Welcome to the 3rd Annual Authors in Bloom Blog Hop where you’ll learn a ton of new gardening tips and recipes over the next 10 days, PLUS the chance to win a number of great prizes! This year we have 80 authors and bloggers hosting giveaways which makes for AWESOME odds, not to mention the grand prize ereader and gift card. That’s right–you have the chance to win an ereader of your choice (kindle or nook, $200 value) and coinciding $25 gift card. This year we’ve added a second prize of $25 gift card redeemable with the bookseller of your choice.

What do you have to do to win? Simply leave a comment on each participating author/blogger website. That’s it. Be sure to include your contact email info so we can inform you of your winnings. :) Check event page for complete rules/details.

New this year—Join me as I host an Authors in Bloom Facebook Party! Garden trivia, growing tips, kid crafts, delicious recipes and more giveaways! Do stop by and share YOUR best tip or favorite recipe. We’d love to hear!

For me, this year’s gardening tip is all about weeds–or the lack of them. No one wants to spend their time weeding when they visit the beautiful beds of their garden and one way to eliminate/reduce this job is corn gluten. Non-toxic and safe for animals and kids, sprinkling this around the base of your plants will significantly reduce the amount of weeds by preventing germination. CAUTION: Be sure to apply once your veggies have had a chance to sprout and grow several inches in height. Upon application, water in and allow to dry.

However, after heavy rains, you’ll want to reapply as your weeds might be able to “recover.” Don’t give them the chance! You can find corn gluten at many garden centers, but if your neighborhood seed & feed doesn’t carry it, you can always ask them to order it special. Online organic retailers also carry it.

For my personal giveaway, I’m offering an autographed complete print set of The Gables Trilogy, including award-winning Jennifer’s Garden, Lust on the Rocks & Whisper Privileges. Today’s tip centered on vegetables but Jennifer’s Garden creates a luscious tropical garden for your enjoyment, complete with delectable hero. “Every woman needs a Jackson Montgomery in their garden!”

Samantha Rawlings takes over in book two and gives Victor Marin a run for his life–and his heart! Book three features Sydney Flores & Clay Rutledge in a fight for love and the gold as Miami hosts the Special Olympics.

a Rafflecopter giveawayAs a special bonus to readers, I’m offering the complete paperback set of Ladd Springs for sale for the special price of $34.99 for 10 days only. You can’t get this incredible deal anywhere else and you can only get it for the 10 days of this blog hop. All five books and shipping included, taking you clear through the adventure that awaits in the eastern Tennessee mountains.

Book #1 in the Ladd Springs series

“I could not put the book down. I could not wait to get done with work or get on my treadmill so I could have time to read. The story keeps you wondering what is going to happen next. The characters are well developed, the story line is interesting, and the result is a captivating story. Loved the entire series and I hope there more to come.” ~ Amazon review

Simply order via the PayPal button and the entire collection will be in the mail and on its way to you—in plenty of time for summer beach reading!

Virginia!  Congratulations on winning my garden-inspired giveaway ~~ the sure-fire way to get you fired-up for the garden season. :)  And thanks to all who entered.  I appreciate you stopping by!  And the grand prize winner…

YJ!!  Woohoo ~~  the eReader and $25 gift card are yours!  And just in time for the summer vacation.  You’ll be kicked back and relaxed as you read from your slim and trim, sleek new tablet.  Ahhh…  Don’t let the waves hit it!

And congratulations to ALL who won across the 70 author sites.  Not only did you gain a bounty of gardening tips, fab new recipes and wonderful new authors, many of you won prizes along the way!  For a full list of winners, head on over to A Cozy Reader’s Corner where Tiffany will post the entire list of prizes and winners.

Thanks again to one and all for making this First Annual Authors in Bloom Spring Blog Hop a HUGE success (yes, you read that right  — there will be more to follow!).  Without energetic readers like you, we authors would be nowhere.  Okay, crazy ones like me would still be writing, forcing their daughter to read, baby, read!  But honestly, without loyal readers? Authors go nowhere fast.  Hopefully you all enjoyed your “hop” and will join us again next year. :)

Can’t wait.  Until then, happy spring and wishing you the discovery of many wonderful new books and new authors.  It’s an addiction, I know.  One I can’t seem to kick!

Welcome to the First Annual Authors in Bloom Spring Blog Hop!  It’s that time of year again when the sun comes back to shine, the birds begin to sing and the flowers burst with the color of life!  It’s a time where we forget about getting more Facebook likes in order to focus on what’s really important. To celebrate this momentous occasion—okay, momentous may be a STRONG word, but not for us gardeners, it isn’t!—some of my author friends and I are sharing our favorite gardening tips and spring fresh recipes.  How great is that?  It’s like a having a gardening encyclopedia and cookbook in one!  LOVE it.  But more than gardening know-how and gourmet delights, you’ll receive over 70 chances to win stuff from this shop!  Woohoo!  I don’t know about you, but I love anything FREE.  So hard to come by these days, isn’t it?  My garden-inspired giveaway for this hop includes a wax melter for your fragrance tarts (a Cilantro Clementine tart included), Vera Bradley napkins and matching pencils, sugar scrub by Deep Steep (grapefruit & bergamot scented ~ mmmm….), custom-seed saving packets, a garden “help” booklet, adorable little “cauliflower” poodle figurine from Enesco and more! ($55 value, plant & plate shown in photo not included) Now to my gardening tip:  If you’re like most gardeners, tomatoes are on your list of must-grow or must-try.  And who can blame you?  Rich, ripe, ruby-red tomatoes are not only delicious fresh, but the key ingredient to the infamous “red sauce” ~ a recipe handed down through Italian generations like Blue Bloods hand down silver spoons and Southern folk’s dish out middle names.  Italian by injection is what I am and red sauce is something I’m working to master. :) So how do you grow these bad boys without spots, blemishes and cracks?  Epsom salts and eggshells.  Yep!  Go ahead and start them from seeds indoors and then, when you transplant them into the ground, add a crushed eggshell and a tablespoon of Epsom salt mixed into the soil around your sproutling.  No more spots!  (a.k.a blossom-end rot.) Got cracks?  (We’ve all got problems, I know.)  Watch that water schedule, because cracks are due to uneven watering–something awfully hard to prevent in Florida.  Just when you have the automatic timer attached to the hose attached to the sprinkler head which is positioned just so all figured out—WHAM! Mother Nature blasts you with a good soaking.  She calls it a sense of humor.  I call it bad timing. But like I said, we’ve all got problems.  And I like to look at my relationship with Mother Nature as a challenge rather than a curse.  Helps me keep the stress levels down, if you know what I mean.  So what do you say?  Aren’t these tomatoes gorgeous?  Willing to give it a try?  For more gardening tips & fresh recipes, visit my garden blog at BloominThyme! (You’ll find the template for my custom seed-saving packets there, too!) Now, for the really important stuff:  to enter my giveaway, you have more than one opportunity.  You can leave a comment here, follow me on Twitter (make sure I know it’s you by giving me a mention along with the Authors in Bloom blog hop, ie. *Authors in Bloom rock!* @DianneVenetta), “like” my author page on facebook and fan me on Goodreads ~ be sure to leave a message regarding the same!  For all you gardeners out there, here are a couple of more ways to enter:  you can subscribe to my garden blog:   BloominThyme and like it’s facebook page.  How’s that for increasing the odds?  Six chances to win PLUS a whole heck of a lot of garden fun! Phew, that’s a lot of entries per person.  Did I mention I like free stuff?  I like giving it away, too. :)   And if you’re a bloomin’ warrior, or if you’ve already done any of the above, please let me know in the comment section of this post and you’ll get credited for the extra entries.  (No penalties allowed here.) So what are you waiting for?  Grab the phrase below and hop on to the next author—you’ll find the entire crew listed in the linky list below.  (You may have to check the blog section of their website.)  Remember:  to be eligible for the grand prize, you must visit each and every site—but you have 10 days to do so! Line 1: Springtime is the season of blossoms. Line 2: Buds burst open, leaves unfurl, Line 3: and young flowers mature into gorgeous blooms. And as a reminder, if you have any questions how this hop works, especially how to win the grand prize, get full details here:  Authors in Bloom Spring Blog Hop.  While you’re here check out my novels!  JENNIFER’S GARDEN recently received 4 1/2 stars from RT Book Reviews…  Available for $2.99 on both your kindle & nook. :)