My yard is waking up. Grass is growing, trees are budding, robins are a-hopping — it’s wonderful. Not far from my home is a small piece of land with what I like to call wild daffodils. I’m sure it was farmland in the past, and perhaps someone planted daffodil bulbs in a garden there, but the farm (and possible garden) exist no more — “improved” with roads and houses at some point. Yet there is a small section of dirt next to the road that sprouts dozens of daffodils every spring. These happy — and wild — yellow flowers act as my barometer for the transition from winter to spring. By the way, they’re starting to bloom right now, so here’s to warmer days ahead.
The arrival of spring also means that nurseries and garden centers will soon be full of potting soils, plants and flowers. Not only is the grass waking up, so is the desire to dig in the dirt and grow stuff. I checked the library’s catalog and found many newly published gardening titles in the collection. This is the time to gather gardening knowledge in preparation for the 2023 growing season, so be sure to include visiting the library on your gardening to-do list.
- “The Garden Refresh: How to Give Your Yard Big Impact on a Small Budget” by Kier Holmes.
- “The Home-Scale Forest Garden: How to Plan, Plant, and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape” by Dani Baker.
- “Plant, Grow, Harvest, Repeat: Grow a Bounty of Vegetables, Fruits, and Flowers by Mastering the Art of Succession Gardening” by Meg McAndrews.
- “Raised Bed Gardening: All the Know-How You Need to Build and Grow a Raised Bed Garden” by CaliKim.
- “The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Guide: How to Combine Shape, Color, and Texture to Create the Garden of Your Dreams” by Jenny Rose Carey.
- “We Are the Ark: Returning Our Gardens to Their True Nature with Acts of Restorative Kindness” by Mary Reynolds.
