I want the @gardening-trail to be useful for you. What kinds of posts do you want the @gardening-trail to upvote and resteem?
Introduction
The Gardening-Trail is a community-building project in partnership with the SteemTrail initiative. The idea is that people will be more inclined to join Steemit and stay active over the long term, if they can find communities of people with common interests - like Gardening!
The other purpose of the Gardening-Trail is to discover and reward content creators who are posting high quality original content in the Gardening Category, and give them more exposure. Every single post on the @gardening-trail has been read in full by at least one curator. Many other posts are reviewed in the curation process, too!
When it started, Gardening-Trail curation was shared among a small team. For several months, though, there's been only one curator -- me, @haphazard-hstead. I have my own preferences for what I like to see in a gardening post, especially after reading thousands of posts to select 492 of them from 137 authors to put on the @gardening-trail. I want to make sure the @gardening-trail is useful for you!
What Would You Like on the Gardening-Trail?
To focus on building a gardening-focused community, I've taken an inclusive approach to curation. A post doesn't have to be "perfect" on all counts. I thought it's better to encourage more gardening posts and engagement by upvoting even 10 posts or more each day. Rather than choose only the best 2 or 3 garden posts of the day to resteem and recommend to SteemTrail.
But with the gardening season gearing up and so many new people joining Steemit, there are more and more gardening posts! And with the whales limiting their voting impact, our votes matter more. Should the @gardening-trail be more selective? I'm going to tell you what I like in a gardening post and then ask about your preferences.
These are the kinds of gardening posts that I like to see.
They show authentic experience. The content may be about growing plants or even just visiting a garden. But it's about the writer's actual experience and perspectives. Recreating information that is common elsewhere online or in books has not been my priority, unless the writer heavily incorporates their own experience and perspective.
They are focused. I prefer posts that are only about gardening topics, not a collection of many topics.
They have more than one photo. That doesn't mean photos of the same things from one angle after another. It means that the photos help tell the story of the post.
They have quality original photos. The photos are in focus. They are not generic stock photos, ads, plagarized photos, or someone else's copyrighted photos.
There is more than just photos. I like photo essays, but when there is some related written information, or thoughts and perspectives.
I like garden updates. But not on a daily basis. Just when there is something notable going on.
But I know that other people may have different views! I struggle in deciding whether to include single photo posts or photo-only posts on the @gardening-trail. Because sometimes short content is meaningful and some photos are so beautiful. And because we are sharing the Steemit blockchain with Steemit apps, like Busy.com and SteepShot, that favor posting short, single-photo posts.
I am interested in your perspective as a writer of gardening posts - and as a reader of gardening content.
What would you like to see on the @gardening-trail? As a reader or author - or both! Let me know in the comments below.
I am happy to have other curators on the Gardening-Trail, too! If you are interested, join me In the Gardening-Trail and let's discuss Gardening Related Topics on Discord or the steemtrail chat channel!
I hope that you will consider following not only the @gardening-trail, but also many of the authors whose work is featured there. Please consider adding your comments on these posts also! You can follow the @gardening-trail to see the curation in real time and donate your votes. Your votes will encourage more gardening posts on Steemit!
Thanks again for everyone who helped curate Gardening-Trail and everyone working to build the gardening community on Steemit.
If you would your gardening related post to be seen by @gardening-trail you can read our guidelines here: Gardening-Trail guidelines
You know your post has been curated by Garden-Trail if you see this image in your comments.
Upvoted by @gardening-trail 
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Note: All author rewards from this post will be used to fund @gardening-trail.
Join us In the Gardening-Trail and let's discuss Gardening Related Topics on Discord or the steemtrail chat channel!
More of organic and permaculture gardening.
Thanks for that suggestion. I hope it encourages more people to write about organic gardening and permaculture - especially what they are doing.
From my point of view, I'd say your post is on the right trail :-)
Thanks for that feedback, @gardenlady. It helps. Happy gardening!
I think your list of points is very good, and mostly covers what Garden Trail should be aiming to cover, especially the authentic experience part.
Some things I would like to see would also be the tools and different techniques people use to get jobs done.
I also really enjoy seeing pictures of unique gardens and plants/flowers/trees.
Thanks for your perspective! I hope your comment encourages folks to write about their gardening tools and techniques. Your comment about unique gardens and plants/flowers/trees is helpful. In looking at so many gardening posts, I see some of the same plants over and over, so I can't include them all. Focusing on the "unique" will help me a lot.
No problem - I dig this trail ! Once the weather gets a bit warmer I think I will start putting a few more gardening related posts up. I used to be a professional, now I just do it as a hobby. Always happy to share tips and tricks, and hopefully get some inspiration.
Glad to hear you are enjoying the @gardening-trail! I'm sure you have a lot of stories to tell as a former professional gardener - and all those tips and tricks!
If you add the Gardening tag to your posts, it will be easier to find and curate. Happy gardening when the inspiration strikes and the weather cooperates!
This post has been ranked within the top 25 most undervalued posts in the first half of Mar 22. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $9.22 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Mar 22 - Part I. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
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I apologize for the delay in response but unfortunately life gets away with us sometimes. I want you to know that I appreciate all your hard work. Although I enjoy all aspects of Steemit it is the gardening-trail that caught my full attention. Again, I realize this is late in coming but I upvoted 100% and resteemed!!
I really love to grow flowers. I will make several posts when I plant and take care of the plants. Therefore, I will support @ gardening-trail. I'll follow you I do Resteem
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