Still blogging decades later: 9 longtime garden bloggers explain why

To mark the 19th anniversary of my blog Digging, I ask 9 longtime garden bloggers why they’re still blogging in a TikTok era.… Read More

The post Still blogging decades later: 9 longtime garden bloggers explain why appeared first on Digging.

Heading into my 20th year of blogging, I’m still here. Hello, y’all! February 14th marked Digging’s 19th blogiversary. I’ve outlasted many of my early garden blogging peers, although most of them are still gardening, of course, and posting on apps like Instagram. But long-form sharing no longer calls to them like it still does to me.

Why do I still blog? It’s sure not for money. (I wish!) For better or worse, monetization of the blog is not something I ever pursued, disliking the idea of cluttering my site with ads or putting my content behind a paywall. Perhaps I should have figured something out though. Hosting and subscription costs to keep my blog running add up. Then there’s the opportunity cost of time spent photographing, writing, and editing — sometimes up to 20 hours per week — to create blog posts, time that could be (should have been?) directed toward paying work.

So why have I kept at it for 19 years and counting? Maybe it’s my obsessive nature — obsessive about documenting this endlessly interesting and beautiful world of ours. While using a camera may prevent you from living in the moment, it also allows for lingering over a moment long after it’s vanished. I love composing a scene with my camera, making art from the living art of the garden, and then poring over it later, long after I’ve come home. Processing — examining photos, editing the best ones, and reflecting on the place or moment they depict — is deeply satisfying. I’m grateful to blogging for this creative outlet, and as a vehicle for sharing with others who appreciate such things.

The blog also serves as my memory. At least once a week, I’ll hunt down an old blog post to recall a detail about a garden I’ve visited, a park I’ve explored, a plant I’ve grown, someone I met, and so on. The blog is also a portal to real-life connection, a way to step out of the isolation of contemporary life and connect with fellow gardeners, nature lovers, plant obsessives, and garden writers who don’t mind being alone but enjoy finding community. Some have become treasured friends.

Blogging has opened unexpected professional doors. After an early stint in print publishing, I embraced stay-at-home motherhood throughout my 30s, a home-focused period of my life when I started gardening. By the time the kids were in school, I’d built a blog following that allowed me to pivot to operating my own garden design business. It also gave me an entry point into writing for gardening magazines and websites, which led to writing three books, speaking engagements, and a public role as “garden expert” that I never would have imagined as a baby gardener or newbie blogger.

I often joke to family and friends about needing to feed the blog. But all along it’s been feeding me.

Veteran bloggers tell me why they still blog

As I embark on my 20th year of blogging, I thought it would be fun and perhaps enlightening to chat with a few other longtime garden bloggers who still regularly post new content, sitting behind a keyboard when they could be out in the garden. I asked them how their blog was born, what drives them to keep cranking out blog posts 15 or 20 years later, how the blogosphere has changed, and how blogging has enriched their lives. I recognize my own motivations and rewards in many of their answers. Here’s a sampling:

“There have…been doldrums, where it feels like I’m just going through the motions. But I kid you not, that’s when I’ll get an email from a reader, typically someone who’s never commented, and they’ll share a story about how my passion inspired them in some way. It’s not always that specific scenario, but something like that will happen, and it gives what I’m doing meaning once again.” – Loree Bohl, danger garden

“It’s magical to think that bloggers send out their posts like scattering seeds of inspiration and information that germinate when the ground is receptive…” – Denise Maher, A Growing Obsession

“My blog is a cohesive chronicle that tells the story of my garden and the places I’ve visited.” – Gerhard Bock, Succulents and More

“Blogging has created lasting connections with other bloggers.” – Lee Miller, A Guide to Northeastern Gardening

And for a chuckle:

“I assume I would be that crazy gardening lady in the neighborhood even without my blog.” – Carol Michel, May Dreams Gardens

If you’ve read this far, dear reader, you obviously appreciate a longer-form discourse in this era of the eye flick, of swiping and scrolling. So thank you for being here as we keep the blogging lights on. In a metropolis of dizzying, flashing neon, a blog offers a small, steady glow in a homely window. Come on in.

Carol Michel – May Dreams Gardens, 21 years blogging

Indianapolis, Indiana

Pam: How long have you been blogging?

Carol: I started in 2004, so I’ve been officially blogging for 20 years plus!

P: What inspired you to blog about gardening?

C: I always wanted to write articles about gardening but didn’t know how to go about finding editors, etc. So when I heard about “web logs” from someone at work, I decided to try it to scratch my writing itch without giving up my day job. 

P: How often do you post and why?

C: I always post on the 15th of the month for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, which I started in 2007. I post other times whenever I feel like I have something worth writing about, so there is no set schedule. And if I don’t know what to write, I let the garden fairies take over and write for me. I think some readers like “their” posts better than mine!

P: What has kept you motivated? Have there been doldrums, and if so, what got you through them?

C: The comments I got from others. Before social media, we all probably got more comments than we do today. I’m still happy when people comment or see me out and about and tell me they love my blog. As for doldrums? Hmmm, that’s when garden fairies take over!

P: How has the blogging landscape changed since you began? 

C: The major change has been social media. It’s easier for people to scroll than to stop and read an article.  

P: So many blogs have been abandoned since the rise of Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Why have you kept going?

C: I’ve kept going because I still love writing about gardening. Plus, I turned many of my blog posts into my books, which contain adapted blog posts plus new material. I also like that I can throw a blog post out there that&