I'm not sure what part of the country you are in, but I live in Sacramento, California, and I have a wonderful booklet that I got from the University of California ANR (Agriculture and Natural Resources). "The experts at the University of California IPM Program (Integrated Pest Management) have written this beautiful guide especially for the home rose enthusiast." It tells about rose pests and their natural predators, diseases, and deficiencies, all with excellent photos. It seems to be meant for California rose growers, so if you live elsewhere it might not be of much use to you. However, you could contact your nearest university or Master Gardener program to see if they could recommend something similar. I know that this booklet has been a huge help to me! I was able to identify two insects on my roses that looked like Baddies but who turned out to be the ones that live off aphids and consume tons of them - and my roses were practically being destroyed by aphids. This year these two heroes have arrived again, in the nick of time! Hint: I try to leave the aphids alone, because I figure a Ladybug or Syrphid Fly is most likely to plant a batch of eggs where there is an ample food supply... Laura

Kind of, sort of. Finding a book with all of that would be remarkable, and finding such a book oriented to NE OK would be twice as remarkable. There's several good books to help get you started. Since you're more interested in edibles, I'd say Ed Smith's "Vegetable Gardening Bible" is essential. If you are growing in raised beds and want to maximize your production, I'd suggest the newest edition of Mel Bartholomew's "Square Food Gardening". The best book on getting the largest harvest in the smallest space is John Jeavons' book on biointensive gardening. It is called "How To Grow More Vegetables* (and fruits, nuts, berries, grains and other crops) *Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Can Imagine". Some people find his book hard to use because it is very detailed, very scientifically-oriented, and full of charts you spend time deciphering. I like it though, although I certainly do not take such a precise, measured, orderly approach to planting. I do raise vegetables using biointensive methods and my spacing is a hybrid of John Jeavons' recommmendations and Mel Bartholomew's recommendations further modified based on what I've found works for me in my soil and growing conditions. For a beginner gardener, Mel's book on square foot gardening is much easier to start out with....and John Jeavons' book is one you might graduate up to after you have some gardening experience. Rosalind Creasy's new book on Edible Landscaping is remarkable and fits my style of mixing together edibles and ornamentals in the same beds. It is, perhaps, my favorite gardening book of all the ones I've read...and I've read quite a few. It was her earlier books on Edible Landscaping that got me started on edible landscaping, but this recent work is the ultimate guide to edible landscaping and I truly love it, love it, love it. I'll let someone else mention the good books by Oklahoma writers because I haven't read them in over a decade and am not sure I remember the names of them any more, but there are a couple out there. Any gardening book written by Texas gardening guru Neil Sperry is top-notch and since Oklahoma is so close to Texas and we have similar soils and climate, his writing applies as much to us here in OK and to folks down in TX. One of my favorite books from recent years was new last year and its author is Barbara Pleasant, a long-time gardener and an author who writes books and for various gardening-oriented publications. I've linked it below. For a monthly calender (I don't think the weekly calendar you're hoping for really exists, but over time I've written my own weekly calendar in my head based on my soil, my climate, etc.), Google and find the website of the Tulsa Master Gardeners. They have a monthly "to do" calendar that is pretty handy. I'm assuming you already read "Urban Farm" magazine which is very, very good. I've ready "Mother Earth News" for decades and like it vey much, although I like it much more way back in the old days before it became so yuppiefied and sophisticated. "Organic Gardening" magazine is a mere shadow of itself and I've about given up on it. It is probably about 1/50th as helpful as it was in the old days and has gone downhill steadily and rapidly since Mike McGrath left. My favorite gardening magazine is "Texas Gardener" which I've read for many years (OK, decades) and find just as helpful to me in Oklahoma as it was in Texas. It has very detailed monthly "to do" calendars (It publishes six times yearly, so each issue has calendars for 2 months) that cover these categories in separate sections: "Vegetables and Herbs", "Perennials and Annuals", "Trees, Shrubs and Vines", "Fruits and Nuts" and "Lawns and Groundcovers". If I could read only one garden magazine a month, it would be "Texas Gardener" because it covers all the basics and has wonderfully well-written articles. I have the Nov./Dec. issue here at the table close to where I'm siting and it included articles on fall-grown berries, daffodils, growing great edible greens, preserving tomatoes, growing Lacy Oak, holiday herbs, sky island gardening, standard expectations for Texas patios (growing and maintaining standards in space-challenged areas like a patio), and the trials and treasures of growing vegetables. There's more, but I think that gives you a good idea of what it includes. Oh, and one more book. This is and always will be my favorite vegetable gardening book. It was first published in the 1980s and taught me so much about raising vegetables that I cannot even begin to imagine gardening without it. It is called "The Vegetable Book" and was written by the late, great Dr. Sam Cotner, back when he was the head of horticulture at Texas A&M University. The book has a separate chapter for each of the commonly grown vegetables: 31 of them and a 32nd chapter for veggies that were less commonly grown in the 1980s when it was published. There are various appendices that detail gardening-related topices like how to make a tomato cage, rototill a garden, lower or raise your soil pH, build a cold frame, pre-germinate seeds, etc. It is a bit over 400 pages long and my older edition is printed on high-quality paper with quite a few photos. It is available from Texas Gardener press which you can find by googling. They are the publishers of Texas Gardener magazine and publish and/or sell several regionally-oriented books as well. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Starter Gardens: 24 No-Fail Plans

WoW! Thanks for the responses. Cyn: Yes we do talk talk talk to her and have her dancing to music and try bringing her to new and interesting places. This is such a fun age. workinprogress: we do try reading everyday. I am not sure if this is just normal for a 9 month old but she will not stay still for a book. She is very active and does not like to be held very much. So we do continue to try and read but am wondering if she is just too young to stay in our lap and enjoy a story or is she is just particularly antsy. Anele: Thank you so much for those on line sites and recommendations. I will take time to go thru them all and look at that book on amazon. Thanks for the time you took to write all the recommendations. Bumblebeez: That book sounds interesting even though she is done with the pregnancy part and infant stage. But never know there might be another one someday. My daughter does make all the babys food and is very up on all the nutrition as far as what she can and cannot eat. I am enjoying being a gramma for the first time and this little 9 month old is growing so fast. It seems like yesterday I was asking you all for color choices when we were planning her nursery. It is for this reason, that they grow so quickly that I do not want to miss the boat with things we can do to be the best we can.

I have watched the Cozy Quilt You Tube featuring a Strip pieced Bargello pattern several times -- this pattern looks very doable! I also have a book & have checked a few out of the library, but when I find the time, I will probably give the Cozy Quilt Pattern a try. I have found all her patterns and instructions easy to understand and this is an interesting method. Here is a link that might be useful: Cozy quilt Bargello