June 18, 2018 | agudenburr
One of my goals for summer is to grow a garden with a variety of herbs and vegetables. Gardening is a great family activity that teaches children plant lifecycles and where food comes from. Here are some gardening resources for children to get your family started.
Presents twelve gardening projects using leftover scraps from cooking, including growing celery from stubs, growing a bulb of garlic from a single clove, and growing a ginger plant from a root.
Introduces gardens and gardening, including how a seed grows into a plant, how fruits and vegetables form, and what animals and insects also live in a garden.
August 30, 2016 | madame librarian
Lucia, recently widowed, is the newcomer to the village of Tilling and eager to wrest the reins of social supremacy from the incumbant Miss Mapp and install herself as its benevolent dictator. In their polite acts of sabotage and ruthless jockeying for the position of cultural arbiter Mapp and Lucia tear up the conventions of drawing-room bridge evenings as their deadly weapons. Things finally come to a head with Miss Mapp's audacious attempt to steal her rival's celebrated Lobster a la Riseholme. E.F. Benson's charming satrical bent turns the pretensions and snobberies of English village life into a vicious comedy.
First in a trilogy, Merry Hall is the account of the restoration of a house and garden in post-war England. Though Mr. Nichols's horticultural undertaking is serious, his writing is high-spirited, riotously funny, and, at times, deliciously malicious.
February 9, 2012 | Anne Heidemann
What plant when by [writers, Martin Page, with Andrea Loom]
It can be tricky to plant a garden that always has something blooming through the seasons. This book lists plants in order of season, from early spring through winter, and within each season offers plants according to their color, making it easy to find ideas that will fit in your garden. It also lists plants that are pleasing throughout all seasons, whether it be from their blooms or their foliage.
January 30, 2012 | specialk
The United States Department of agriculture had updated its Plant Hardiness Zone Map, reflecting a more accurate picture of growing conditions in the United States. Canton, Michigan is currently in zone 6a and 50% of the country has a warmer zone assigned. Gardeners, nurseries and plant breeders are among those who use the map. Data also figures into research models for crop-risk insurance and the spread of exotic weeds and insects.
January 5, 2012 | Anne Heidemann
Growing perennials in cold climates by Mike Heger, Debbie Lonnee, and John Whitman — There are certainly many areas with colder climates than we have here in Canton, but with our sometimes harsh winters and unpredictable seasonal changes, we definitely qualify. This book lays out details on the most popular perennials cold climate gardeners favor, and also provides basic information for growing perennial plants. It even gets into propagation techniques and troubleshooting problems with perennials.
December 29, 2011 | Anne Heidemann
Designing with grasses by Neil Lucas — Like many gardeners, I tend to think of ornamental plants in terms of perennials and annuals, but I often neglect to remember the grasses. There are so many beautiful grasses that can really bring depth and flair to a garden, and this book highlights them. Not only do grasses bring beauty, they are often very healthy for the ecosystem and bring environmental benefits. This book has information on varieties of grasses, how to use them in your gardens, and how to keep them healthy.
December 22, 2011 | Anne Heidemann
Pruning & training by Christopher Brickell, David Joyce — There are so many plants that like to climb or have other growth habits that make it easy for gardeners to help them grow in a particular shape or pattern. This book covers a huge variety of those plants, as well as presenting background information on how different types of plants grow and the basics of both pruning and training. There's info here on how to prune and train established plants as well as how to get new plantings started to match your vision.