Area gardeners can now go online for local gardening tips and advice with the launch of a new Internet forum from the Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN). MAIN is a nonprofit, online community network serving Western North Carolina.

MAIN's Garden Forum features local master gardeners Alan Salmon and Peter Loewer who answer questions and offer garden tips and advice. Salmon is a 25-year gardening veteran and former host of the TV gardening show, "Dr. Dirt." He is the co-owner of Wildwood Herbal, a retail herb and flower farm in Weaverville. Loewer is the author of more than 25 books on gardening, including "American Gardens" and "The Wild Gardener." He is also a contributor to Carolina Gardener magazine.

The Garden Forum is one of more than 25 online public forums hosted by MAIN, which was founded in 1996 to bring affordable dial-up Internet access to the mountain counties of North Carolina. MAIN also hosts free websites for local nonprofit organizations, and provides free Internet access at more than 60 rural libraries and community centers across Western North Carolina.

MAIN offers dial-up Internet access for $150 a year in Mitchell, McDowell, Yancey, Madison, Buncombe, Polk, Haywood, Jackson, Swain, Macon, Clay, Cherokee and Graham counties and Qualla Boundary.