TypePad Featured Blogs

Raisin Toast

Raisin Toast is about a little bit of everything, but mostly, the author, Susan, is sharing a peek at her life. There's category to cover them all: from cooking to homeschooling (and a daughter who just started public school too), the money pit, (as the author calls it) and about the authors' friends and family.

An accomplished painter, Susan runs her art blog on TypePad. TypePad's also helping to host an art community, Red Easel, where artists can both read up on resources or submit their work,

These blogs are a great way to show how a determined blogger has put her talents to use to both to help our her community and to document her life.

Visit Raisin Toast.

Inside Urban Green

Cheap, effective, and good for the environment? Now you've sold me. Inside Urban Green is a great source of information for how to grow your own plants, even if you're not a green thumb. You can have awesome planters if you know where to look, while saving water, recycling materials, and doing your bit to save the planet.

Visit Inside Urban Green.

Pots of Fruit

Maria Kinsella likes growing things - particularly fruit, a hobby she documents in her blog, Pots of Fruit. But this is “farming” with a twist: the fruits are grown in pots, and for those city dwellers or otherwise room-challenged folks “who have limited space or might be moving house regularly” this is a neat little spot to learn how to “grow loads of mouth-watering fruit to enjoy” within a small area. Because this type of gardening can be carried out in a small space with little effort, it's an activity the whole family can enjoy, and Maria’s posts document her trials, advice, and progress, which can be put to your own use. Read about her experiments growing pineapples, raspberries in water, strawberries and mixed planting . Want more fruit? Her Category section runs from Blackcurrant to Strawberries, with additional posts on containers and working with nature, and links to interesting garden, fruit, and farming blogs as well. With interest in sustainable, healthy living taking hold in households across the nation, this unique approach offers a low-impact alternative to producing delicious, nutritious food.

Landscape Juice

Philip Voice was in the garden maintenance business for over 20 years when he decided to relocate to rural France with his wife, children, and dog. He also brought his passion and talents for landscaping, skills that he shares with you in the pages of his blog, Landscape Juice. Those of you living outside of France needn’t worry - Philip’s thoughts and opinions are pretty much universal, as his posts show. For starters, read about not letting your garden rule your life, the importance of using alternative fertilizers, and how to deal with animal pests - especially the soft, cute kind. There are U.K. and Europe-centric posts pertaining to gardening here as well, and they make for a fascinating glimpse into the techniques used by others. In addition to the posts, there’s a rich selection of articles (such as lawn mower safety), advice (on taking rose cuttings, for example), and featured garden-oriented websites to make your spot a little greener.

Irish Sally Garden

Rebecca and Dan Hillman live a sustainable lifestyle in rural Ireland and share the experience in the pages of Irish Sally Garden. Living this close to nature, raising farm animals, and preparing your own food makes for interesting posts and brings the whole experience closer to home, especially to those readers who live in urban environments. Rebecca's posts will enable you to see, read, and “taste” this special life for yourselves; Categories from Alternative Energy to Woodland broaden the experience for readers. Rebecca and Dan also host consultations and workshops to share the experience with others, and a lengthy list of Irish bloggers and links to "sustainable advocates" open a window to a wide and very special corner of the world.

Snapdragon's garden

The space behind Jane Lindsey’s house in the United Kingdom has been transformed into a cutting garden full of unusual flowers and herbs. It’s an ideal laboratory that allows Jane to produce floral-inspired textiles and toiletries, crafts showcased in her blog, Snapdragon's garden. Within these pages, Jane details the creative process that results in home textile designs, lets us tour her studio, and displays her cutting garden. Jane’s posts, pictures, and products will bring a touch of country to your home; reading her blog is like strolling through the English countryside at the height of a particularly beautiful spring day. Lots of color and fresh things reside here, and they’re available for sale in her shop.

Garden Design Online

Jane Berger is a journalist and landscape designer and together with business partner Anne Irving, run The Garden Design Group of Washington DC. Jane also authors Garden Design Online, a blog of “landscape design with attitude”. You don’t have to live in the Northeast to put Jane’s expertise to work: her opinions, tips, and observations can “travel” anywhere and will help you take your garden to new heights of beauty, variety, and design. As you’d guess, posts on design take center stage – not just in terms of gardens, but for issues like value and designers as well. Jane will show you how some plants can grow anywhere – that is, if they can. Categories from Associations to Tips and Techniques, lots of suggested sites (on design, famous gardens to visit, plant societies, garden books, and more), and other cool links make this a blog that will really grow on you.