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Plants are the easiest way to bring birds into your landscape, but you may want to increase the number and diversity of winged visitors by supplementing with a few feeders.

And how about getting the whole family involved by making a few of the feeders yourself.

Let's start by recycling a few leftovers from the breakfast table. Use the rind from that grapefruit and fill it with thistle seed for the finches or grape jelly for the cedar waxwings and hang it in a tree.

The stale bagel need not go into the garbage. Simply coat it with peanut butter or homemade suet and roll it in birdseed. Run a colorful ribbon through the hole and you are ready to go. This also works with stale bread cut into interesting shapes and evergreen cones.

You can also make sunflowers into feeders. Punch 4 evenly spaced holes in the flower head with a screwdriver. Run twine or colorful yarn through the holes to create a hanger.

A bit more information: In spring give the birds a helping hand by providing some nesting material. Place colorful yarn, dryer lint or pieces of string in a suet feeder. Watch the birds come and retrieve bits for their nests. Then grab the binoculars and take the family on a walk through the neighborhood. Look for nests that contain the colorful yarn and other nesting materials you provided.

For more gardening tips, podcasts and more, visit www.melindamyers.com

About Melinda Myers
Melinda Myers, best known for her gardener friendly and practical approach to gardening, has more than 30 years of horticulture experience in both hands-on and instructional settings. She has a bachelor's degree in horticulture from The Ohio State University and a master's degree in horticulture from University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a certified arborist, and was a horticulture instructor with tenure.

Outside the classroom, Melinda shares her expertise through a variety of media outlets. She has written over 20 books, including Can't Miss Small Space Gardening. She hosts "Great Lakes Gardener," seen on PBS stations throughout the United States, and "Melinda's Garden Moments", which air on network television stations throughout the country. She appears regularly as a guest expert on various national and local television and radio shows. She also writes the twice monthly "Gardeners' Questions" newspaper column and is a contributing editor and columnist for Birds & Blooms magazine. In addition, she hosted "The Plant Doctor" radio program for over 20 years and was a columnist and contributing editor for Backyard Living magazine.

For her work, community service and media presence, Melinda has received recognition and numerous awards, including the 2003 Garden Globe Award for radio talent and the Quill and Trowel Award for her television work, both from the Garden Writers Association. She has also received the Garden Communicator's Award from the American Nursery and Landscape Association and the Gold Leaf Award for Arbor Day from the International Society of Arboriculture.

For more information, visit Myers' web site www.melindamyers.com.