The second annual Greengirls virtual plant swap is in full swing. If you have plants of any legal kind to share — for free — please post a brief description of them and your general location. If you are looking for a certain variety or cultivar feel free to post as well. Then, using the magic of technology (uh, you know, the blog), just keep your eyes open for people to reply to your post. Yes, it could be a free-for-all. But then, that’s part of the fun. (After another week, we will delete everyone’s contact info.)

EXAMPLES:

TO SHARE: Three extra heirloom fish peppers. Multicolored small peppers look very cool. Needs sun. Golden Valley.

WOULD LIKE: Any kind of basil seedlings or plants. Will pick up at your convenience.

Check back often for new listings. Happy Gardening!

Bored by brussels sprouts? Confused by kohlrabi? Sick of strawberries? (Oh, the illiteration… Is anyone ever really sick of strawberries?)

Well, lucky for you, Star Tribune food writer and restaurant critic, Rick Nelson just started a CSA and a new blog, The Farm Report. All growing season long, he’ll talk about what’s in his crop share and how to cook it. The spinach has barely sprouted, but Rick has already surveyed the local farmers markets and posted recipes for his finds. He also spotlights local eateries that specialize in a farm-to-table connection.

If you’re scratching your head over a how to grow a head of broccoli, we Greengirls have got you covered. If you’re looking for a new way to cook it, check out The Farm Report.

Even before I finish my Christmas shopping, at least one glossy green cover sprouts up among the utility bills, holiday cards and Netflix DVDs in our mailbox. By April, I have a sizable stack of seed catalogs, each promising something tasty, something unusual, and something no gardener can live without… Hula Hoe, anyone?

Seed Savers Exchange delivers the first real sign of spring. I’m a sucker for a seed with a story, and often sacrifice a tasty stand-by for an oddball heirloom smuggled in to states from the “Old Country.” Located in Iowa, a weekend order usually arrives in the Twin Cities by the end of the following week. Perfect for the impatient gardener.

Sandhill Crane Preservation Center specializes in unusual seeds as well unusual breeds of chickens. I can’t have a coop, but I can waste a morning on a poultry catalog. They also sell starter sweet potatoes.

R.H. Shumway’s breaks every design rule with Victorian clip art, block fonts and blatant disregard for a sensible grid. It’s faux old time-y feel totally cracks me up.

Other catalogs are head scratchers… “Organic lawn care” that is dangerous to pets and small children? Um, how the heck did I get on this list?

So, where do you get your seeds? Are you loyal to a local nursery? Pursue hardy heirlooms online? Or do you skip the seeds and purchase your plants from the Farmer’s Market?

Northern gardening is tough, which may explain why we gardeners are so darn neighborly — almost too neighborly. (C’mon, who doesn’t need a second bag of zucchini at the end of summer?) Sharing plants, produce and pointers is just as important as composting and mulching.

Some neighborhoods are so full of green thumbs, they’re practically their own gardening club. Other neighborhoods, like mine in St. Louis Park, have one token crackpot tilling up her soil — um, me. Yes, gardening is a rather solitary hobby, but like Greengirls readers Debbie and Susan, I am also looking for a way to reach out.

From Debbie:
I’m wondering if there is a listing anywhere for garden clubs in the metro area, it would be great to meet other gardeners and visit gardens around the (Bloomington) area.

From Susan S.
Please let me know of any volunteer planting projects in the cities this year, I’d like to help plant flowers or gardens for those who can’t.

So, how do you connect with other gardening enthusiasts in your community? More importantly, where can you go to share services with your community?

As mulching, planting and weeding took more and more of my time, I had less and less time for reading. In the spring, I was lucky enough to get through Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilema,” a must-read for anyone who likes to eat. I breezed through “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” but, it took me all summer to get through Elizabeth Royte’s “Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash,” — a mere 336 pages about landfills, recycling programs and dreams of zero waste.*

Somehow I still found the time to buy books, a stack of good intentions waiting patiently for the first snowy Saturday morning and a cup of coffee. Amy Stewart’s “Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers” is a the top. The bright orange cover taunts me, “Why plant mums when you can read about the flower industry?”

Good point, little book. Maybe I’ll skip the mums and grind up some coffee beans.

Besides all the colorful, drool-inducing catalogs, what garden reads are you looking forward to this winter? What titles would you recommend to other gardening bookworms? Do you make it through your pile, or give into guilty pleasures like Harry Potter?