August Home-Garden

National Gardening Association Gardening Mailing Lists

Use your computer to compare notes about plants and gardens with gardeners around the world.
By Carol Wallace

My garden thrives on the kindness and wisdom of people who are not quite strangers, although I might pass them on the street and never recognize them. You see, much of my gardening expertise and many a hard-to-find plant has come from people on the Internet's garden-related mailing lists.

The automated mailing discussion lists, known as maillists in Internet jargon, allow anyone with a modem and an E-mail address to send a message to just one main address, where the message is copied and sent to all readers who subscribe to the mailing list. When you subscribe, you enjoy the benefits of sending one message that's distributed to many recipients. You also receive messages, sometimes hundreds each day. When you reply to a message, your reply is sent to the original sender and everyone else on the subscriber list.

It's important to make the distinction between mailing lists and the World Wide Web. To participate in the lists, you need only the capacity to use E-mail. On the other hand, to access the graphics on the Web, you need a "browser" program such as Netscape. (Note: Web browsers also include E-mail programs.) A mailing list address usually begins with the word "listserv" or another name, and then the "@" symbol. Web addresses always begin with "http://."

Fortunately, most of the Internet's 70,000 maillists are subject-related. You can find separate maillists for peppers, daffodils, and irrigation, and if you subscribe, the E-mail you receive will relate to the subject of the list (as in off-line life, folks sometimes digress). The E-mail discussions generated through these lists essentially create communities of interest similar to those provided by on-line services.

If you subscribe to a list, you don't get the instantaneous response of chat groups, but with maillists, you don't have to be present to participate. You compose and send messages when you have time, and respond if and when you wish. The best part? It's usually free.

Gardeners can choose from hundreds of gardening-related mailing lists. Some lists have 12 subscribers, some 2,000 or more. If you're a gardener who has questions to ask or helpful advice to offer, or if you simply want to correspond with other gardeners (as with pen pals, only faster), these lists are interesting, informative, and easy to use.

To see what's available, get on the World Wide Web, and check the "List of Garden-Related Mailing Lists" at Prairienet (Web address:

http://www.prairienet.org/garden-gate/maillist.htm) for information on almost every gardening-related list on the Net. Or, if your interests are more arcane, try the "Internet Directory for Botany Listservers" (Web address:

http://www.helsinki.fi/kmus/botnews.html). You'll also find the E-mail address to which you send subscription requests, and the information to type into the body of the subscription address to sign on.

Subscribing to mailing lists

Once you find a mailing list, it's easy to join. Send an E-mail request using a standard program (not your Web browser) to the contact address. Type the address exactly as shown. Sometimes using uppercase and lowercase letters makes a difference; in other instances, it doesn't. You should receive a confirmation of your subscription within 24 hours. If you don't, or if you receive an error message, try subscribing again and very carefully type the address as shown.

If you need more information about the mailing list or about how to join, send the word help in the body of your message. Usually, you should leave the subject line of the message blank. In most cases, the computer that processes the mailing list will send confirmation of your subscription as well as instructions for how to cancel your subscription ("unsubscribe"), to receive mail in "digest" form (more about that later), and what to do when you're away from home and don't want your mailbox to fill up and run out of space. (Ask your Internet service provider or network administrator whether your mailbox has limited space.) Be sure to save the mailing list's help message for future reference.

Gardening-related Lists

The largest gardening list is Gardens & Gardening, which can generate nearly 200 messages, or "posts," a day. Picturing themselves talking over the world's longest backyard fence, these virtual gardeners share their expertise on their plants and pests, their failures and successes. They even share real plants, but by real mail, not E-mail, of course. My own garden boasts rare Lenten roses (Helleborus), and Turk's cap lilies (Lilium martagon) from generous list members. Another gardener, after a 5-year search for a particular ornamental rhubarb, finally got it from a fellow list member. This past year, members organized regional get-togethers, ultimately meeting their virtual friends in person at flower shows in Philadelphia and the Pacific Northwest, and at many other major gardening events that were likely to draw crowds from around the country.

On-line camaraderie can lead to off-topic discussions that sometimes prompt perplexed newcomers ("newbies") to write: "I thought this list was supposed to be about gardening." It is about gardening. Questions such as "What is my zone?" are treated with as much respect as queries on hybridizing. Members of the Gardens & Gardening list range from agricultural extension agents to botany professors, eager novices to nursery owners. The advantage of this list is that your question will undoubtedly get an informed answer. The downside is that you'll have to wade through hundreds of messages to find it.

To subscribe, send an E-mail message to the address below. You won't need a header on the E-mail message's subject line, but in the body of the message, type: subscribe gardens [your name]. For example, in my case, I would type: subscribe gardens carol wallace. You don't have to include your E-mail address, because the system automatically inserts it into your message when you send it.

Send E-mail to: listserv@lsv.uky.edu

Message: Subscribe Gardens [your name]

Organic gardening

This list's members range from those gardeners who simply wish to grow plants without using chemicals to those who want to create a natural wildlife habitat in their yards. Topics for discussion range from historic methods to techniques for pest and disease control. Expect about 40 posts a week.

Send E-mail to: listserv@lsv.uky.edu

Message: subscribe ogl [your name]

Compost

Compost is gold for gardeners, and so is this list, where you can find many topics for discussion, from whether it's safe to compost black walnut leaves to how to build a compost bin. Traffic is light here_about 20 to 30 posts per week.

Send E-mail to: listproc.@listproc.wsu.edu

Message: subscribe compost [your name]

Drip irrigation

If you're tired of dragging a hose around, investigate Trickle-L, the drip-irrigation list. You'll find great advice on the advantages of different systems and the best ways to install them, as well as planning advice from skilled system designers, at the rate of five to six posts per day.

Send E-mail to: listserv@unl.edu

Message: subscribe trickle-l [your name]

Are you really hooked on a specific plant? You can join lists for everything from mushrooms to giant pumpkins. You may find the following lists helpful:

Irises

Iris-L has a we're-all-old-friends feel to it. Many breeders and experts on irises frequent this list, so the knowledge base of its subscribers is incredible. But beginners are welcomed, too. Sometimes you can get in on a plant swap_a great way to try new varieties. Traffic is fairly heavy; you can receive about 50 posts a day.

Send E-mail to: listserv@rt66.com

Message: subscribe iris-l [your name]

Aquatic plants

This list may disappoint water gardeners, because discussion seems skewed toward growing plants in tanks. Still, my questions about growing plants in a pond are always answered (mostly individually, not always posted to the list) by friendly, experienced gardeners. The messages on this list are distributed in digest form: the list administrator compiles all the day's messages and sends them out in one post per day.

Send E-mail to:majordomo@actwin.com

Message: subscribe aquatic-plants [your E-mail address]

(This list asks you to subscribe with your E-mail address, not your name.)

Daffodils

Daffnet is the nickname for the discussion list for the American Daffodil Society (ADS). On Daffnet, you may think that you've stumbled into a private correspondence, because many of these participants know each other personally, not just online. They are wonderful about helping beginners, even those who are not members of the ADS.

Send E-mail to: listserv@mc.edu

Message: subscribe daffodil [your name]

Gourds

The discussion on this list is half gardening, half crafts. First you grow gourds, then you make something out of 'em. It's a new list, with relatively low but interesting traffic.

Send E-mail to:listserv@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu

Message: subscribe gourds [your name]

Hot peppers

Love hot peppers? Try Chile-heads at the same address as the one for gourds. Here, good growing information is mixed with lots of great recipes and chili lore.

Send E-mail to:listserv@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu

Message: subscribe chile-heads [your name]

Greenhouses

When it's cold enough to bring tender plants in from the outside, the Hobby Greenhouse list can help you get them through the winter. You can also find helpful advice on planning, heating, cooling and maintaining a greenhouse. However, the listserv system is a bit quirky and may unsubscribe you without notice.

Send E-mail to:listserv@ulkvym.Louisville.edu

Message: subscribe HGA-L [your name]

Managing Your Mail

If you subscribe to several lists, you may be deluged with mail. Look for an E-mail software program that sorts mail by sender. That way you can easily keep mailing list messages separate from your routine mail. Many mailing lists offer to send mail in digest form as an alternative to individual messages. That way, a subscriber receives only one message containing a table of contents followed by all the mail sent by subscribers. Many people prefer to get one large message with all the day's posts in it; some folks prefer to read individual messages. The subscription confirmation message usually contains information about receiving the digest, if that service is available.

Finding More Mailing Lists

The Internet contains an estimated 70,000 mailing lists. The following World Wide Web directories and search engines can help you find what you're looking for.

Liszt: http://www.liszt.com

Publicly accessible mailing lists:

http://www.NeoSoft.com:80/internet/paml/bysubj.html

The List of Lists:

http://catalog.com/vivian/interest-group-search.html

Reference.Com (list database): http://www.reference.com/

Tile.Net/Lists: http://tile.net/listserv/

CataList Reference Site:

http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html

Carol Wallace is the managing editor of "Virtually Gardening" for Suite 101, a new Internet service at http://www.suite101.com. She actually gardens on 3 acres near Scranton, Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband and two cats.

Copyright NGA

Reprinted with permission HouseNet, Inc.

Back to Home Improvement Preview Lawn And Garden Preview Home Decorating Shopping Center