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Plan to have a gorgeous backyard that both you and wild birds enjoy! Birds will flock to a yard filled with shrubs, trees, and flowers. Need some help…

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To find out which birds are at the moment in the geographic area, you will have to consult the specialty magazines and documentations. Libraries and book stores have books based on migration, on the roads that some bird species take to …

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Weird and wonderful birds of California vary in size and behaviors — all worth a little research!

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Plant the right stuff and harvest a garden of birdsHagerstown Morning Herald, MD - 51 minutes agoBird gardening provides for all your favorite birds' needs: food, water, shelter and safe places to nest. Think of it as creating a backyard oasis for birds …

Source: "gardening" - Google News

The lovely thing about gardening, though, is you get to try again every year. The warm damp soil beckons, the nursery doors open for business, and the seed catalogs sing their siren song. I buy myself a new pair of gardening gloves and …

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Hello! I saw the most wonderful hummingbird today! Some of my flowers are starting to bloom so the rubythroated hummingbirds are back. I try to keep flowers blooming the whole season long so they stick around. …

Source: sunriseworkshop

Hi everyone

Welcome to this edition of your Gardening Weekly, today's edition is entitled:

Getting Rid of Garden Pests

QUOTE: A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in
- Greek proverb

There are many different types of pests that can ruin your good work in the garden.  The most common are insects and they can destroy a garden in a very short time if left to their own devices.  Even the neighbor's cat can be a pest if it is always using your garden as a toilet.  Birds can be another reason for concern if they are eating your plants and can become quite smelly if they are nesting in trees or hedges in abundance.
 
Pests will use your garden primarily for food and shelter.  To reduce the amount of pests in your garden you need to create an environment that isn't as inviting.

By clearing leaves and waste from the base of your plants you will reduce the amount of shelter.  This will allow you to work the soil better and eliminate the incidence of in-ground insects that can suck the nutrients out of the soil.

Website Of Interest. Check out the following:
http://blog.mygardeninghome.com/soil.html

You can stop cats, rats and mice from digging in the soil by using effective ground cover in the form of mesh where it becomes too difficult for them to get through to the soil.

By keeping your compost in the correct composting containers there won't be any decaying matter lying around the yard that will attract rats and mice.  Having a tidy garden and yard will not encourage them to make their home on your property.  Traps might be needed as a final deterrent for rats and mice.

Spraying your plants with suitable insecticides will also reduce the unwanted insect population.  There are some good natural applications on the market that will do the job of the commercial insecticides or you can make your own effective natural insecticide.

If you prune back trees and hedges you might make them less appealing to birds and this might help to reduce the population in your garden.  Keep in mind that some insects do a good job of maintaining a balance in the garden by eating other insects and birds will also eat insects that could be causing damage to your plants.

Website Of Interest. Check out the following:
http://blog.mygardeninghome.com/soil.html

Thanks,
Annie
http://blog.mygardeninghome.com

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Hi everyone

Welcome to this edition of your Gardening Weekly, today's edition is entitled:

Which Ones are the Weeds?

QUOTE: Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
- Henry Ford

I have always wondered who ever determined what was a weed and what was a flower.  There are some delightful looking weeds that grow in the garden even when we don't want them to be there.

I guess the best explanation of what represents a weed, and what represents a flower is, a weed is a plant that is growing somewhere that it shouldn't be.

Website Of Interest. Check out the following:
http://blog.mygardeninghome.com/plants.html

I'm sure that if we started planting these plants that we call weeds, the ones that we call flowers now would start sprouting up everywhere.

I have known people who will happily leave weeds in the garden if they think their color and style will add to the variety of their garden.

More often than not however, we fight the never-ending battle to eradicate these unwanted residents from our gardens only to have them grow back faster than ever.

Adding a covering of mulch will help to reduce the return of weeds.  Another method that helps is to lay dampened newspaper on the ground before covering it with mulch. This is very effective.

The problem with weeds is the fact that many of these plants are better at seeking out the nutrients in the soil and by doing so they are using the goodness that we want for the plants that we choose to have in the garden.

Many weeds also attract insects to the garden that can affect the condition of other plants.

No matter how diligent we are at removing weeds from the garden they will always reappear as their seeds are transported by insects, the wind, and even on the clothing and shoes that we wear.

Replanting from one garden to another can easily introduce new weeds so it is always important to check the soil and the roots of the plants that you are moving to ensure you aren't transplanting weeds also.

Website Of Interest. Check out the following:
http://blog.mygardeninghome.com/plants.html

Thanks,
Annie
http://blog.mygardeninghome.com

Hi everyone

Welcome to this edition of your Gardening Weekly, today's edition is entitled:

Themes in Your Garden

QUOTE: Who would have thought it possible that a tiny little flower could preoccupy a person so completely that there simply wasn't room for any other thought….
- Sophie Scholl

It is good to have a theme that you can follow throughout your garden and work on a plan and a selection of plants that will go along with that theme.

By having a theme to follow this will dictate, not only the types of plants that you will be buying, but also anything else that you put in the garden.  This will include everything from sculptures and garden furniture, to the colors of the pots that you will choose.

While some people might think this is restricting their freedom of creation, it does in fact allow you to create a garden that has more freedom of flow rather than being disjointed with a variety of different themes that never quite gel together.

Website Of Interest. Check out the following:
http://blog.mygardeninghome.com/gardencenter.html

Sometimes the theme of your garden will be determined by the style of the house that you have on the property, and other times it will be determined by the geographical location that you are living in.

If for instance you are living near a beach, you will probably want the theme to tie in with the beach setting.  By doing this you are likely to get plants for your garden that are more appropriate and will endure the conditions that they will be growing in.

Plants that are suitable for growing in coastal areas will be able to withstand the winds and the salt of the sea air that could quickly damage other plants that aren't suitable for those conditions.

Likewise it wouldn't look quite as appropriate to have a tropical garden with palms where a cottage garden would compliment the style of the house.

And tropical plants are not going to flourish as well in cold harsh climates so there are many factors that need to be taken into account when deciding on your garden theme.

Website Of Interest. Check out the following:
http://blog.mygardeninghome.com/gardencenter.html

Thanks,
Annie
http://blog.mygardeninghome.com