Shortly after buying my current house, “in the country”, I was having lunch with my friend Pat Bowen. We talked about the excitement of decorating a new house – and about downsizing, which naturally comes along with children growing up and establishing households of their own – and I remarked to her that, perhaps more than looking forward to home decorating, I was thrilled with the opportunity of establishing a new garden. She said she loves gardening also and had learned a lot since becoming a Master Gardener. “What”, I asked her, “is a Master Gardener?” She explained it to me, along with the process of becoming one. I went home, did a Web search, found out where to apply, applied, was accepted into the program, completed it, passed the tests, served my internship and got my certification – all within two years’ time.

So, quite by accident, I am now a Certified Georgia Master Gardener!

Having been a writer “for ever”, it seemed to me that gardening and writing were two easily combined skills, so I became a gardening columnist, first for the Barrow-Jackson Journal (now defunct) and since late 2006 for the Georgia Asian Times. Great fun, very enjoyable!

Today, it is snowing in North Georgia, and 2008 gardening is still a distant dream. But, in a few weeks the daffodils should begin popping through the soil, buds will start to swell on some shrubs and gardening tools will be inspected and then sharpened or discarded and replaced.

Come back to this spot every so often, and I’ll let you know what happens in my garden. Do share your garden with me and the other readers of this blog also. We can all learn from each other and thus create better, more beautiful gardens.