RSS Feed Trouble

Several people have mentioned to me that my RSS feeds are not updating, but I'm not sure what to do about it. I had to update my feed for Blotanical and I think that is when my troubles started. I don't want to choose between Blotanical and my friends and others who follow my blog. Does anyone know how I can fix this problem?

I'm still getting the feeds from other Blotanical people who also had to change their feeds, so I think I've just done something incorrectly. Please help!

I've been playing with my photography some today. I bought several display foam boards at Hobby Lobby to use for my background. It was cloudy and I couldn't get the lighting right so the flash was too bright, but I like the colors! I have the hardest time photographing daffodils. I definitely need more practice.

No Longer Number One

Two years ago, during winter, I discovered garden blogs. I was fascinated to read about the personal gardening activities of so many people and the pictures were a feast for my winter weary eyes. It was better than any gardening magazine I had ever seen. I was soon hooked. It was in April, 2007 that I reluctantly decided to start my own blog. I'm so glad I did because it has been such a delightful experience.

Blogging became even more fun when Stuart, from Gardening Tips 'n' Ideas created a wonderful gardening website called Blotanical. It has been a wonderful way to connect with gardeners from all over the world. I was amazed as Robin's Nesting Place rose in the ranks and eventually became the number one "Most Favourited Garden Blog". I was so honored by this, but at the same time I was actually a little bit embarrassed and felt a sense of pressure that took away some of the joy of blogging. I didn't feel that I deserved to have this rank because there were so many other blogs far more deserving than Robin's Nesting Place, and other garden bloggers far more interesting and knowledgeable than me. In the last few days two of those deserving bloggers have passed me in the ranks: Jodi from Bloomingwriter and Frances from Faire Garden. They are obviously neck and neck because they keep changing positions. Congratulations to you both! I'm very glad to see you both at the top!

I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you who have added Robin's Nesting Place as a favorite on Blotanical and to those who follow me on Blogger. I appreciate it more than you could ever know.

Blotanical and a Dating Tip

Blotanical is a great new garden blog networking site, blog directory and an awesome tool for staying caught up on your favorite garden blog posts. It was created by Stuart Robinson of Gardening Tips n Ideas.

Everyone who signs up for Blotanical has their own garden plot to tend which can be used to interact with other garden bloggers. Someone referred to it as a "Facebook" of sorts for garden bloggers. There's a bit of friendly competition going on as points are earned to attain a higher Blotanist level.

I enjoy utilizing "Picks" to keep up with new blog posts, it also has a feature that allows you to pick a blog post that you like, the votes are tallied to feature the "Popular Posts at the Moment".

The one thing I find frustrating about "Picks" is not necessarily the fault of Blotanical, I believe it has to do with the time on the bloggers post entry. Some people may start drafting their post hours earlier or even the day before, if they don't change the time and date on the post before publishing, then the post will not show up near the top. Hence, while I'm checking Blotanical for new posts I have to scroll all the way through the posts to find the new ones that I haven't yet read. This can be difficult and time consuming. One thing we can all do to help remedy this is to remember to make sure the time and date is correct and current on our posts before we publish them, that way newer posts show up near the top. For those who use Blogger you can easily do this by going to Post Options, (above the orange Publish Post button), and changing your post time to the current time.

Not only have I noticed an increase in my own blog traffic by using Blotanical, but I have found several great new garden blogs. So, if you haven't signed up yet, come join in the Blotanical fun.

Please note, this post has been reworded and republished.