Colleen Vanderlinden is the author of "Edible Gardening for the Midwest" and "Vegetable Gardening for the Midwest." Her work has appeared in Mother Earth News and Birds & Blooms, and she's the organic gardening guide for About.com. When she's not gardening, she's teaching others how to do so — which basically means she's obsessed.

In addition to gardening, she enjoys cooking, reading (usually about gardening ...) and dreaming of keeping a few chickens. She's also the founder of In the Garden Online, where she writes about gardening, blogging and everything in between, and Gardening in the Mitten, where she provides useful information for Michigan gardeners.