By Carrie Knutson, Horticulture agent

NDSU Extension - Grand Forks County

The old saying goes, “Time flies when you are having fun.”

It still holds true, even when writing a monthly garden and forestry column. Some would say there isn’t much work involved with writing one article a month. Some writers may write a column every day or every week. For me, it is just right and gives me the opportunity to use my creative writing skills and an excuse to run some garden experiments during the growing season.

The Dakota Gardener column made its debut on April 21, 2020, and the North Dakota Gardening world hasn’t been the same, or at least I like to think so. Every week for the past four years a member of the NDSU Extension group has studiously written a column to inform you about gardening and forestry-related topics. We have written a total of 234 articles.

That is a lot of gardening and forestry information! Topics have ranged from roots and earthworms to the best vegetable varieties, proper watering and why leaves change color. A number of papers across the region pick up our articles and our articles are available online.

Thanks to Grant Christian, a helpful NDSU Ag Communication web technology specialist, I have some fun facts on Dakota Gardener online article views for 2023 and 2024.

The total number of Dakota Gardener page views in 2023 was 24,646 with an average engagement time of 55 seconds. Engagement time means the amount of time users spend on a webpage before leaving. We flew by that number in 2024, with 47,268 total page views and 56 seconds of engagement time. Wow!

The top five articles viewed in 2023 were: Protecting your vegetable garden from pesky rabbits; How to grow giant onions; Beware of grasshoppers; The secret to great pumpkin pie; and Do not buy ladybugs.

The top five articles viewed in 2024 were: Do not buy ladybugs, The messy and controversial science behind “No mow May;” The myth of high phosphorous fertilizers for more flowers; Great cucumbers for your garden; and Protecting your vegetable garden from pesky rabbits.

What has been the most popular article accessed digitally for the past two years? Horticulturist Tom Kalb’s article “Do not buy ladybugs” published June of 2023 holds that record. The article had 7,765 views with an average engagement time of 53 seconds.

I guess we all want more information on how to get more ladybugs and fewer rabbits in our gardens.

What other gardening or forestry-related topics would you like to learn about in the new year? Send me an email at carrie.knutson@ndsu.edu, with your topic ideas or questions.

Happy gardening!

NDSU Agriculture Communication – Dec. 24, 2024

Source: Carrie Knutson, 701-780-8229, carrie.knutson@ndsu.edu

Editor: Kelli Anderson, 701-231-6136, kelli.c.anderson@ndsu.edu