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.

Congratulations to Cherrie LiFonti for winning The Heirloom Life Gardener in last week’s special book giveaway*.

I thought asking gardeners what gardening means to them was as a good way to share my review copy of a new gardening book. It turns out the giveaway resulted in much more.

I learned just how much gardening really means to gardeners, whether they’re new to it or have been gardening for years.

Many gardeners mentioned how gardening is all about connections to family (past and present), nature, and plants. Other gardeners explained how gardening means learning and discovering.

Some gardeners said how happy gardening makes them to produce healthy food for their families and to help reduce the grocery bill. Gardening is peaceful, relaxing and it feeds the body, spirit and mind. There were comments about gardening making happy childhood memories. That gardening is free therapy.

I couldn’t put down my copy of The Heirloom Life Gardener, the fascinating story of how Jere Gettle started the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. You can win a copy of the book that boldly states, “Anyone can start a garden.”

To enter the book giveaway, post a comment here on what gardening means to you before Friday, January 13, at 5:00 p.m. Mountain time. The winner will be selected at random from all comments and notified January 16. This giveaway is open to gardeners in the U.S. and Canada.

The new book called The Heirloom Life Gardener is all about gardening with heirloom vegetables. But there’s much more to it than that. I think this book is also a love story.

Jere Gettle started working in his family’s garden when he was only 3 years old and almost immediately he knew he wanted to become a seedsman one day. He started Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in 1998 in the bedroom of his family’s home when he was only 17. That first seed catalog has grown to one that includes 1400 varieties from 70 different countries.

Happy New Gardening Year to You!

One of my favorite gifts from the holiday season is this happy solar-powered sunflower. When light shines on its adorable solar cell, the flower sways from side to side and the leaves bounce up and down. This little plant doesn’t need any batteries, water or special care.

If only all gardening could be so easy!

You may have noticed I took a December break from the computer. I kept up with my VegetableGardener.com blog for the Fine Gardening magazine network, but I used the rest of that time to recharge my own solar-cell.

Stepping away from the keyboard was refreshing. I spent time brainstorming new ideas for articles, planning new gardening projects and thinking of ways to make WesternGardeners.com a better resource for gardeners.

I hope you’ll stick around to see what’s in store.

Thanks to a packet of free organic tomato seeds from Lake Valley Seed Company, I was able to grow some wonderful orange tomatoes in my vegetable garden this year. The tomatoes were beautiful to behold on the vine and equally lovely in salads, sandwiches and salsas.

You can read all about how the heirloom tomato Amana Orange got its name in a blog I wrote for VegetableGardener.com called “Orange You Glad I Asked?”

Camilla (left) and Cocoa, two ambassador bats from the Organization for Bat Conservation, had fun hanging around during a Live Bats! program at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science last October.

If you’re looking for a special way to celebrate Halloween this year, I have the perfect idea. Adopt a vampire bat.

As most gardeners know, bats play a vital role in our environment and our agricultural economy. They disperse seeds, pollinate crops, and feast on insects. Our world as gardeners—and consumers—wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have bats.

And bats need our help now more than ever. It’s not just the loss of habitat and over-use of pesticides, but bats are facing a more terrifying prospect called White-nose Syndrome.

This cold-loving fungus is responsible for killing millions of bats over the last four years and millions more could die because of it. Scientists and researchers are working to find a way to stop it, but no solution has been found.

I’m taking my “Edible Spaces in Small Places” presentation to The National Heirloom Exposition in beautiful Sonoma County, Calif.

The National Heirloom Exposition is shaping up to be the World’s Fair of the heirloom and local food movements.

I’m delighted to be one of 70 speakers at the world’s largest heritage food event.

I’ll be sharing my experience growing small-space vegetable gardens and giving tips for how to grow a beautiful and productive container garden like the one in my backyard.

The Heirloom Expo is a celebration of heirloom gardening and farming done the old-fashioned way. There will be heirloom vegetables, traditional foods, rare plants and poultry, music, movies, food tastings, demonstrations, an heirloom seed exchange, and a trade show with more than 200 vendors.

I’m excited to be part of an event that includes a diverse group of keynote speakers, including Jeffrey Smith, an expert on genetically modified foods and their impacts, Alice Waters, well-known chef and author, and Dr. Vandana Shiva, a leading proponent of the pure food movement.

Spending 15 minutes in your garden counting bees is a pleasant way to pass the time while helping with bee conservation efforts.

I’ve been counting the bees that land on the ‘Lemon Queen’ sunflowers in my garden and I’m delighted at the results.

During my latest 15-minute observation, I counted 12 honeybees landing on one large flower–almost one bee every minute.  Many others buzzed around me as I sat quietly counting.

If you haven’t counted your bees yet, there’s still time this summer. Just set aside a little time during the day when the bees are active and pull up a tree stump.

All you need is a watch, paper and pencil. Once you’re done counting, be sure to report your results on www.GreatSunflower.org.

While you’re counting, think about the thousands of other gardeners across the country who are involved in this citizen science project to help bees.

The data that’s gathered every year helps researchers with their bee conservation efforts.

I’d always wanted to drive a tractor and my wish came true on my Green Giant Valley Visit.

I didn’t know what to expect on my all-expense-paid Valley Visit to La Sueur, Minn., to tour the Green Giant research facility and cornfields, but I didn’t expect to discover how much the fields and my garden have in common.

They had me at sustainable agriculture practices.

Here’s a list of seven growing methods that Green Giant and I have in common:

1. Green Giant doesn’t use any GMO seed in its growing.
2. The company uses Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices to control insect pests and plant diseases.
3. Farms that grow for Green Giant are helped to convert to drip irrigation to save water.
4. The company is never satisfied with the growing efforts and works to improve yields every year.
5. Green Giant is as concerned about protecting pollinators as I am. A two-acre pollinator habitat is being planted for the University of Minnesota to research ways to help native bee populations.

Bee part of the first-ever online town hall event dedicated to celebrating the  most underappreciated helpers in our gardens: bees.

The 2011 Bee-a-thon, hosted by Your Garden Show, is the kick-off to today’s Great Bee Count.

Stop by the Bee-a-thon between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Pacific time for the first-ever online webcast discussing how to protect our most valuable pollinators.

Throughout the day experts will discuss bee biology, changes in global bee populations, and what you can do to help. You can listen in throughout the day and ask questions in real time.

All of this buzz is in support of The Great Sunflower Project, a citizen science campaign that encourages gardeners to plant sunflowers, count the number of bees visiting them, and report the data online.

I’ve written about The Great Sunflower  Project many times over the last several years and was one of about 50,000 gardeners actively participating last year. My sunflowers are slow to bloom this year, but as soon as they do I’ll bee starting my observations.