Gardening with Kids

Sat, 04/18/2015 - 11:59am by SaraP

It's Spring! It's National Gardening Month! It's even almost Earth Day! Perfect time for the whole family to start or nurture a garden together! Gardening with kids is a fun, engaging activity that encourages learning and exploration, building quality relationships, and creating something rewarding. Check out these books for ideas about gardening with youngsters, from toddlers on up:

Gardening Lab for Kids: Fun and easy projects - plant seeds, plan your garden, and make things for your garden (tool totes, rain gauges, stepping stones, terrariums, and way way more!). A beautiful layout and page design makes this an extra good choice for inspiration.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Ever heard of a sunflower house? And what's a pizza patch?? A bean tunnel sounds fun! This highly recommended book will help the family create inspiring, kid-friendly garden spaces and special projects! Illustrated with colorful drawings by the author.

Fairy Garden Handbook: Fairy gardens are a big hit with all ages these days. Why not get a wee one to help make one?! Those little imaginations can run wild with these fairy garden projects and tips. Beautiful photos accompany the text.

The Family Kitchen Garden: A practical guide to growing a garden with the whole family. This book is full of the info adults need to make a successful kitchen garden, while also including guidance on choosing plants, tools, and tasks that make sense for kiddos. Perfectly balanced for creating a functional garden that includes the whole family in a meaningful way.

Ready Set Grow!: Each simple, fun, and colorful spread features a different project, plant, or tip for the garden. Very easy to follow along step-by-step.

Grow It, Cook It: Bright photos for each step of growing edible plants, and then cooking with them, will engage youngsters who are ready to try something new. Recipes include cute tomato eggplant towers, mini pumpkin pies, scrumptious chocolate mint mousse, and more.

Sustainable Landscaping with Landscaping Expert Drew Lathin

Tuesday March 24, 2015: 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Fleeting Beauty, Enduring Value: the Peony Garden at the Nichols Arboretum

Tuesday May 19, 2015: 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Stories in the Garden

Saturday May 16, 2015: 2:00pm to 3:30pm
Downtown Library Garden
Preschool - Grades 3.

Newspaper Pots & Seed Starts!

Saturday April 11, 2015: 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Malletts Creek Branch: Program Room
Youth (Grade K And Up), Teens And Adults.

Permaculture: Practical solutions for self-reliance

Thu, 07/24/2014 - 4:02pm by annevm

One of our newer magazine subscriptions at the library is to Permaculture: Practical solutions for self-reliance">Permaculture. This magazine is a "bestselling international green-environmental magazine (with) inspiring articles written by leading experts alongside the readers' own tips and solutions," their website states. More from the website: "Published quarterly, this pioneering magazine is full of money-saving ideas for your home, garden and community. It features thought provoking articles on organic gardening; food and drink; renewable technology and green building; education, health and economics; transition towns and ecovillages; personal and community development; and sustainable agriculture and agro-forestry." Permaculture magazine also runs reviews of new books, DVDs, tools, courses, and access to contacts. Sounds like a good one!

Cool Summer Drinks

Tue, 07/01/2014 - 3:23pm by theshhlady

When you think of a cool, refreshing drink that you'd like to have on a hot, summer day you think of lemonade, right? Or maybe iced tea.

But there is a lesser known, fizzy drink great for summer known as kombucha. It sort of tastes like a cross between carbonated water and tea. You can even add juice to it. There is another side benefit to drinking kombucha: It's fermented! You make it be starting with some tea that has loads of sugar in it. After adding a probiotic yeast and bacterial colony (known as a SCOBY mother) and letting it sit for several days to weeks, the probiotics break down the sugar into acids so that by the time you drink it, it's very low in sugar. With every cup you get loads of healthy bacteria and B-complex vitamins. Talk about healthy! There is a book that shows you how to make it at home here and here.

It’s summer so a lot of Ann Arborites are growing a vegetable garden. I know I am! But what if your garden is doing so well that you have armfuls of veggies that you don't know what to do with? A great way to get some awesome nutrition or to use up extra veggies and dark leafy greens is to make smoothies or juices. For a great smoothie all you need is a blender and a knife to cut up the toughest pieces. "But won't that taste icky?" I can hear you say. Fear not! The sweet fruit you add makes the bitter taste of vegetables like kale hardly detectable. Try it and I bet you'll be a smoothie addict in no time.

Preparing Gardens For Winter With Kathy Squiers, Washtenaw County Parks & Recreation Horticulturalist

Wednesday September 10, 2014: 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Pittsfield Branch: Program Room

May is Gardening for Wildlife Month

Tue, 05/06/2014 - 3:28pm by yugure

Isn't it great to see the daffodils and tulips finally blooming? And the bunnies bouncing around? And to hear the multitude of birds singing and chirping in the trees? I don't know about you, but I'm ecstatic that spring is finally here!

If you want to fully embrace spring, there's no better way than by celebrating Gardening for Wildlife Month! Make your yard a welcoming place for urban or rural fauna (depending on where you live). We've got books in our catalog on how to make your yard attractive to various wildlife species. Try the following titles:

Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife
The National Wildlife Federation's Guide to Gardening for Wildlife
Your Backyard Wildlife Garden: How to Attract and Identify Wildlife in Your Yard
Attracting Backyard Wildlife : A Guide for Nature-Lovers

Good luck on creating your backyard wildlife wonderland!

Tonight: Gardening with Gusto with Karleen Shafer!

Tue, 05/06/2014 - 12:20pm by eapearce

Now that the weather is finally beginning to warm up, many of us are thinking about getting our gardens started. Local landscape designer, author and Master Gardener Karleen Shafer will be at the Mallets Creek branch of the Ann Arbor District Library this evening to discuss various gardening topics. She will touch on pruning techniques, planting issues, building healthy ecological communities with plants, and creating a sense of space in your garden, no matter how large or small it may be. She will also be available for questions about more specific topics at the end of her talk.

Useful handouts on local invasive species and how to combat them will also be provided at the event. Karleen’s talk will begin at 7:00 tonight (Tuesday, May 6) in the large meeting room at Mallets Creek. Read more about Gardening with Gusto and about Karleen here!