Price : $8.79

Product Description

Create your own private nature preserve-with dozens of ingenious ideas to turn a typical backyard into a beautiful natural habitat for birds and other wildlife.

Experience the gratification of watching birds gobble seeds and other treats from your homemade bird feeder. Look on with delight as a mother bird tends to her babies in the protective hideaway of a birdhouse you have lovingly constructed from a dried gourd. Create a sunflower plantation, a bird teepee, a tent-style twig feeder, a pedestal birdbath. Follow the step-by-step instructions in this book, and your yard will quickly become an enticing playground, breeding ground, and feeding ground for colorful songbirds. And that’s not all-there are also projects specially designed to attract beautiful hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden.

Among the book’s special features:
- Projects require only a few simple tools and supplies and most can be easily and inexpensively assembled using only scrap materials found around the house

- Information-packed sidebars include tips for identifying the nests and eggs of songbirds and unusual facts and figures about birds and bird behavior

- Instructions show how to create baffles and barriers to keep squirrels, raccoons, and other unwanted guess away from the birdseed-along with projects for tending to these feeder-raiding marauders too!

The simple pleasure of viewing birds in your backyard is something to treasure every day of the year. Whether you are a seasoned bird watcher or are new to the hobby, you will find a wealth of inspirational ideas here to attract more birds than ever before to your backyard. And you’ll increase your enjoyment of this soul-satisfying pastime.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2008-07-18
Some great ideas…quite practical uses for otherwise discarded items and the birds really do respond! Highly recommend for group scouting project ideas because they generally don’t require specialized tools or unusual materials. I recycled several items that were otherwised destined to be thrown away. Thanks! Enjoy!

Review date : 2008-02-24
I own a good dozen or more books on how to attract birds to my garden. This book is definitely one of my favorites.

It contains a variety of very easy projects on best ways of providing seeds, making your own bird treats (like those expensive seed bells they sell in stores), creating feeding stations, planting habitats, setting up water stations, birdhouses and more. There is also a section devoted to hummingbirds and butterflies.

I really like that it isn’t a bird or plant identification book. One of my pet peeves with many of my other "project" books is that they dilute their content by including bird identification charts for instance – often up to 1/3 of the book with another third devoted to pictures and descriptions of the plants. I’d rather leave that to a specialized book and let my project books be filled with (imagine this) projects! There is a small amount of this type of information in this book, but it’s generally to the point and captured in simple and easy to read charts. I would suggest anyone looking for that type of material should buy appropriate field guides.

I love that the projects are pretty much entirely able to be made from recycled materials (like using the plastic tubes that tennis balls come in or metal coffee cans or plastic plant saucers for instance) and scrap wood. They are very easy and could be wonderful projects for engaging your kids with nature and getting fast results. Tips are also included for maintenance too (such as keeping feeding stations looking their best).

I also love the garden ideas – simple plans for small patches of specialized garden areas – there’s one for a self-renewing bird attracting garden with a ton of seed-producing annual flowering plants for instance; a garden for producing nesting materials, another for attracting butterflies by providing food for their caterpillars, one for hummingbirds and a number of others.

Overall, if you are trying to attract birds to your yard and especially if you are looking for ideas for projects you can do with your kids to give them an appreciation for nature, I think you can’t go wrong with this book.

Review date : 2007-12-27
This book will delight the Do-It-Yourself types who would rather put something together and attract birds to their backyards than to merely observe them in the wild. It’s a sturdy, glossy trade paperback with detailed line-drawings, tables, side-bars, and step-by-step project sheets.

It starts with a section of fast-and-easy projects for beginners to get your feet wet with the easiest of the various types of woodworking, cooking, and gardening projects you can do to attract birds.

Later chapters go into detail on each of the specialties (woodworking, cooking, gardening) so that you can either do it all or just focus on the chapters that address your talents.

The book also includes a Projects-at-a-Glance index so you can look up things to do involving Nesting, Water, Landscaping, et cetera. Highly recommended. Longer review at OrnateBirdGarden-dot-com.

Review date : 2007-02-21
This is a great book for anyone interested in backyard birding, no matter what size your backyard may be. There are articles on how to attract, feed, and house different birds.

Review date : 2007-02-16
I like this book. I’m a new bird watcher. I’ve made some of the projects mentioned in this book and they work quite well.

Price : $18.68

Product Description

The strong horizontals of bamboo reflected in a dark circle of water; the rhythmic clap of the deer scarer; the contemplative beauty of waves created in sand: combinations of nature and art that soothe and uplift the spirit. Your vision of a Japanese garden need not be confined to Japan. Here is a fully comprehensive guiide which will enable you to capture in your home or office environment the elusive spirit of the Japanese garden-no matter where you live.
The author, a Japanese landscape architect who has been living and designing Japanese gardens in the West for many years, will show you step by-step how to accomplish this ideal utilizing your own special environment and using materials which are readily available in the West. Since moving to the UK in 1974, the author has designed and created many Japanese gardens, from small private gardens to large public spaces of over two acres. It is from this direct experience that he draws the material for this book. The step-by-step instructions are easy-to-follow, and also included are many drawings and photographs to illustrate the points that are made.
Many books on Japanese gardens can be found in bookstores and libraries, but most do not take into account the different environments found outside Japan nor the diverse materials available worldwide. They tend either to be translations of books written by Japanese landscape architects and gardeners living and working in Japan, or books written by those who visit Japan to research the gardens, with the intention of introducing them to the rest of the world… These books are ideal for learning about the history and appearance of Japanese gardens, but lack the practical advice necessary for constructing your own garden.. .I believe that as the interest in and understanding of Japanese culture continues to spread, so will the popularity of and desire for Japanese gardens. I hope that this book will give pleasure to all those of you who, like me, are captivated by the gardens of Japan, and that it will help you to create a garden of your own that you can enjoy day after day.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2007-09-17
I think this a good book for someone ready to start digging now to create their Japanese garden, someone who knows exactly what they want to do. The beginning of the book was interesting, and provided good information about and reasons for the different elements of a Japanese garden – such as water, stone lanterns, bridges, and plantings.
I was hoping for a little more inspiration through photographs and seeing more examples of gardens people have created. This book gets down to the step-by-step details of building fences and dry riverbeds for example.
The book does have a nice materials/plant/planting guide in the back which I took a few notes from. But I’m in a brainstorming phase with my garden not the brass tacks phase, so I did return the book and will look into a book that is more photography-based and example-based, than how-to.

Review date : 2007-08-16
After reading this book most of the way through, I thought it provided a lot of good information. My intention was not necessarily to design a true Japanese garden but wanted to create a garden and atmosphere that reflects the feeling and general appearance of a Japanese garden while still maintaining my herb and vegetable garden. The book gave a lot of pictures that were helpful to create that atmosphere in an American environment. Most if not all of the design elements were explained as to why and how they help to create the desired effect. Additionally there was a full chapter that described the history behind Japanese gardens, and I found that very helpful. Since reading that chapter I have picked up and English translation of the books described in that chapter. I felt this book was really helpful and plan to use it to landscape my backyard.

One thing to keep in mind, is this is not a step by step how to book. It is designed mostly to give you an overview and an understanding of what elements to use, and how to use them.

Review date : 2007-04-27
Have many books on Japanese gardening – this is the one that finally helped me begin to answer the "but how will I design and situate one in my space?" question. Nicely written, direct, and just enough examples to help you get moving!

Review date : 2007-01-11
My daughter was recently proposed marriage to in a japanese garden. They are planning to build a similar garden in their backyard,so this book
was a Christmas present.
She was thrilled and we went thru the book as she mentioned several
items in the book that were relevant.
It has alot of very nice illustrations and "how-tos",more than some that I looked at.This author was careful to include all aspects of the japanese garden. Plenty of detail.Very happy with my purchase.

Review date : 2007-01-10
This book provides useful guidance in planning a Japanese Garden with well written text and beautiful photographs. It inspires one to find a way to incorporate the concepts into Western style homes.

Price : $15.65

Product Description

If you love the joys of eating home-garden vegetables but always thought those joys had to stop at the end of summer, this book is for you. Eliot Coleman introduces the surprising fact that most of the United States has more winter sunshine than the south of France. He shows how North American gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backyard cold frames and plastic covered tunnel greenhouses without supplementary heat. Coleman expands upon his own experiences with new ideas learned on a winter-vegetable pilgrimage across the ocean to the acknowledged kingdom of vegetable cuisine, the southern part of France, which lies on the 44th parallel, the same latitude as his farm in Maine.
This story of sunshine, weather patterns, old limitations and expectations, and new realities is delightfully innovative in the best gardening tradition. Four-Season Harvest will have you feasting on fresh produce from your garden all through the winter.

Customer Reviews

Review date : 2008-12-05
When first reading this book, I got really excited about the prospects of greenhouse growing in Michigan during the winter. That is until someone reminded me how cloudy MI is during the winter…so I did some research, and sure enough, the part of Maine the author lives in has *more* sunny days than the US average in winter, whereas Michigan is among the cloudiest of all areas, with a number of sunny days far below the national average. It’s still a good book, but I think the author should’ve made as much a point of cloud cover as he did latitude and day length.

Review date : 2008-10-26
I’ve been familiar with Eliot Coleman’s work for a few years now. I found an interesting article in Mother Earth News, 2004, regarding his daughter, Clara, and her attempts at gardening in the winter. It peaked my curiosity, so I saved the article. I have yet to get myself organized enough to attempt what she did, but I took it another step and purchased this particular book so that I would have more step-by-step help. Still, yet, I’m not quite brave enough to try, but if I can’t do it with the help of this awesome book, I shouldn’t waste my time!! The book is simple to understand, has perfectly understandable drawings to go by, and has about all the information one would need to be a success. I live in Central Maine and can’t wait to be picking spinach and other greens in the cold of winter!! What more could you ask for, except for Mr. Coleman and/or his wife to come to your home and start the project with you??!! Thanks for a superb book…now if I can only get myself brave enough to try. Wish me luck.

Review date : 2008-10-06
This seems like a very helpful book. We all need to learn to grow year round.

Review date : 2008-09-30
An interesting and different look at gardening. I plan to test the information I picked up this winter. I didn’t really care too much about the travel log, but it did help explain the thought process. Well worth a read.

Review date : 2008-09-18
This was a great book for people like us who would like to be self-sufficient even in a northern growing zone. I learned a lot and I’m sure I will refer to it often.