2000 Hits

For the first year that I wrote this blog I had no idea if anyone was looking at it.  Then, six months ago, Blogspot added a 'statistics' tab to the toolbar, allowing me to see for the first time how many people logged onto this site.  Yesterday, the counter passed 2000 since July 1, 2010.

I didn't start this blog in order to reach huge audiences.  Instead, I created it as a writing exercise.  A pianist does not sit down at the keyboard each day and play the Apassionata.  Instead, they play etudes, study pieces that are intended to stretch the fingers and keep them limber.  As a writer (see The Hardington Press), I need to stretch my mind.  While I write mysteries for a living, gardening is my avocation.  And so it is gardening thoughts that fill this blog, and keeping to one subject helps me to sharpen my writing.

But I am constantly in awe that people find this site and that they come from around the world.  The United States accounts for three quarters of visitors, but Canadians have been here 37 times and those from Great Britain 35 times (kudos to a nation of gardeners).  But, what about South Korea and its 28 visitors?  The Netherlands, India, Germany, Russia and Brazil each have more than 20 visits.  What interests them about New England gardening?

Blogspot provides some clues.  The search term 'container gardening'  brought several hundred visitors (most of whom went to the post, 'The Early Autumn Container Garden', and 'xeric garden' took more than fifty visitors to 'The Xeric Gardens Hits Its Stride'.  'The Incredible Shrinking Lawn' is the third most-viewed topic.  (It is also one of my wife's most requested programs from garden clubs.)

Because there have only ever been three comments appended to any of these posts, I have no idea if anyone reads for content or just bcause I happened to have a good photo of a plecanthus.  I don't required that readers respond, but it would be nice on occasion.

Anyway, it gave me a warm feeling this morning to find that my 2000th visitor had taken a look to see what the Principal Undergardener is all about.  Thanks for reading!