F&F is a big blogging collective, which means that you can join in and write a post about gardening any time you like. You need to be a member of the F&F community to post something in the Your Blogs section. If we really like your post, we’ll feature it at the top of the front page, and all posts go live at the bottom of the front page as well.

Here are some tips for writing a fabulous post:

1. The first thing to remember is that blogs are not essays, and they aren’t even magazines. So cut out the formal language. Avoid the passive (the tomatoes were harvested) and instead use the active (I harvested the tomatoes). Write in the first person if you can, and don’t prance around with long words (the best writers only use them when they’re absolutely necessary and remember that we’re gardeners who call spades spades).

2. Don’t burble on for ages. The very longest posts on F&F are 400 words, and evern that’s pushing it. Anything longer and people get bored.

3. Illustrate with plenty of pretty photos. If you don’t take your own, search for relevant ones under the Creative Commons licence on flickr. Even though you can use these photos without permission, it is F&F policy to message the photographer first, just to check.

4. If you want to build up a following, write regularly. This is less important on F&F as we have at least one post going out daily, so you’ll already have plenty of readers.

5. Stuck at the first hurdle with nothing to write? Think about quirky topics that other bloggers might not have covered. Or write about the progress of your own garden. Have you got any secret techniques for growing a certain plant or fighting pests that you want to share?

Inspired? Get writing now.