Soon to hit the bookshelves will be the fall inaugural issue of Wilder Quarterly, a new indie gardening magazine directed towards a broader demographic and striving for an edgier feel. I was hired as its founding Horticultural Editor/Writer. It was an interesting project and opportunity for this longtime horticulturalist and garden writer. The experience defied the boundaries of what I expected from other periodicals in the genre, but the product should be exciting and inspiring to the gardening world.

Most garden magazines stick to the classic gardening demographic, which most popular surveys recognize as older, financially secure females with college degrees and no children at home. This is a good thing (we love our serious, dedicated gardeners), but cultural and economic changes are changing the face of the American gardener. Wilder seeks to appeal to that new face. More Americans garden to supplement their food stores (home canning, freezing and drying continue to gain popularity). The locavore movement has peaked the desire for wholesome local food. Gardeners of other cultural backgrounds and ethnicities are hankering for produce representing their distinct heritages. All of this means that more people are gardening, creating new garden writing niches to be filled.

The scope, look and book-like feel and length of Wilder Quarterly is also distinct among gardening periodicals. Its publisher gave me the unique opportunity to write 10 full-length articles of which I am very proud. These strive to be conversational, interesting and accessibly technical. The look is also more raw and less sparkly than one would expect. In its pages you will see weeds and disease among the vegetables and flowers. Length, which is slated to be roughly 180 pages, is girthy and contents substantial without endless commercial breaks.

My hope is that Wilder Quarterly will help track a new course in the garden writing industry and rekindle enthusiasm in the genre. (Gardening is no less interesting or beloved than cooking; we just don't have the same props and savvy when it comes to exposure.) The face of American gardening is changing. I encourage other garden writers and periodicals to stake a claim and expand upon this new garden writing adventure.

Copies can be ordered at www.wilderquarterly.com