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| Introduction | |
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| About This Book | |
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| Conventions Used in This Book | |
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| What You're Not to Read | |
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| Foolish Assumptions | |
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| How This Book Is Organized | |
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| Preparing Yourself (And Your Garden) for Planting | |
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| Flowers and Foliage: Growing for Color | |
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| Stretching Your Garden Beyond Its Boundaries: The Permanent Landscape | |
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| Producing Your Own Produce | |
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| Designing Special and Fun Gardens | |
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| The Part of Tens | |
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| Icons Used in This Book | |
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| Where to Go from Here | |
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| Preparing Yourself (And Your Garden) for Planting | |
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| Getting Ready for Gardening | |
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| Playing the Name Game | |
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| "Hello, my name is...": Getting used to plant nomenclature | |
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| Anatomy 101: Naming plant parts | |
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| Bringing in Beauty with Flowers (and Foliage) | |
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| Amazing annuals | |
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| Perennial plants | |
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| Bulbs and roses | |
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| Gardening for Your Dining Pleasure | |
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| Working with Woody (or Viney) Plants | |
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| Shrubs | |
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| Trees | |
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| Vines | |
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| The World Is Flat: Caring for Your Lawn | |
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| Planning Your Own Eden | |
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| Taking Stock: Evaluating What You Already Have | |
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| Identifying problems and restrictions | |
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| Taking advantage of your yard's assets | |
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| Getting Ideas for Your Garden Space | |
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| Gardening with the kids in mind | |
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| Establishing a good garden for pets | |
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| Creating space for entertainment | |
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| Designing a sanctuary: The quiet garden retreat | |
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| Cooking up an edible garden: Gardening for your kitchen | |
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| Zeroing In on Your Ideal Garden Style | |
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| Gardening around a theme | |
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| An inspired idea: Perusing books, magazines, and local gardens | |
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| Making Sure Costs Don't Outgrow Your Budget | |
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| Bringing Your Garden Ideas to Reality | |
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| Sketching out the yard you have now | |
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| Making your drawing match your dream garden | |
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| Defining key areas so you know where to start | |
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| Getting Professional Help for Your Garden Plans | |
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| Landscape architects, landscape designers, and garden designers | |
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| Landscape or general contractors | |
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| Master gardeners | |
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| Getting into the Zone - Your Garden's Zone | |
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| Different Hardiness Zone Maps for Different Folks | |
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| Taking a look at the world's plant hardiness zone maps | |
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| Warming up to the heat-zone map | |
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| Savoring the Sunset zones | |
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| Reading plant hardiness zone maps | |
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| Fathoming Frost Zones and Growing Seasons | |
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| Zoning Out: Breaking the Zone and Growing Season Rules | |
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| Managing your microclimates | |
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| Cheating the system: Creating microclimates | |
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| Stretching your growing season | |
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| Live Long and Prosper: Giving Plants What They Need | |
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| Let There Be Light! | |
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| Facing the Fertilizer Facts | |
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| What to feed: The great natural versus chemical debate | |
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| When to feed your garden | |
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| Compost: More than Just a Fertilizer | |
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| Demystifying Soil pH | |
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| Finding out your soil's pH | |
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| Adjusting your soil's pH | |
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| Much Ado about Mulch | |
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| Knowing your mulches | |
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| How to apply mulch - and how much | |
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| Water, Water Everywhere: Tackling Watering Issues | |
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| Providing plants with the right amount of moisture | |
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| Determining which watering system to use | |
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| Cutting back on watering | |
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| Dealing with drainage problems | |
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| Air! Air! Plants Need Air! | |
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| Gathering Your Gardening Gear | |
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| Digging Those, Er, Digging Tools | |
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| Getting down with shovels and spades | |
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| Trowels: More than just little shovels | |
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| Garden forks: Not for dining! | |
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| Dabbling in dibbles (or dibbers) for poking holes | |
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| Clues to Quality Cultivating Tools | |
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| Ho, ho, hoes | |
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| Weeding out poor weeders to get to the best | |
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| Making the Right Cut with Cutting Tools | |
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| Getting a handle on hand pruners | |
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| Hedging your bets on hedge shears | |
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| Branching out with loppers | |
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| Moving up to pruning saws | |
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| Putting Power Tools to Use | |
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| Safety first: Controlling your power tools (so they don't control you) | |
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| Chewing through chores with chainsaws | |
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| Working with weed trimmers and weed whackers | |
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| Tilling soil with rototillers | |
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| Wading through Wondrous Watering Tools | |
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| Hoses | |
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| Nozzles | |
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| Hose-end sprinklers | |
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| Water timers | |
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| Flowers and Foliage: Growing for Color | |
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| Growing Annuals: Adding Yearly Variety to Your Garden | |
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| Finding Flowers that Fit Your Garden | |
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| Some like it hot: Warm weather annuals | |
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| Some annuals like it cool | |
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| Mixing and Matching Annuals | |
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| Good habits: Taking advantage of shape, height, and structure | |
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| Combining colors | |
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| Buying Annuals | |
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| Starting with seed packets | |
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| Starting with nursery, well, starts | |
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| An Annual Event: The Whens, Wheres, and Hows of Planting | |
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| Filling in the garden after the last frost | |
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| Deciding where to plant annuals | |
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| Getting annuals in the ground | |
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| Feeding the Flower Power: Taking Care of Annuals | |
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| Watering | |
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| Fertilizing | |
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| Mulching | |
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| Grooming | |
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| Dealing with annual pests | |
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| Growing Perennials: Plants That Make a Comeback | |
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| Looking at Perennials, the Repeat Performers | |
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| Hardy perennials | |
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| Tender perennials | |
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| Planing Long-Term Strategy for Your Perennial Garden | |
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| Choreography: Timing perennial blooming | |
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| The living palette: Keeping colors in mind | |
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| Designing perennial beds and borders | |
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| Finding and Buying Perennials | |
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| To the market: Getting perennials in containers | |
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| Buying perennials through mail-order | |
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| Acquiring free divisions from other gardeners | |
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| Planting Perennials | |
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| Figuring out where to plant perennials | |
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| Deciding when to plant perennials | |
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| Preparing for the actual planting | |
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| Show the Love: Taking Care of Your Perennials | |
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| Supporting with stakes or rings | |
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| Practicing good grooming habits | |
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| Dividing perennials | |
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| Preparing perennials for winter | |
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| Dealing with perennial pests and diseases | |
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| Brightening Up the Garden with Bulbs | |
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| Shedding Light on Bulbs | |
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| Defining terms: Bulbs aren't always, well, bulbs | |
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| The time of the season: Looking at early and late bloomers | |
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| Getting acquainted with the most popular bulbs | |
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| Social Mixers: Choosing to Combine Your Bulbs | |
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| Combining various types of tulips | |
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| Mixing up your daffodils | |
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| Combining different kinds of bulbs | |
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| The Search: Where to Get Your Bulbs | |
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| Buying bulbs from home stores and nurseries | |
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| Purchasing bulbs through mail-order | |
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| Getting Down and Dirty: Planting Bulbs | |
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| When to plant bulbs | |
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| Where to plant bulbs | |
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| How to plant bulbs | |
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| Taking Care of Bulbs | |
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| Watering your bulbs | |
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| Fertilizing bulbs | |
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| Mulching | |
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| Fighting bulb pests | |
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| Coming Up Roses | |
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| What Makes a Rose Be a Rose Be a Rose | |
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| Checking out blooming habits | |
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| Looking at hardiness | |
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| Identifying the various rose types | |
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| Deciding Where to Put Your Roses | |
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| Planning your beds and borders | |
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| Using roses as groundcovers | |
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| Screening with roses | |
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| Using roses as vines | |
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| Buying the Best Roses | |
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| Getting a potted rose | |
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| Purchasing a bareroot rose | |
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| Planting Your Roses | |
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| Putting containerized roses in the ground | |
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| Planting bareroot roses | |
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| Taking Care of Your Roses | |
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| Watering | |
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| Fertilizing | |
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| Keeping roses in shape | |
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| Maximizing winter hardiness | |
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| War of the roses: Tackling rose pests | |
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| Stretching Your Garden Beyond Its Boundaries: The Permanent Landscape | |
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| Growing a Perfect Lawn | |
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| In the Beginning: Getting Ready to Make a Lawn from Scratch | |
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| Preparing your yard for a lawn | |
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| Designing the lawn | |
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| Seeding and Sodding: Adding the Grass | |
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| Determining the kind of grass you want or need | |
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| Cool-season and warm-season grasses | |
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| Growing lawns from seed | |
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| Your own turf: Growing lawns from sod | |
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| Watering a Thirsty Lawn | |
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| Getting the water balance right | |
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| Boosting watering efficiency | |
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| Feeding and Fertilizing | |
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| What's your type? Deciding on the kind of fertilizer | |
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| Knowing your serving sizes: How much fertilizer is enough | |
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| Checking out the feeding schedule | |
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| Mowing the Lawn, Cutting the Grass, and Otherwise Giving the Yard a Shave | |
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| Warring with Weeds | |
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| Preventing lawn weeds | |
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| Treating already-weedy lawns | |
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| Reaching New Heights with Trees and Shrubs | |
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| Knowing Your Trees | |
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| Exploring evergreen trees | |
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| Falling for deciduous trees | |
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| Choosing the Right Tree for Where You Live | |
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| Getting Treed! Planting Trees | |
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| Not just for Arbor Day: Deciding when to plant your tree | |
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| Finding a suitable location | |
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| Planting your tree | |
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| Taking Care of Your Tree | |
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| Giving trees a tall drink of water | |
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| Fertilizing trees | |
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| Life and limb: Pruning judiciously | |
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| Raising the stakes: Offering some support | |
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| Knowing Your Shrubs | |
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| Nonflowering shrubs | |
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| Flowering shrubs | |
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| Planning Practical Uses for Bushes | |
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| Planting Shrubs | |
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| Deciding when to plant your shrubs | |
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| Situating your shrubs | |
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| Perfecting your shrub-planting skills | |
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| Caring for Your Shrubs | |
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| Watering | |
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| Fertilizing your shrubs | |
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| Pruning for shape and rejuvenation | |
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| Climbers and Crawlers: Growing Vines and Groundcovers | |
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| Looking at How Vines Hold On | |
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| Twining | |
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| Tendrils | |
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| Adhesive discs | |
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| Holdfasts | |
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| Sprawling | |
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| Choosing the Right Vines for Your Garden | |
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| Considering your basic options | |
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| Love me tender? Deciding whether you need cold-hardy vines | |
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| Sizing up your vines | |
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| Examining site considerations for vines | |
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| Planting and Supporting Vines | |
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| Giving vines a little backup: Trellises, fences, and arbors | |
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| Using trees and shrubs as living supports | |
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| Maintaining Perennial Vines through Pruning | |
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| Looking at Groundcovers, a Living Carpet | |
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| Examining groundcover varieties | |
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| Reaching out: How the groundcover spreads | |
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| Spacing out: Considering the room the groundcover takes up | |
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| Exploring site considerations for groundcovers | |
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| Planting and Maintaining Groundcovers | |
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| Watering | |
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| Fertilizing | |
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| Mulching | |
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| Keeping groundcovers in shape: Pruning and pegging | |
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| Getting weeds out (and keeping them out) | |
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| Producing Your Own Produce | |
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| Food, Glorious Food! Growing Your Own Veggies | |
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| Varieties of Veggies | |
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| Growing vegetables by seasons | |
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| Defining hybrids | |
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| Appreciating heirlooms | |
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| Designing for Dining and Getting Your Vegetable Garden Ready | |
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| Sketching out your plan | |
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| Working with the sun: Where to plant vegetables | |
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| Using planting patterns and systems | |
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| Prepping your soil | |
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| Finding Your Vegetables | |
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| Planting Your Vegetables | |
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| Deciding when to plant your veggies | |
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| Sowing and planting your veggies | |
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| Composting for Vegetable Gardens | |
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| Fertilizing Your Vegetable Garden | |
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| Using Frames and Supports for Veggies | |
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| Dealing with Vegetable Pests | |
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| Rodents, rabbits, and other miscreants | |
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| Deer | |
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| Birds | |
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| Bugs | |
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| Adding Spice to Your Garden: Growing Herbs | |
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| Planting Herbs: A Lesson in Adaptation | |
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| Getting the timing right | |
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| Helping herbs find their place in the world | |
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| Putting herbs in their place: How to plant | |
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| Raising herbs from seed | |
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| Taking Care of Your Herbs | |
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| Providing an herb's basic needs | |
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| Dealing with herb pests | |
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| Sweet and Crunchy: Growing Fruits, Berries, and Nuts | |
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| Fruit Basics: Knowing and Choosing the Right Fruits for Your Garden | |
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| Examining the types of fruits | |
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| Getting the lowdown on chill factors | |
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| Studying your size accommodations | |
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| Going solo or in pairs: Looking at pollination | |
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| Finding and Buying Your Fruit Bearers | |
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| Planting Your Fruit | |
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| Making the prepared soil deep and wide enough | |
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| Choosing the best time to plant fruits | |
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| Deciding where to plant your fruits | |
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| Getting your fruit in the ground | |
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| Taking Care of Fruits | |
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| Watering | |
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| Fertilizing | |
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| Cutting back on mulch | |
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| Supporting and training your fruit | |
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| Pruning | |
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| Dealing with fruit pests | |
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| Designing Special and Fun Gardens | |
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| Mini Gardens and Microcosms: Gardening in Containers | |
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| Exploring Different Kinds of Containers | |
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| Examining standard container materials | |
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| Thinking outside the pot: Alternative choices and offbeat containers | |
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| The Inside Track: Getting the Container Soil Right | |
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| Purchasing a soil mix | |
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| Whipping up your own soil mix | |
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| Picking the Best Plants for Your Containers | |
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| Up close and personal displays | |
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| Tucked in attention-grabbers | |
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| Containers of mixed company | |
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| Arranging Containers for a Container Garden | |
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| Taking Care of Your Container Plants | |
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| Gauging your container garden's water needs | |
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| Fertilizing your container plants | |
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| Taking the Plunge: Gardening with Ponds and Fish | |
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| Planning Your Water Garden | |
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| Looking at location | |
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| On the level: Deciding between aboveground and in-ground gardens | |
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| Choosing the best lining | |
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| Picking Out Your Water Garden Parts and Supplies | |
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| Pumps | |
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| Bubblers and fountains | |
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| Filters | |
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| Installing and Filling Your Pond | |
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| Choosing Plants for Water Gardens | |
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| Waterlilies | |
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| Lotus | |
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| So-called marginal plants | |
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| Floaters and submerged plants | |
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| Adding Fish to Your Water Garden | |
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| Maintaining Your Water Garden | |
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| Taking care of the plants | |
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| Winterizing your plants and fish | |
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| A sea of green: Controlling algae in troubled waters | |
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| The Part of Tens | |
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| Ten Common Questions from (and Ten Common Answers for) Gardening Beginners | |
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| What's the Difference between an Annual and a Perennial? | |
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| What's Organic Matter? | |
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| Why Does Everything I Plant in My Flower Bed Die? | |
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| How Do I Prepare the Ground for a Brand-New Bed? | |
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| Do I Have to Spray Chemicals on My Rosebushes? | |
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| Do Any Vegetables Grow in the Shade? | |
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| It's Hot and Dry Here and I Don't Want Cacti. What Are My Options? | |
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| What Can I Plant on a Steep Bank to Prevent Erosion? | |
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| How Do I Remove the Weeds from the Lawn without Pulling Them One by One? | |
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| Is There Anything Deer Don't Eat? | |
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| Ten Quick, Fun, or Handy Garden Projects | |
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| Set Up a Hammock | |
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| Put Up a Rubber Tire Swing | |
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| Install Stepping Stones | |
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| Set Up a Trellis | |
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| Plant a Teepee | |
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| Create Whimsical Garden Art from Castoffs | |
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| Decorate the Front Steps with Potted Plants | |
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| Make Some Plant Labels | |
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| Make a Simple Compost Bin for Your Own Organic Matter | |
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| Combat Garden Pests with Homemade Pepper Spray | |
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| Ten Garden Projects for Children | |
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| Create a Dinosaur Garden | |
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| Grow a Sunflower Fort | |
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| Make Sunprints | |
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| Plant Mini-Pumpkins | |
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| Write with Seeds | |
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| Trap a Zucchini | |
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| Make a Home-Grown Salad | |
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| Grow Paperwhites | |
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| Set Up a Birdbath | |
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| Attract Butterflies to the Garden | |
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| Basic Gardening Resources | |
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| Index | |