Dig into gardening tomes before spring arrives—March 18, 2010
This may be one of the hardest times of the year to live in Nebraska. Each of us is longing for spring but each of us also knows that it is not quite time to put on those gardening gloves. However, it is the right time to be learning new things that can be put to good use in our yards and gardens.
Several new books at the library will help get your gardening juices flowing. “Prairie-Style Gardens” by Lynn Steiner is a how to manual on bringing the beauty of prairie ecosystems to your own urban or rural garden. It covers the entire cycle from planning to plant selection and maintenance and is richly illustrated with photos of individual plants and whole gardens.
Andrea Bellamy has created a book especially for those who wish to grow vegetables and other edibles in unusual and compact spaces. In “Sugar Snaps and Strawberries” Bellamy wants to encourage and lead each of us to discover ways to grow edible organic food at home. The great feature of this book is it encourages the gardener to think outside the traditional backyard garden spot and incorporate growing edible plants into our flowerbeds, window boxes and patio containers.
If you would like to have more birds to watch at home, check out “The Backyard Bird Lover’s Ultimate How-To Guide” by Sally Roth. It includes advice for attracting birds and more than 200 ideas and projects for making your yard more bird friendly.
Since into all gardens a few pests must come, there are a couple of new titles on how to deal with the creepy crawlies and diseases that plague gardens. “The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control”, a Rodale organic gardening book, and “Pests and Diseases” by Andrew Halstead both offer lots of information about identifying and dealing with all manner of plant problems.
If you feel a bit overwhelmed by trying to get your home environment beautiful for summer, the library is offering a series of 4 gardening classes taught by local Master Gardeners. The classes will be held on March 24 and 31 and April 5 and 12 with a different topic covered each evening. The classes are stand alone so you can attend all 4 or just one or two. Call the library or visit the library web site for more information.