Joe Lamp’l
Free is good, right? Especially when it’s available from one of the nation’s foremost garden gurus – Joe Lamp’l, the Joe behind joegardener.com and the creator of the joegardener Online Gardening Academy.
And it’s even better that Joe lives in North Georgia so, while he has followers across north America, you can see his expertise in action at The GardenFarm, his working garden and the location of many videos and podcasts.
Joe’s got the credentials: For three years, he hosted “Fresh From the Garden” on the DIY Network. For a dozen seasons, he hosted an Emmy Award-winning national series on public television – “Growing a Greener World – with all 500-plus episodes now available on his YouTube Channel joegardenerTV. Read his bio at joegardener.com, watch the videos and podcasts and reap the benefits of his depth of knowledge and his extensive contacts with national and regional gardening experts.
Joe also offers his in-depth Online Gardening Academy with self-contained multi-chapter modules, getting into the “why-do” behind the “how-to.” Titles include Beginning Gardening Fundamentals, Master Seed Starting, Growing Epic Tomatoes, The Perfect Soil Recipe Master Class and Managing Pests, Diseases & Weeds. One of the most popular is Organic Vegetable Gardening.
Throughout the year he offers previews of the topics and a chance to join the Growing a Greener World community of gardeners. Once you join, you’re in for life, with access to the classes you’re enrolled in, live office hours related to each topic and connections with the online community of gardeners across North America.
I could go on and on, but Joe is my go-to for all things gardening; I often access the Online Gardening Academy courses I’ve purchased, but I spend time on growingagreenerworld.com and joegardener.com to find a practical solution to a challenge in my own garden, to learn or relearn about the magic of soil or how to grow bumper crops of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables.
Joe has written three books. The latest, “The Vegetable Gardening Book,” is my go-to. I also own “Over the Fence” and “The Green Gardener’s Guide.” They’re available on Amazon.
The free stuff
A visit to either website will net gardeners more information than you can ever absorb, and best of all much of it is free.
Free Resource Guides: 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever; The Best of Must-haves; and The Complete Guide to Home Composting. Each is nearly 50 pages. I’ve downloaded mine and have them in my gardening notebooks, but you can bookmark them as well.
A full library of searchable video episodes about everything from seed starting to managing insects organically, from how to grow blueberries to gardening for wildlife that you can watch at your leisure.
One of joegardeners’ biggest free resources is access to the nearly 450 podcast episodes covering every garden topic you can imagine. They are available on every major podcast app provider by searching for “the joe gardener show.”
Gardening resources links to ideal tools for particular tasks; information about birding, weed ID invasive species and how to locate a Master Gardener class near you.
Now’s the time to set your path toward a productive, plentiful and fun year of gardening. No matter if you’re a seasoned gardener or a newbie, joegardener.com has the goods!
Photo: by Pamela A. Keene
