used garden tractors For Your Reading Pleasure
Spring is around the corner - How is your Garden?

Spring is in my opinion the most wonderful time of year for the gardener. You can shake of that winter weariness and get ready for a new gardening season.

The most difficult part of spring gardening is trying to manage your impatience. Don't start digging around too early. The soil must be dry enough to have it fall apart when you pick it up. When it still sticks together like glue that's definitely not the case.

Early spring is the best time of year to change (parts of) your garden design. You can transplant existing shrubs and perennial plants before they begin to leaf out. This also is the time to prune your trees and shrubs. Cut back the remaining dead foliage from last season and remove dead, damaged or diseased branches of trees and shrubs.

And then flowers! That's really what spring is about isn't it! There are many that are suitable for cool spring weather. Think of sweet alyssum, some snapdragons, stock and sweat peas. You can also start some perennials like hostas and daylilies.

Start some Violets, Marigolds, Carnations, Geraniums and Impatiens inside to transplant to your flower beds in early spring. Or if you have some space left in your garden you can set up a "Cold Frame". Ready-made cold frames are available in different sizes. A cold frame "captures" the spring sunlight and warms the soil it surrounds. That way it is ideal to "harden off" houseplants and transplants for your summer garden. You can use the cold frame for direct seeding as well.

If you have unplanted areas in your garden a great spring project is to lay out landscape cloth on that unplanted area. Landscape cloth is an excellent weed barrier. It comes in different weights, heights and fabric choices. This cloth can then also serve as a great map to precisely plant your transplants.

Weeds start to grow very early but still have shallow roots in spring so get them out when you spot them. Getting on top of the weeds now means a lot less work in summer, and I'm sure that digging out weeds in the burning sun in not your favorite pastime.

These two measures will definitely intimidate your perennial weeds to the extent that they will prefer your neighbor's garden over yours.

And most of all enjoy your spring garden, watch it grow and blossom into summer!

About the Author

Anita is one of the authors of
http://www.gardening-guides.com and
http://www.lawnmower-guide.com/

used garden tractors Items For Viewing
Garden of the Brave in War: Recollections of Iran

Garden of the Brave in War: Recollections of Iran
When Terence O'Donnell, an American who lived in Iran for fifteen years in the 1960s and 1970s, was asked what he was doing there, he replied, "The conviction of all Iranians, of most of my compatriots, and indeed of the Russians, was that I was engaged in intelligence work. I was, and what is more I filed a daily report. My employer was myself and my reports consisted of eight thousand pages of journal. This book was drawn from that material."

For ten of those years, O'Donnell lived on a farm near Shiraz, in southern Iran, where he raised mainly pomegranates, but also quinces, grapes, chickens, and bees. He also made many Iranian friends. His memories of that time have yielded a masterpiece of national portraiture, wonderfully alive to the complexities of the Iranian character—courteous, capricious, deeply religious yet also playful, generous, and poetic. A work of shimmering beauty and sensitivity, Garden of the Brave in War will deepen every reader's understanding of the often elusive country that lies behind the headlines.

National Audubon Society: The Bird Garden: A Comprehensive Guide to Attracting Birds to Your Backyard Throughout the Year

Insects and Gardens: In Pursuit of a Garden Ecology

Insects and Gardens: In Pursuit of a Garden Ecology
Professional entomologist and amateur gardener Eric Grissell suggests that it might be time to declare a truce with the insects in our lives. With a sound basis in science and a practical grounding in gardening experience, Grissell introduces the reader to the role of insects in garden ecology. His insightful account of insect biology is supported by gorgeous photographs, which reveal a captivating beauty and illustrate the vital interdependence between insects and plants. Now available in paperback, this book will be loved by anyone seeking a greater appreciation and understanding of these often-maligned garden visitors. Awards for this book: American Horticultural Society Book Award Garden Writers Association Garden Globe Awards New York Times Editor's Choice - Best Books for Gardening

Drip Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates: Helping Your Garden Flourish, While Conserving Water!

Christmas Cookies (Better Homes & Gardens)

Christmas Cookies (Better Homes & Gardens)
Baking truly has a season and Christmastime is itespecially for cookies. This collection of recipes offers old-world favorites and American classics, but it also will excite bakers with several new cookies, flavor twists, and decorating ideas.

More than 130 kitchen-tested recipes for a wide variety of cookies, including favorites, new cookie ideas, and shortcut cookies.

Every full-page photo shows a gift-giving idea with directions.

Cookie Basics chapter, plus tips throughout the book, including cookie-baking techniques.

Decorating with Cookies chapter includes gingerbread houses and ornaments.

Preparation and bake times listed for each recipe.

Pears: A Country Garden Cookbook

The Ultimate Book of Small Gardens

From an internationally famous writer on horticulture comes the bible on cultivating small gardens. This reference tackles all the problems faced by those whose big ideas keep colliding with the reality of limited space. It provides a master class on design, hard landscaping, choosing essential plants, growing fruits and vegetables, combating pests and diseases, and other common difficulties. Work with a new garden or transform an existing one; learn fresh techniques for improving and fertilizing the soil; plant with a “garden theme”; and use the illustrated directory to choose the best trees, shrubs, and flowers—all to create your own miniature Eden.

Private Lives of Garden Birds

Private Lives of Garden Birds
Brimming with stories, practical wisdom, and expert guidance, the updated and expanded third edition is for bird lovers, for nature lovers, and especially for families who want to know their feathered neighbors better. Combining scientific insight and careful personal observation with a delightful and witty narrative style, Calvin Simonds gives enthusiasts a peek into the world of eleven favorite North American birds: swallows, blue jays, chickadees, song sparrows, house sparrows, phoebes, mockingbirds, crows, red-winged blackbirds, and robins - with an all-new chapter on hummingbirds. Simonds teaches readers how to really observe birds - how to interpret the "caws" of crows, recognize blue jays from their facial expressions, understand the flight patterns of swallows. Readers will be enthralled as they eavesdrop on a group of sparrows trading songs in a "hootenanny," feel the firm, dry grip of a chickadee's claws on their fingers and tramp through a summer meadow to visit a phoebe. Idiosyncratic and ever-interesting, these are the birds that brighten our lives as they dart and dawdle in our backyards, gardens, and parks.

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