Home > Lawn & Garden > Home Gardening > A Guide to Louisiana-friendly Landscaping - Louisiana Yards & Neighborhoods [Image: La Yards and Neighborhoods] This handbook provides helpful ideas, information and techniques to create and maintain a more environmentally friendly landscape. You will learn the basics of designing a landscape using carefully selected plants suited to Louisiana growing conditions. $12.00 + tax. You can order this book from our online store, by using the Order Publication link below. Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide [Image: Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide] Use this guide to plant a successful vegetable garden. The information has been developed after considerable research and practical experience. Enjoying Ornamental Ponds in Louisiana [Image: Cover image for Enjoying Ornamental Ponds] This publication outlines some of the options for design, operation and maintenance of ornamental ponds and discusses basic environmental requirements of fish and plants commonly grown in these ponds. 20 pages. Full color. (PDF Format Only) Mow Like a Pro [Image: rutted turf] Varying your mowing pattern can cause you to spend a little more time mowing, but the result will be a greatly improved appearance in your turfgrass.  more articles... Success with Summer Tomatoes Louisiana summers are a tough time for tomatoes to set and hold fruit. The heat causes irregular flower growth in most cultivars, and the result is poor fruit set, according to LSU AgCenter horticulturist Dr. Tom Koske. Time to Plant Greens, Says LSU AgCenter Horticulturist "Fall is a good time to plant greens in your home garden," says LSU AgCenter horticulturist Dr. Tom Koske. Crops include mustard, turnips, spinach, collards, kale and Swiss chard. All are cool-season crops with similar cultural requirements. Mounting a Hydraulic Cylinder to Replace the Upper Link on a Tractor 3-point Hitch [Image: 3-point hitch cylinder] These photos and drawings show how to use an ASAE standard 3" x 8" hydraulic cylinder to provide a power-adjustable upper link for a tractor 3-point hitch. Use of Stump Grinders [Image: small stump grinder] Several models of small walk-behind stump grinders are aimed at homeowners, rental use and smaller professional operations. Most are reasonably safe if used carefully, but a few are not safe no matter how they are used. 'Winterize' Your Lawn Proper fall lawn preparation can mean reduced turf loss to winter kill. Consider treelike hollies for the landscape (Distributed 06/26/09) Hollies are right behind azaleas, gardenias, camellias, sasanquas and Indian hawthorns in popularity among evergreen shrubs, and they may even be more popular than some of those. How To Choose a Lawn/Garden Tractor - Engines [Image: vertical shaft engine] One of the factors that most affects both the capability of a lawn/garden tractor, and the price, is the engine. Lift Boom for Tractor 3-pt Hitch [Image: Lift boom on compact tractor] One of the handiest implements you can put on your tractor is a lift boom for the 3-point hitch. In some areas these are called boom poles or gin poles. Overturn Protection for Compact Utility Tractors [Image: ROPS and seatbelt] Compact utility tractors are small diesel tractors with less than 40 horsepower. All current models come equipped with two important safety features: a rollover protective structure (ROPS) and a seatbelt. These two safety components can go a long way toward protecting you in case of an overturn - if you use them. Tall crape myrtles look good in right location [Image: tall crape myrtle] (Distributed 06/19/09) Crape myrtles continue to be one of the most widely used landscape trees in the southeastern United States. Click for more information...