A Way to Garden


Book Description

“A Way to Garden prods us toward that ineffable place where we feel we belong; it’s a guide to living both in and out of the garden.” —The New York Times Book Review For Margaret Roach, gardening is more than a hobby, it’s a calling. Her unique approach, which she calls “horticultural how-to and woo-woo,” is a blend of vital information you need to memorize and intuitive steps you must simply feel and surrender to. In A Way to Garden, Roach imparts decades of garden wisdom on seasonal gardening, ornamental plants, vegetable gardening, design, gardening for wildlife, organic practices, and much more. She also challenges gardeners to think beyond their garden borders and to consider the ways gardening can enrich the world. Brimming with beautiful photographs of Roach’s own garden, A Way to Garden is practical, inspiring, and a must-have for every passionate gardener.




Veg in One Bed


Book Description

Gardening YouTube sensation Huw Richards shows how to inexpensively grow year-round vegetables from just one raised bed. Keyed to a temperate coastal climate but adaptable to variations in temperature and rainfall, Huw's clear, practical advice will help you produce a bountiful harvest with minimal space and effort. In just one raised bed, green thumb wunderkind Huw Richards shows you how to grow vegetables easily, organically, abundantly, and inexpensively so you have something to harvest every month of the year. Month by month, discover what you need to do and how to do it. Try it in your yard, a small garden, or even on a roof terrace. Everything is explained in clear, photographed steps: building your bed, growing from seed, planting, feeding, and harvesting. Huw shows how to guarantee early success by starting off young plants on a windowsill. He suggests what to grow in each part of the bed and provides alternative vegetables to swap in or out depending on what you like eating. No-dig gardening methods remove most of the back-breaking work, too. Veg in One Bed goes beyond the inspiring demonstrations on his YouTube channel Huw's Nursery. In this book, he organizes all of his ideas and suggestions into a blueprint for growing your own vegetables month by month. Very little growing experience? Only a small space? No matter--with Veg in One Bed, you can still eat food you have grown throughout the year.




Grow Food For Free


Book Description

Huw Richards set himself a challenge - to grow his own fruit and veg for free for a year. He succeeded and now wants to help you do the same. Can't afford a raised bed? Try repurposing an old wooden pallet. Don't want to spend money on buying plants? Look in the fridge and your kitchen cupboards for food that you can plant. Need a particular tool? Barter or borrow from a neighbor. Don't have a garden? See if someone in your area has an untended patch you can turn into a well-loved veg plot. Huw's Grow Food for Free has the inspiration and practical advice you need to start, grow, love, propagate and harvest your own fruit and veg organically and at zero-cost. This is real sustainability!




Square Foot Gardening


Book Description

A new edition of the classic gardening handbook details a simple yet highly effective gardening system, based on a grid of one-foot by one-foot squares, that produces big yields with less space and with less work than with conventional row gardens. Reissue. 30,000 first printing.




Life in the Garden


Book Description

From the Booker Prize winner and national bestselling author, reflections on gardening, art, literature, and life Penelope Lively takes up her key themes of time and memory, and her lifelong passions for art, literature, and gardening in this philosophical and poetic memoir. From the courtyards of her childhood home in Cairo to a family cottage in Somerset, to her own gardens in Oxford and London, Lively conducts an expert tour, taking us from Eden to Sissinghurst and into her own backyard, traversing the lives of writers like Virginia Woolf and Philip Larkin while imparting her own sly and spare wisdom. "Her body of work proves that certain themes never go out of fashion," writes the New York Times Book Review, as true of this beautiful volume as of the rest of the Lively canon. Now in her eighty-fourth year, Lively muses, "To garden is to elide past, present, and future; it is a defiance of time."




The Humane Gardener


Book Description

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.




Gardening Basics For Dummies


Book Description

Plant the garden of your dreams! Even if you’ve never sowed a seed nor pulled a weed, Gardening Basics For Dummies contains everything you need to know about flowers, beds, borders, trees, shrubs, and lawns to create your own private paradise. This friendly and informative guide also covers all of the tools and additives available to make gardening easier. You’ll discover: Clear definitions and descriptions of the different types of plants Tips on choosing the type of garden you want How to create a garden plan Easy-to-follow instructions for soil preparation Advice on planting, growing and caring for annuals and perennials Step-by-step plans for organic and edible gardens Plans for butterfly and children's gardens Packed with helpful tips on controlling pests safely, managing weeds, and correcting common gardening problems, Gardening for Dummies turns your brown thumb green in a hurry.




Grace from the Garden


Book Description

"Gardening is the most basic of languages, the labor from which we're all born and nourished. . . ." In these pages, we travel the country with Debra Landwehr Engle as she visits 20 gardens and gardeners from California to Maine and Minnesota to Arkansas, showing us that grassroots campaigns actually can and do involve roots--and seeds and garden trowels. That any person with a steadfast resolve and an open patch of dirt can help bridge the gap between multinational refugees. That lush vegetation and running water and cool stones can help spark the fading memories of our elderly. And that our children can learn about where food comes from, labyrinths, wetlands systems, and healing from grief and loss just by digging in the earth with a caring adult hand to guide them. As the stories in this remarkable collection demonstrate, the simplest act of gardening can produce significant changes in the lives of people we might never even meet. Consider the man who sends seedlings and greenhouses halfway around the world to feed hospital patients, or the immigrant woman who began selling her own flowers as a way to raise money for overseas charities, or the couple who offers their land as a midday retreat for the residents of nearby nursing homes. These acts and others are not heroic--or even unusual--as Ms. Engle tells us. We see ourselves in these uplifting tales from the garden, as they inspire us to transform our own little parts of the world into places of greater peace, repose, play, and healing. For gardeners, community activists, and those who understand the spiritual value of putting a spade in the soil, these stories capture the promise renewed each time we plant a seed and give us fresh ideas for changing the world, one garden at a time.




Heaven Is a Garden


Book Description

"Why do some gardens make us feel so wonderful, relaxed and refreshed? Professional landscape designer Jan Johnsen shares her passion for creating serene, enticing gardens that become outdoor havens for our spirit. Heaven is a Garden is a thoroughly entrancing garden design book that you will refer to over and over. Johnsen draws on her 40 years of experience to explore far-ranging ideas, some new, some ancient like, why a gate facing East is considered auspicious, why a sheltered corner is so alluring and why certain trees can impart a special atmosphere. Richly photographed with inspiring landscapes, this guide is written with thoughtful prose and practical advice. It reveals how, with a new/old design approach, you can create a delightful outdoor haven that everyone will enjoy. Jan Johnsen writes the popular Serenity in the Garden blog www.serenityinthegarden.blogspot.com and Facebook page." --Publisher's description.




Gardening All-in-One For Dummies


Book Description

"God almighty first planted a garden: and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures." --Sir Francis Bacon National surveys show that gardening has become the most popular, least exclusive hobby nationwide. From the balconies of Manhattan to the patios of Malibu to the backyards of Chicago, anybody with a few square feet of earth is doing their best to make their little corner of the world more gracious and beautiful. And the best thing is, you really don't have to be born with a green thumb to give life to a glorious garden. Anybody can do it with a little coaching. Which is where Gardening For Dummies comes in. Puzzled by pruning? Baffled by bulbs? Can't tell a hosta from a hyacinth? Don’t worry! This all-in-one reference delivers the know-how you need to transform your little patch of the outdoors into a blooming paradise. Drawing upon the expertise of the National Gardening Association, it gets you up to speed on: Basic gardening skills—from understanding your microclimate to using gardening tools to managing pests and common plant diseases How to design, plan and build a garden landscape that reflects your unique sense of style Selecting, planting and maintaining stunning roses Building a raised bed for your perennials and making them bloom in any climate Choose, grow and maintain annuals From amaryllis to spider dahlias to wood tulips—coaxing beauty from homely bulbs Enjoying nature’s bounty by growing you own vegetables and herbs A veritable encyclopedia of gardening, this Gardening For Dummies is an indispensable resource for novices and experienced gardeners alike. It brings together between the covers of a single volume seven great books covering: Gardening Basics Garden Design Roses Perennials Annuals Bulbs Vegetables and Herbs Your one-step guide to a beautiful garden, Gardening For Dummies shows you how to experience the “purest of human pleasures” in your own backyard.