TAMPA - One neighbor's generosity and a dozen or so wading pools filled with compost are jump-starting a community garden in Seminole Heights. About 40 neighbors met recently to discuss plans to begin tilling soil on a large vacant lot off Violet Street in South Seminole Heights. Except in this case they are opting for above-ground containers over in-ground planting. ...more

March 31, 2009

Fans of The Dirt: Penny and I will be at the Tampa GreenFest from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and we'd love for you to stop by and say hi. We'll swap stories about our gardening successes, commiserate about our failures and suck up every tidbit of advice you might give us until you swat us away. GreenFest will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and March 29 at Plant Park on the University of Tampa campus. Children 12 and younger get in free; there is a $3 suggested donation for adults. ...more

March 22, 2009

A frost or freeze is perhaps God's way of teaching us detachment, and helping with the pruning. The frost takes out much growth and motivates us to shape up the rest. ...more

February 25, 2009

Largo police arrested a registered sex offender Tuesday on charges he had sex with a 15-year-old girl while a 14-year-old girl watched. ...more

February 18, 2009

The Holidays are upon us! If you have a garden lover on your gift list, you might be wondering what to buy for him or her. After all, it's not as if you can cram a dogwood tree into a stocking. No, really, I mean it. Kids, don't try this at home. ...more

December 14, 2008

Does it strike anyone else as ironic that so often "going green" requires just the opposite of a gardener? ...more

December 7, 2008

When the decision was made to combine our food section, "Flavor," with our home-and-garden section, "At Home," we wondered how well the topics would blend. Especially after we decided to throw fashion and parenting into the mix with the rest of our regular features. ...more

November 16, 2008

Polk County deputies are seeking help finding Cosme Olay Ibay, a missing elderly man. ...more

September 12, 2008

I have been due to buy new gardening gloves for, oh, at least three months. When are gloves officially worn out? If you guessed, "When they're so filthy, your fingers curl up in horror so you can't put them on," you are wrong. That's pure wimp, gardeners, plain and simple. ...more

September 11, 2008

Janice Vogt has a little bit of everything in her Seminole Heights gardens, but the front yard is devoted to roses. ...more

August 28, 2008