Are you an avid gardener? Do you spend hours outside planning your garden, or browsing nurseries looking for the next unique plant to add to your plot? That’s me. I also browse online and communicate with other garden enthusiasts, looking for ideas to enrich my gardening experience. As a writer, I’ve combined my interests: gardening and writing about gardening. I stumbled into writing garden stories. I started writing about the herbs I love to grow: basil, sage, chives, and others. I met with marginal success as my articles repeated most of what had already been written by other gardening writers. It wasn’t plagiarism, as it was all written in my own words, but there was nothing new. My big break into publishing garden stories came with my story, “My Great Grandpa’s Rhubarb.” I had found my niche. My trick? Make each article into a fiction story. Now, all my garden stories begin with a work of fiction (my fiction), that introduces whatever my article is about. For example, my recent article, “Growing Your Own Luffa” begins:

“I grew some luffa!” My friend was holding up a long, cucumber-shaped object.

“It looks like a sponge.” I eyed it closely.

“Well, it is and it isn’t,” she replied. “You do realize that luffa doesn’t grow in the ocean, right? It grows in a garden — and it may look like a sponge, but when it’s a young plant, people eat it. This one is mature and is definitely going to be used as a sponge.”

It’s amazing what I’ve learned, and what you can learn, too, about gardening around the world, just by choosing a garden-related theme. Do the research (always important, as there are experts out there who will instantly notice even a tiny error in your dissertation), and write a story.

What you need to do is organize your ideas. Most garden publications appreciate headings throughout the story to highlight the key points that will follow, like “What is a Luffa?” and “Natural Habitat.” I always start by writing my opening ‘story’, which usually includes my gardening friend who has the most fascinating garden and just about anything and everything in it. Then I list my headings and start writing the fillers, aiming to include as much information as possible about my subject matter to help interested gardeners. I research each heading topic as I go along, hoping to cover some key points, like whether or not the plant in my story is edible, medicinal, or poisonous (like the rhubarb leaves).

You don’t have to be an expert in gardens and gardening to be a successful garden writer. The key is in your research and how you present the material. The selling point is how well you present your material, and how effective you are at personalizing the story. People want to read personal stories about gardening, not programmed rhetoric that has been written and published many times over. Photographs are also helpful. Some publications pay extra for the images. The photographs in the rhubarb story are from my own garden. Yes, it’s all my great-grandpa’s rhubarb!

Where does one market garden stories? There are print publications, online publications, and blogs that publish strictly garden stories. As well, there are general interest publications that also include garden stories in each issue. Most of these publications pay, some very well. So, go sit in your garden, or your neighbor’s garden, or a local public garden, and write about it. There’s nothing better than soaking up the sun, smelling the roses (so to speak), and writing about all that grows around you.