Colleen Vanderlinden

Colleen Vanderlinden has been gardening organically for over twelve years. While her first love was growing flowers, she soon became addicted to growing her own fruit, vegetables, and herbs. She's gardened in everything from a single window box to a small borrowed plot, and currently rests her pruners on 1/4 of an acre in the suburbs of Detroit.

Colleen has been published in Birds & Blooms and has an article on seed exchanges upcoming in Mother Earth News. In her quest to help other gardeners go organic, she started her website, In the Garden Online, in 2003. To spread the word about gardening in general, and garden blogging in particular, she launched the Mouse & Trowel Awards in 2007. As a result, she's been interviewed by the Detroit Free Press, the Radish, and has gotten coverage in several newspapers nation-wide.

Organic gardening is a way of life for me. I've been inlove with plants for as long as I can remember. From my grandmother's gigantic lilac hedge to my mom's rose bushes, plants are part of who I am. I've always gardened organically. I just don't see the point in using synthetic chemicals in my garden. So much of organic gardening is about using common sense, about unlearning what generations of "spray everything in sight" have taught us. At its best, gardening is good for the gardener, good for the neighborhood, and good for the planet.