Online gardening reference/advice/help/forums?

[longers]

Are there any places on the web you can recommend? I know there's plenty of helpful and knowledgeable people on here and in real life but I'm after places I can find the answers to my daft questions before I ask them.
Places to get inspiration and ideas are good too.

Cab pointed me in the direction of what looked like a very friendly and helpful forum a couple of years ago but I've lost the link to it.

 

[Fiona N]

I've used the BBC gardening site - it has a great plant database where you can see what conditions are best or use the conditions you have to find suitable plants. I've found it's the only way to stop my sister (professional plantsperson) laughing at me as I always take it personally when an originally healthy plant turns up its toes in my garden.

It saves lots of booboos - like when a gardening guy who was helping me clear some ground said 'what you need for that (dry shady) spot is some geraniums' so I went out and bought some nice red geraniums - you know, the sort that go in window boxes. Well, they were dead within a month because of course, they're pelargoniums. Geraniums are a hardy native with small pink (or white or mauve) flowers... well how was I to know

 

[Twenty Inch]

John Harrison's Allotment site is good. His veg growing books are also highly recommended.

http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php

 

[longers]

Thanks for those. I had meant to add about any books you recommend that I could get out of the library.

 

[Twenty Inch]

The books regularly turn up in The Works and other discounted bookshops. They are far, far better than any of the lavishly illustrated coffee-table books with pictures of gorgeous models digging up a lettuce with a fork that are available.