Ramon Gonzalez
Ramon is the original urban garden blogging male espousing a DIY philosophy to gardening and garden projects.
Better known online as MrBrownThumb, he’s been demystifying gardening secrets for average gardeners online since 2005. Besides writing the popular MrBrownThumb garden blog he’s co-founder of @SeedChat on Twitter, the creative director of One Seed Chicago, and founder of the Chicago Seed Library.
Whether it’s saving and growing your own plants from heirloom seeds, digging a garden, or trying to lead a life that is more harmonious with nature; he believes we can all do it-and it doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming.
Besides writing for himself Ramon has been published in Lawn & Garden Retailer Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and writes Chicago Garden, a garden blog on The Chicago Tribune’s ChicagoNow website. In addition to his writings his photographs have been featured in publications like In These Times and Northern Gardener Magazine.
Oh, and what’s with the pseudonym? He believes that nobody really has a "black" or "green" thumb. Everyone kills plants -- the trick is finding the plants you don’t.
You can connect with him through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or Google+ where you can ask him pertinent gardening questions, leave him a story idea or learn where he'll be speaking about urban gardening and events he's involved with.
Latest Stories from Ramon Gonzalez - Page 8
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Amazing Garden Sculptures Made with LEGO Bricks at Reiman Gardens
Reiman Gardens in Iowa hosts the first ever public garden display of LEGO brick sculptures.
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Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer's Market (Review)
This new book provides some tasty recipes for many of the weeds growing in your garden.
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Is Tree Graffiti the Next Tree Yarn Bombing?
Zonenkinder Collective paints faces to highlight the grotesque and humorous faces they see on trees.
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Michelle Obama's White House Kitchen Garden Book is Not For Gardeners
Michelle Obama's first-ever book, "American Grown," offers a behind-the-scenes look at the White House kitchen garden -- but leaves the how-to details out.
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3 Eco-Friendly Weed Killers While We Wait for the Weed-Killing Lasers
Got weeds? Three ways to kill weeds naturally with household items.
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How to Identify and Prevent Powdery Mildew Plant Disease
Preventing powdery mildew can be prevented in your garden. Be proactive to save time, money and heartache.
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Help Kickstart Bitponics: the Siri of Hydroponic Growing
Bitponics promises to take the guesswork out of hydroponic growing and make it accessible to us all.
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Inside Northwestern's Off-the-Grid Tiny House
Northwestern's Tiny House Project shows how we can live smaller and more sustainable.
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How a Fashion Designer's Food Forest is Changing his L.A. Neighborhood (VIDEO)
Fashion designer Ron Finley set out to build a food forest in a parkway to combat a food desert in L.A.
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Bees Prefer Working Class Gardens Over Affluent Gardens
Want to help bees? New research points to them preferring simple flowers in gardens over hybrids and cultivars.
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Test Your Potting Soil Quality Before Planting Your Container Garden
Not all potting soil mixes are created equal. Conduct this simple test to see how it drains and retains water.
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Harvest the Rain with these 4 DIY Rain Barrels
Do rainy days get you down? Build a rain barrel and look forward to the rain.
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Why 'Kill it with Fire' Should Not be Your Reaction to a Honeybee Swarm
It's not a bee attack -- it's just a bee swarm. Here are tips on how to deal with one.
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Why Was the Reusable Bag Blamed for a Norovirus Outbreak?
Recently, a reusable bag was blamed for the spread of a highly contagious virus. But it was just bad luck.
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Why You Shouldn't Buy Ladybugs for Natural Pest Control in your Garden
Got ladybugs? Encourage native ladybugs in your garden instead of buying wild-harvested ladybugs to manage pests.
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Clever Plastic-Free and Low-Tech Ways to Store Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Skip the fridge and plastic bags when storing fruits and veggies. They'll last longer and taste better.
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'Bio Computer' Blends Tech and Organic to Grow Wheatgrass
A self-described geek harvests the waste-heat of a computer tower to grow wheatgrass in his basement.
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Boston Gardening Initiative to Offer Free ‘TOM-ato’ Plants to Promote Urban Gardening
Boston is hosting a tomato plant giveaway to encourage new urban gardeners.
