One way to beat the winter blahs is to start gearing up for the gardening season. Whether you like to grow flowers, or you have a vegetable garden, or you simply want to improve the landscape around your home, University of Illinois Extension has three new gardening websites to help you make the most of your investment.

A new website designed especially for Southern Illinois residents is the SI Gardening site, http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/regions/hort. The site contains printable fact sheets on topics ranging from growing bulbs, to lawn care, to growing pecans. The site also contains information for commercial fruit and vegetable growers, as well as fact sheets on common insect problems in and around the home. You'll find a link to The Green Thumb newsletter, and you can check out area gardening events in the News and Tips section. If you don't have internet access, your local U of I Extension office can print any of the fact sheets for you.

Another new website recently released is called Successful Container Gardens, http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/containergardening. As its name implies, the site is dedicated to container gardening. Topics include choosing a container, selecting soil mixes, choosing and combining plants, fertilizing, watering and grooming basics. You'll also find special containers such as water gardens, hanging baskets and topiaries, as well as creating whimsical containers.

Finally, check out the online Illinois Vegetable Garden Guide at http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/vegguide. This user-friendly website includes sections on 10 steps to a successful garden, garden problems and their control, and tips on growing specific vegetables.