Now’s the time to start planning for ways to conserve water in your garden.

The little green sprouts in my front yard are whispering to me that spring is on its way. So I’ve started thinking about how I’m going to be more water-wise while gardening this year.

One of the most sobering facts I learned during my master gardener training is that there will always be a drought somewhere in Colorado.

In 2002 that hard fact struck home as gardeners coped with one of the most severe droughts on record.

The outdoor watering restrictions implemented that summer made me consider every drop of water I used on the lawn in the flowerbeds and vegetable garden, too.

Many of my favorite landscape plants didn’t make it through that summer. Others simply disappeared over the equally dry winter.

But those plants that remained, like Rocky Mountain penstemon, were the hardiest of the hardy. And I plant more like them every year.

Are you a new gardener–or know someone who is? Here’s your chance to win a copy of the new book called “Beginner’s Illustrated Guide to Gardening” by Katie Elzer-Peters.

Have you ever wanted to learn how to read a fertilizer label, fix a problem in the lawn, plant a perennial or prune a tree? Are you new to the wonderful world of gardening and have lots of questions?

Then you need this new gardening guide.

“Beginner’s Illustrated Guide to Gardening: Techniques to Help You Get Started” offers how-to tips for dozens of gardening tasks. This is a great book for anyone who is just starting out and has questions about what to do in the landscape and how to to do.

Katie Elzer-Peters wrote this book to help any gardener who has gardening questions, especially first-time homeowners.

Cool Springs Press sent me an extra copy of Katie’s book to give away to someone who could use a comprehensive gardening guide.

Three years ago today I pressed “publish” on WesternGardeners.com for the first time. Since then I’ve written 386 blog posts, published hundreds of gardening images, and connected with thousands of gardeners. I’ve answered dozens of questions about insects, flowers and how to deal with the challenges of gardening in the West.

I’ve recommended gardening books to read, gardens to visit, and vegetables to grow (and recipes for using them in the kitchen). This blog inspired me to start a local campaign to Plant a Row for the Hungry and celebrate vegetable gardening with the Weird Veggie and Funny Fruit contest.

Let’s celebrate the beginning of my blog’s fourth year! Each week for the next month I’ll be giving away something to help gardeners get their 2012 gardening season growing.

Please stop by next week to find out how to win a copy of Katie Elzer-Peters new gardening book called “Beginner’s Illustrated Guide to Gardening: Techniques to Help You Get Started.”

Even though I was a panelist at a recent summit on food justice, I’m still shocked by the statistics on hunger in this country. Thirty-three million Americans, including 13 million children, live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger.

It breaks my heart to know so many people, especially children, go hungry every day.

That’s why I’m redoubling my efforts to get gardeners involved in our local growing-and-giving program called Plant a Row for the Hungry.

Plant a Row (PAR) follows the long tradition of gardeners sharing their bounty with others. Even if you’ve never grown a green before, now’s the time to start.

Vegetable Gardeners Unite!

Plant a Row is a national program of the Garden Writers Association that began in 1995. Since then, gardeners across the country have donated more than 16 million pounds of produce to local food service agencies.

Another of my “Best Of” selections at the 2012 ProGreen tradeshow is a new idea for container gardening called Smart Pots.

If you’ve followed my blog, you know that every year I have a big container garden of vegetables. I’ve grown all kinds of vegetables and herbs and I’ve grown them in all kinds of containers.

But this year I get to try something new: a Smart Pot aeration container I picked up at ProGreen.

The Smart Pot is a foldable fabric container that’s said to be better than plastic containers because it releases heat from the pot, aerates the root zone and stops roots from circling inside the container. That’s because the container air prunes the plant’s root structure.

There are 4 different container sizes from 7 to 20 gallons. Gardeners can grow garlic, leeks, greens, herbs, beans and small annuals in the 7-gallon size; a 20-gallon Smart Pot is made to grow tomatoes, melons, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and winter squash.

ProGreen is the annual regional green industry expo that includes more than 100 seminars, 650 tradeshow booths and plenty of networking.

Every year I get to participate in the ProGreen Expo as a master gardener volunteer. After my volunteer duties end, the fun begins.

Not only do I get to attend an entire day of classes, but I also get to tromp around the tradeshow to see all the new gardening products, gadgets and new plants nurseries and garden centers will have for gardeners this year.

Here are some of the highlights of the tradeshow. Next week I’ll feature my top 3 new products for gardening.

ProGreen judges selected Bella Bluegrass as the best new product for 2012 and I can understand why. This new bluegrass, from Graff’s Turf Farms, requires 50-80% less mowing than other bluegrass varieties. Mowing less saves money on fuel and means lower emissions. In addition, Bella is drought-tolerant and helps with erosion control.

Even though my vegetable garden is covered with 15 inches of snow today, gardening season is just around the corner.

Gardeners who used plant protectors last gardening season outsmarted the rest of us who didn’t.

There was such a chilly start to last year’s vegetable gardening season, plant protectors helped gardeners in the long run.

If you want to get your garden going faster this year, there’s a new design in plant protection you might like to try that’s especially EZ.

In the past I’ve used plant protectors so I could plant earlier, but I disliked the process of setting up the plastic covers and filling them with water.

It’s downright uncomfortable to be standing in a cold garden with wet feet.

But  Debbie Shauer has invented a new product called EZ-walls Plant Protectors. Last year she sent me a free sample to try in my garden. I have to say it had me at how easy it was to fill with water.

The last Saturday in January is designated as National Seed Swap Day. You can celebrate with these ideas for making seed sowing simpler this season.

Many beginning gardeners fret about starting their garden from seed. I know, because I worried about every seed I planted when I first started gardening, too.

But the basics of planting seed are simple. Gardeners plant seeds in the ground, cover seeds with soil and keep soil moist until seeds germinate.

Seeds want to sprout and grow–and many do without our help.

But for as long as people have been planting seeds, they’ve been trying to make seed sowing easier.

Native Americans rolled their seeds in clay balls to protect them from sun, wind, birds, and other animals. The seed balls weren’t planted, but broadcast on top of the ground so when it rained, the clay would melt and start germination.

Dr. Bob Gough may have departed the gardening world last year, but he left gardeners with more than 17 books on horticulture including The Guide to Rocky Mountain Vegetable Growing.

I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. Bob Gough face-to-face, but I got to know him anyway. He was the author of the “Ask Dr. Bob” gardening column on the pages of Zone 4 magazine. One of his last books, written together with his wife Cheryl Moore-Gough, is one of my go-to resources for vegetable gardening in a tough climate.

Soon we’ll all be fretting over chilly days that delay planting, so now’s a good time to pick up a copy of this book and tap into some of Dr. Bob’s vegetable growing wisdom.

The book is a good guide for any gardener, but it was written especially for gardeners who grow in short-season climates like we have in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming,

In keeping in the spirit of The Heirloom Life Gardener book giveaway, here’s a short review of the Baker Creek Seed Company catalog for fans of heirloom gardening.

I had the chance to meet Jere Gettle, founder of Baker Creek Seed Company, at a garden writers trade show in Raleigh several years ago. I was delighted to shake the hand of the guy dedicated to heirloom plants. He’s as genuine and humble as the seeds he sells.

There’s a lot to admire about Baker Creek Seed Company, from the colorful catalog cover art created by Jere’s mom, to the family photos of his wife and daughter, to the fact that all of the seed are non-hybrid, non-GMO, non-treated and non-patented. These are true heirlooms.

Gardeners can find just about any heirloom vegetable or rare seed they want, from amaranth to watermelon, in Baker Creek’s annual catalog. Each selection includes complete descriptions of where the seed came from, a bit of its history, why the variety was selected for the catalog and ideas for using the finished product in the kitchen.