Welcome to The Small Town Gardener®, a collection of articles filled with humor and gentle gardening advice; published in The Citizen Newspapers of Brunswick and Middletown Valley,  The Frederick News Post, The Emmitsburg News-Journal, and on this website and other websites and magazines dedicated to the sweet pursuit of gardening and the simple pleasure of reading.   I am currently fortunate enough to retain the rights to most of my print articles, and share many of them in the hope that you will find something to make you smile as we battle the whims of Mother Nature together.  All pre-2011 content has been archived for future publication in book form.

It is said that all good things come to those who wait.  This is not a blog in the traditional sense, so you won’t find endless updates on the state of my green beans – nor the state of my mind, marriage or dress size (the last of which can only be maintained by spending less time at my computer).  Instead, I hope that you will return for a dose of Small Town Gardener philosophy and then high-tail it back to your own garden – large or small.

I’ve made it easier than ever – you can read or listen to my latest published articles from the list on the left, search by month or season, and subscribe to the RSS feed or Facebook page to alert you when articles change.   Are you a Mid-Atlantic gardener?  This Month’s Garden will give you an idea of what you should be thinking about right now.

So please, take some time to potter around my garden just as you might potter through your own.  Get disciplined with Gardening by Habit or free yourself from unrealistic expectations in I’m Okay, You’re Okay.  If you find your pets at odds with your garden, stop crying and laugh about it instead with Puppy Madness.  A garden doesn’t have to be perfect.  It doesn’t have to be large.  And in the middle of August, it doesn’t even have to be green.

Join me as we plunge our hands in the earth and begin to reconnect.

– Marianne Willburn