includes both practical information, like how to make your own pest control products, and more whimsical suggestions: enjoying edible flowers. This book is perfect for anyone who wants to start their own English style garden.

Ellen Zachos, author of Down & Dirty: 43 Fun & Funky First-Time Projects & Activities to Get You Gardening (Storey Publishing)

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“The title of Sheri Ann Richerson’s book is deceptive. It’s packed with plenty of tips on every aspect of gardening, from chocolate gardens to how to protect roses from winter kill.”

–Doreen G. Howard,
award-winning journalist and former garden editor for Woman’s Day
http://www.desperategardens.net
Order your copy today!

Stay tuned for further developments.

Sheri