I have a love-hate relationship with spring. I love green grass and new leaves and, especially, flowers. I hate raking and planting and weeding and... The warm day which we had this week reminded me that the time is coming to get my yard in order. I live in the woods and a variety of things can interfere with my yardwork. Most years that means squirrels running around digging up what they buried last fall, chipmunks eating bulbs that should have been blooming, and snow on the ground until at least May 1. In the last couple of years, something different - a family of moles digging tunnels all over the yard and six motherless baby skunks living under the shed where I keep all of my yard tools. The best thing was that the skunks decided my husband was their mother. Every time he set foot in the yard, his whole skunk family came running. That was very entertaining!

My lawn work consists of raking. I leave seeding and fertilizing to my husband. If you want to be a serious contender for the best lawn in the neighborhood, try these two books. The Lawn Bible covers everything from specific uses for different grass types to soil testing and preparation for seeding. My favorite book is Ortho's all about lawns which has a whole troubleshooting section with colored photos of common weeds, insects, and diseases which can ruin a beautiful lawn.

Flowers are my special passion. As soon as spring plants appear in the grocery store, I buy one and as soon as the flowers on that one go by, I go out and buy another one! If you are more ambitious than I am, the library has a book, Forcing, etc on forcing bulbs and plants and branches to bloom. Another good book, when you are ready to stop forcing and start planting, is the Zone Garden 5.6.7 . Coming from the seacoast area of Maine, the rule of thumb which we gardened by was " Don't plant anything before Memorial Day that you don't want to lose." Knowing what zone you live in and getting advice to help deal with climate and weather conditions is a very big help.

When I started looking for books to help with gardening, I found there were more helpful books than I could possibly mention in my blog. The library has books on container gardening, shade gardening, wildflower gardens, gardens for small spaces and many other gardening issues. I picked out a few to mention here, most on the topic of flowers. Living in the middle of farm stand heaven, I don't waste my time growing vegetables. Here are some suggestions for helpful books:
Better Homes and Gardens complete guide to flower gardening
The welcoming garden: designing your own front garden
Home Depot's Flower gardening 1-2-3
The weather resilient garden: a defensive approach to planning & landscaping
Ortho's all about pruning

All set to go to work? Don't forget - bug spray, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, rubber boots, work gloves..... There must be more!