Founder of Shop.org and Garden.com Launches New Gardening Social Network Site DigtheDirt.com

SEATTLE, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Cliff Sharples, founder of Shop.org and Garden.com today announced a new site, DigtheDirt.com, a social networking site optimized for people who love gardening. Just in time for Spring, the site includes an easy-to-use plant database with thousands of the most popular plants for home gardens, plus the ability to filter and search for plants based on over 100 attributes. Home gardeners can also easily find suppliers for the plants they wish to purchase.

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With a fresh approach to social networking, DigtheDirt's database of plant data, care instructions, gardening how-to articles and landscape ideas are cross-referenced and dynamically assembled for a home gardener based on the type of gardening or garden topic that a person might be interested in. With over 200 topic centers, gardeners can come together with horticulture experts, landscape designers and gardening professionals to ask questions, share ideas, carry on conversations, view photos and make friends. "It's the ultimate virtual community garden," says founder and Chief Cultivator, Cliff Sharples.

DigtheDirt founder, Internet veteran Cliff Sharples, and co-founder Bruce Tate, author and technology veteran, are leveraging the "wisdom of the crowd" to fuel DigtheDirt.com. The site enables people to input their personal experiences with their plants along with the plant's geographic location, building an overall consensus of a plant's behavior and characteristics based on its exact location. Site visitors can filter by proximity and other attributes to see how a plant will respond in their yard based on others who have planted in similar conditions. Gardeners can post photos and stories to chronicle their gardens' progress and receive regular updates and advice on plants saved to their profile.

"I am so excited to be in the gardening space again," said Sharples. "I know of no better industry for a digital offering that combines complex data, changing regional information, rich-media content and a passionate audience whose natural inclination is to share and connect through the hobby."

"We're moving beyond traditional Internet forums, where useful information is difficult to access and the interface is cumbersome," says Sharples. "Solid information architecture, inspiring design and social networking tools create an accessible, easy-to-browse gardening resource."

As one of America's #1 hobbies, gardening has once again become a growth industry due to the interest in the environment, living "green", and edible gardening. According to the National Gardening Association, 43 million U.S. households planned to grow food in 2009, up almost 20% from the previous year. 2010 sees that trend growing stronger, motivated by people's desire to lower grocery bills due to the economy and the demand for better tasting, high quality produce that is locally grown.

The site is open to the public at http://www.digthedirt.com.

About Cliff Sharples

With over 20 years of experience in creating and leading several consumer Internet companies, in addition to founding one of the largest online gardening sites in history, Sharples is uniquely qualified to mine the full potential of this category. Sharples co-founded Garden.com in 1995, which went public in 1999. He founded Shop.org, the largest e-commerce trade association, serving as its Founding Chairman, which now boasts over 600 members, including the top 10 largest U.S. retailers. He has his own consumer Internet consulting practice, working with clients such as The Lance Armstrong Association, Cranium, American Achievement Corporation, and HomeAway.com. Cliff Sharples now serves as Chief Cultivator of DigtheDirt.com since January 2009, and lives in Mercer Island, Washington.

About Bruce Tate

Bruce has been a technologist and pioneering developer for more than 20 years. The author of 11 books on Java and Ruby, Bruce is an internationally acclaimed speaker. He is the president of RapidRed, a consultancy specializing in rapid development with small teams. He also served as the CTO for WellGood llc, a firm of social entrepreneurs that built web sites for important social causes. Bruce and the DigtheDirt development team are based out of Austin, Texas.

SOURCE DigtheDirt.com