Desert Gardening for Beginners


Book Description

Everything you need to know to grow fresh, tasty vegetables, fragrant herbs, and colorful flowers is included in "Desert Gardening for Beginners." The authors, all life-long gardeners, have translated the most current horticultural information from University of Arizona researchers into easy-to-understand language new gardeners. Included are three planting calendars that provide the best months to sow hundreds of vegetables, flowers and herbs for maximum success.




Desert Landscaping for Beginners


Book Description

Tips and techniques for gardening success in arid climates with a chapter on growing wildflowers.




In a Desert Garden


Book Description

When John Alcock replaced the Bermuda grass in his suburban Arizona lawn with gravel, cacti, and fairy dusters, he was doing more than creating desert landscaping. He seeded his property with flowers to entice certain insects and even added a few cowpies to attract termites, creating a personal laboratory for ecological studies. His observations of life in his own front yard provided him with the fieldnotes for this unusual book. In a Desert Garden draws readers into the strange and fascinating world of plants and animals native to Arizona's Sonoran Desert. As Alcock studies the plants in his yard, he shares thoughts on planting, weeding, and pruning that any gardener will appreciate. And when commenting on the mating rituals of spiders and beetles or marveling at the camouflage of grasshoppers and caterpillars, he uses humor and insight to detail the lives of the insects that live in his patch of desert. Celebrating the virtues of even aphids and mosquitoes, Alcock draws the reader into the intricacies of desert life to reveal the complex interactions found in this unique ecosystem. In a Desert Garden combines meticulous science with contemplations of nature and reminds us that a world of wonder lies just outside our own doors.




Earth-Friendly Desert Gardening


Book Description

Regardless of your gardening experience, you can easily save money on utility bills, conserve water, reduce yard waste sent to landfills, and create a low-maintenance landscape that is in balance with its natural surroundings. Earth-Friendly Desert Gardening shows how to: Lower utility bills by locating plants where they moderate the sun and wind. Reduce water consumption by choosing plants wisely and watering effectively. Make mulch and compost from yard waste. Manage insects without synthetic pesticides. Create a habitat for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Maintain the quality of water supplies by reducing fertilizer and pesticide use. Earth-Friendly Desert Gardening also explains how to: Add edible plants to the landscape. Grow a low-allergen garden. Create defensible space before wildfire strikes. Direct thousands of gallons of rainwater to the landscape. Determine if a graywater system is right for you. The book's information is based on university research and is geared specifically to the unique growing conditions of the Sonoran Desert. The authors are life-long gardeners with years of experience growing plants in the low desert. They guide you through the complete process of creating a landscape from start to finish, covering site assessment, landscape design, plant selection, and plant maintenance. Book jacket.




The Intelligent Gardener


Book Description

Presents advice on how to improve growing soil, discussing some of the current misconceptions about soil and providing the best methods for adding enhancements that will produce nutrient-dense foods.




Month by Month Gardening in the Deserts of Nevada


Book Description

The Month-By-Month series is the perfect companion to take the guesswork out of gardening. With this book, you'll know what to do each month to have gardening success all year. Written by authors in your state, the information is tailored to the issues that affect your garden the most. When is the best time to plant trees and shrubs? Should I fertilize my lawn now? Is it time to prune my roses? What should I be doing in my garden this month? You'll find the answers to these questions and much more inside. This easy-to-use book highlights each of the ten major plant categories using a monthly format. It guides you through each month of the year, telling you exactly what your garden needs. It is like having an expert in the garden with you all year long. Valuable hints are located throughout the book, and beautiful photographs will inspire you. Written just for gardeners where you live, you can be confident that the information is right for you-and your garden will show it.




Desert Gardening: Fruits & Vegetables


Book Description

An illustrated guide to growing plentiful fruits and vegetables in the driest of American climates Wherever you live in the desert--up to 3,500-feet elevation--this guide is for you. Enjoy plentiful fruits and vegetables from your desert garden. Desert gardening expert George Brookbank will help you with your desert garden. Two books in one . . . A tremendous reference tool you'll use all year 'round! 1. Complete how-to-do-it guide--Drip irrigation and watering --How to prepare desert soil --Which plant and tree varieties to choose --Citrus: Watering, pruning, fertilizing --New varieties for favorites: tomatoes, strawberries, grapes, melonsAnd the unusual . . . Low-chill applesOriental vegetablesYard-long beans--New chapters on hydroponics and alternatives to poisonous chemicals 2. Week-by-week desert calendar--Learn how to work with the desert's short seasons, hot weather, insects, and soils--When to plant--When to prune Over 650 photographs Great for Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Texas!




Desert Landscape School


Book Description

Plant/ Educate/ SustainFor decades, the Desert Botanical Garden has responded to our community's needs for knowledge about our desert habitat and resources for living responsibly in it. Over the years, the Garden has become nationally recognized as a champion of plant conservation, a pioneer of the care and display of desert plants, a respected leader in Sonoran Desert research, and an innovator in lifelong education.Supporting the Garden's mission to advance excellence in education, research, exhibition, and conservation of desert plants of the world with emphasis on the southwestern United States is the goal of the Desert Landscape School. We accomplish this by promoting environmental sustainability through demonstrating and teaching best practices in desert plant horticulture; providing education programs with emphasis on science literacy; and exploring and sharing the myriad relationships among plants, people, nature, and the arts.The School offers an exceptional opportunity for professional development and this Guide can be used as a self-directed learning tool for those wishing to learn how to create beautiful, livable, and sustainable outdoor spaces in a desert environment.




The Arizona Low Desert Flower Garden


Book Description

Deserts pose a particularly difficult challenge to gardeners. Surprising toany desert newcomers, it is possible to have a beautifully invitingandscape in the desert and minimize the use of precious water resources. TheArizona Flowerscaper" offers the key to successful desert gardening and is aeneral understanding of the extreme climate, seasons, and soil conditions.hrough wise plant choices, gardens emerge that intrigue and delight, oftenith little maintenance involved. The illustrated plants can be viewedogether through a unique tri-cut format, showing the plant at maturity andith appropriate details of foliage or flora. Offering plant selections fromround the world, the "Arizona Flowerscaper" is an essential resource foresert gardeners everywhere.




Grocery Row Gardening


Book Description

Grocery Row Gardening An Exciting New Permaculture Gardening System Imagine creating a garden where apples and asparagus thrive beside beans and broccoli. Picture beautiful rows of trees, vegetables and flowers all growing together as butterflies, birds and bees dance overhead. Walk through with a basket and pick pears and blueberries, peppers and tomatoes, herbs and cut flowers - all from the same garden. With Grocery Row Gardening, you'll learn to harness the power of a forest's edge by linking the abundance of a food forest with a traditional vegetable garden. Grocery Row Gardening is a new permaculture gardening method that combines multiple different gardening systems into a resilient, pest-resistant, long-term food generating machine for your backyard. It combines ideas as diverse as Steve Solomon's writings on micronutrients with Geoff Lawton's food forest design, with Stefan Sobkowiak's permaculture orchard and Ernst Götsch's Syntropic Farming, with Ann Ralph's backyard orchard culture and edible hedges. It makes for a beautiful and powerful permaculture method that sails through weather extremes and creates a survival garden which will keep your family fed with a wide range of produce, month after month. Though this system is still in development, this book outlines how you can join in the fun and experimentation as Grocery Row Gardening takes off. Learn to think about growing food in a whole new way and create your most diverse and beautiful garden yet.