If you think you don’t have the time or the know-how to garden, think again. It’s not as hard as it seems to be, nor does it have to be so time-consuming.

         Here are a few tips for our tech-savvy readers, who might be surprised to find that a computer can make gardening easier and more enjoyable.

         It may seem like an unusual gardening tool, but a computer is a huge resource for those with green thumbs and the not-so-green thumbs as well.

         For instance, shopping online is nothing new to most people, but online shopping has made life easier for gardeners, who can find everything from seeds to plants and rakes to shovels online. Not only are many nurseries and catalogs online, but many hardware and outdoor supplies store have also built web pages. It is now so much easier to locate that hard-to-find seed, and make your garden the place you want it to be.

         The green world is also at your fingertips in today’s high-tech world. Chat rooms, web sites and information guides make a wealth of information available to the online gardener. When you have a question or a concern about your garden or your techniques, it is easier to find the answer using computer technology rather than digging through books in the library or tracking down a local horticulturist.

         There’s more for the gardener than just the World Wide Web, however. Software and CD-ROMS allow gardeners to work on their garden inside the house. Like the Internet, these CD-ROMS provide a variety of information for the knowledge-hungry gardener. Some software packages can also allow you to virtually design and draw your garden, from the size and shape to the color and plant schemes.

         So before you get your hands dirty, log on and find out what you need to know to make your garden grow!