Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in America. Given even a tiny balcony, most people have an urge to fill up that space with plants. Gardening is a healthy, rewarding activity which is relatively inexpensive, depending on the size of your garden. People often start with just a few houseplants. Once familiar with the joy of that little African violet which suddenly sprouts blooms, you may find yourself looking for more little plants to nurture. Now, not everyone has the proverbial green thumb. So what do you do when your prized schefflera starts to droop, with sad little patches of black on some of the leaves? Let's take a look at some handy resources available for reliable gardening advice.

The net is replete with gardening sites. You can find the answer to virtually any gardening question you may have. Many of the large nursery websites have detailed information on every plant they sell. This information includes gardening advice for an ailing plant, as well as zone-specific gardening tips of a more general nature.

Let's say you have a small flock of cactus plants you adore. You've heard that there's a gardening technique which allows you to graft two different types. This possibility fascinates you, but you don't know where to look for such seemingly obscure gardening advice. You may be surprised how easy it is to learn all about grafting cactii. Again, look on the net. Use your favorite search engine, or one of the specialized gardening search engines to find the answer. Just type in 'cactus grafting techniques' and follow the links. It really is as simple as that.

Perhaps, like many people, you've taken up gardening on a seat-of-the-pants basis. You've been gardening for a while now and have a nice little plot going. However, you wish you knew more about proper soil preparation or may wonder why your tomatoes don't prosper as well as the ones in the catalogs. You may garner a terrific amount of little gardening tidbits on the gardening forums. Such forums are populated with gardeners of every type and level of expertise. Avid gardeners tend to always want to learn more about their favorite activity and these forums are an amazing resource for gardening advice that's reliable. If you consult the topics list and do a search for threads on, say, growing dahlias, you may become an expert on the subject in no time at all.

If the gardening advice you seek concerns a plant you purchased at your local nursery, give them a call. It's likely they can supply specific information to help you solve your problem.

When you've been in the gardening game for a while, you'll eventually want a good gardening reference book of your own. Online bookstores carry hundreds of gardening books. Use the bookstore database to find the perfect resource for the gardening advice you need. In the meantime, happy gardening to you!