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Decoding Gardening Advice: The Science Behind the 100 Most Common Recommendations
by Jeff Gillman Meleah MaynardCovering more than 100 universal gardening "dos and don'ts," Decoding Gardening Advice is the first book to provide gardeners with the real answers. Jeff Gillman, the bestselling author of The Truth About Garden Remedies, and Meleah Maynard back up every good recommendation with sound horticultural and botanical science. Decoding Gardening Advice is the first and only hard-hitting, evidence-based book that every gardener needs for definitive advice on everything from bulbs, annuals, and perennials to edibles, trees, and soil care.
Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard
by Kate Baldwin Jessi BloomMany gardeners fear chickens will peck away at their landscape, and chicken lovers often shy away from gardening for the same reason. But you can keep chickens and have a beautiful garden, too! In this essential handbook, award-winning garden designer Jessi Bloom offers step-by-step instructions for creating a beautiful and functional space and maintaining a happy, healthy flock. Free-Range Chicken Gardens covers everything a gardener needs to know, from the basics of chicken keeping and getting them acclimated to the garden, to how to create the perfect chicken-friendly garden design and build innovative coops.
The Beginner's Guide to Growing Heirloom Vegetables: The 100 Easiest-to-Grow, Tastiest Vegetables for Your Garden
by Marie IannottiGrowing your own vegetables has never looked, or tasted, so good. Are heirloom vegetables more difficult to grow than conventional hybrids? The Beginner's Guide to Growing Heirloom Vegetables debunks this myth by highlighting the 100 heirloom vegetables that are the easiest to grow and the tastiest to eat.Marie Iannotti makes it simple for beginning gardeners to jump on the heirloom trend by presenting an edited list based on years of gardening trial and error. Her plant criteria is threefold: The 100 plants must be amazing to eat, bring something unique to the table, and—most importantly—they have to be unfussy and easy to grow. Her list includes garden favorites like the meaty and mellow 'Lacinato' Kale, the underused and earthy 'Turkish Orange' Eggplant, and the unexpected sweetness of 'Apollo' Arugula.
Small-Space Container Gardens: Transform Your Balcony, Porch, or Patio with Fruits, Flowers, Foliage, and Herbs
by Fern RichardsonSmall? Yes. A concrete slab populated with plastic chairs and an abandoned grill? Not anymore.Small-Space Container Gardens layers practical gardening fundamentals with creative solutions, encouraging us to think “outside the pot.” You'll learn how to tackle unique challenges, like windy conditions several stories above street level, and how to care for plants and troubleshoot problems like garden pests and diseases. From design basics to essential plant picks, Small-Space Container Gardens proves you don't need a yard to have a happy, healthy garden. For anyone who wants more green in their life, it's time to start gardening creatively in small spaces.
Beautiful No-Mow Yards: 50 Amazing Lawn Alternatives
by Evelyn HaddenWith Beautiful No-Mow Yards, you can transform your lawn into a livable garden and bring nature's beauty into your life! What has your perfect green lawn done for you lately? Is it really worth the time, effort, and resources you lavish on it? Armed with encouragement, inspiration, and cutting-edge advice from award-winning author Evelyn Hadden, you can liberate yourself at last!In this ultimate guide to rethinking your yard, Hadden showcases dozens of inspiring, eco-friendly alternatives to that demanding (and dare we say boring?) green turf. Trade your lawn for a lively prairie or replace it with a runoff-reducing rain garden. Swap it for an interactive adventure garden or convert it to a low-maintenance living carpet.
Fruit Trees in Small Spaces: Abundant Harvests from Your Own Backyard
by Colby EiermanLuscious peaches, crisp apples, and sweet plums right off the tree are hard to beat. For gardeners yearning for the pleasures of home-grown fruit plucked straight from the tree, this deliciously encouraging guide cuts the subject down to size. Colby Eierman, garden designer and fruit expert, shows how trees can easily be tucked into the tiniest spots and still yield a bumper crop of gorgeous fruit. Fruit Trees in Small Spaces covers everything a gardener needs to know about choosing and nurturing the most delicious small-space varieties, including selection, pruning, training, irrigation, and disease prevention. With inspiring ideas for spaces of all shapes and sizes and creative recipes for your incredible harvest, you'll want to plant a mini-orchard in every intimate corner. For the gardener with space limitations, bountiful fruit trees are now within arm's reach.
The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers
by Teri Dunn ChaceThe Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers identifies the 100 most common gardening mistakes and gives gardeners the techniques to prevent them. Or, if it's too late and they've already goofed, there are tips to fix the mistake. The book's 24 chapters tackle every kind of gardening disaster, whether it has to do with plants, tools and techniques, or general care and maintenance. Gardeners looking to prune their roses will learn to hold off until late winter to avoid damaging plant tissue. Gardeners that have allowed their mint to overgrow? Dunn advises pulling it out and replanting it in a container to control the root. Organized by common garden topics and designed to be easily dipped in and out of, The Anxious Gardener's Book of Answers offers nuggets of wisdom based on Teri Dunn Chace's years of hands-on gardening experience. Advice is humorously supported by Colleen Coover's delightful illustrations. This accessible guide will transform an anxious gardener into an informed, confident, successful gardener with a mistake-free garden
Creating Rain Gardens: Capturing the Rain for Your Own Water-Efficient Garden
by Apryl Uncapher Cleo Woelfle-ErskineHomeowners spend hundreds of dollars watering their yard, but there is an easy way to save money and resources—rain gardening. But what is it? As simple as collecting rain to reuse in front and backyards. Creating Rain Gardens is a comprehensive book for the DIY-er, covering everything from rain barrels to simple living roofs, permeable patios, and other low-tech affordable ways to save water in the garden. Water conservation experts Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and Apryl Uncapher walk homeowners through the process, with step-by-step instructions for designing and building swales, French drains, rain gardens, and ephemeral ponds—the building blocks of rain-catching gardens. From soil preparation, planting, troubleshooting, and maintenance, to selecting palettes of water-loving plants that provide four-season interest and a habitat for wildlife, Creating Rain Gardens covers everything a gardener needs to create a beautiful rain garden at home.
The A to Z of Plant Names: A Quick Reference Guide to 4000 Garden Plants
by Allen J. CoombesBotanical names can be baffling to even the most experienced gardener. But a plant's botanical name is more than just a handy label—it can tell a plant's country of origin, the shape of its leaves, the color of its petals, and much more. The A to Z of Plant Names clears the confusion and allows every gardener to name plants with confidence. This comprehensive yet handy guide features the botanic names of the plants that gardeners really grow. Additional information includes suggested pronunciation, the common name, the derivation of the scientific name, the number of species currently accepted, the type of plant and the distribution. The A to Z of Plant Names helps demystify names, provides readers with the intriguing background information to naming conventions, and empowers gardeners everywhere to feel confident about naming plants.
The Lavender Lover's Handbook: The 100 Most Beautiful and Fragrant Varieties for Growing, Crafting, and Cooking
by Sarah Berringer Bader Janet Loughrey“I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” —Alice WalkerThe Lavender Lover's Handbook provides a complete checklist of the color, fragrance, size, and foliage of the 100 easiest, most stunning lavenders available today. In addition to details about spacing, planting, pruning, Sarah Berringer Bader offers tips to harvest, cook, and craft with this wonderful herb. The abundant variety, hardiness, fragrance, and culinary opportunities make lavender one of the most popular and versatile plants, and with this practical and accessible guide, it's easier than ever to grow lush lavender at home.
Agaves: Living Sculptures for Landscapes and Containers
by Greg StarrGardeners and garden designers are having a love affair with agaves. It's easy to see why—they're low maintenance, drought-tolerant, and strikingly sculptural, with an astounding range of form and color. Many species are strikingly variegated, and some have contrasting ornamental spines on the edges of their leaves. Fabulous for container gardening or in-the-ground culture, they combine versatility with easy growability. In Agaves, plant expert Greg Starr profiles 75 species, with additional cultivars and hybrids, best suited to gardens and landscapes. Each plant entry includes a detailed description of the plant, along with its cultural requirements, including hardiness, sun exposure, water needs, soil requirements, and methods of propagation. Agaves can change dramatically as they age and this comprehensive guide includes photos showing each species from youth to maturity—a valuable feature unique to this book.
The Kingdom Fungi: The Biology of Mushrooms, Molds, and Lichens
by Steven L. StephensonThe ubiquitous fungi are little known and vastly underappreciated. Yet, without them we wouldn’t have bread, alcohol, cheese, tofu, or the unique flavors of mushrooms, morels, and truffles. We can’t survive without fungi. The Kingdom Fungi provides a comprehensive look at the biology, structure, and morphological diversity of these necessary organisms. It sheds light on their ecologically important roles in nature, their fascinating relationships with people, plants, and animals, and their practical applications in the manufacture of food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. The book includes information about “true” fungi, fungus-like creatures (slime molds and water molds), and a group of “composite” organisms (lichens) that are more than just fungi. Particular attention is given to examples of fungi that might be found in the home and encountered in nature. The Kingdom Fungi is a useful introductory text for naturalists, mycologists, and anyone who wants to become more familiar with, and more appreciative of, the fascinating world of fungi.
A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts
by Kelly NorrisThe diversity of bearded irises rivals that of any other perennial grown in temperate climates. For some gardeners, they bring back warm memories of a grandparent's garden; for others, they're a cutting-edge plant with a seemingly endless capacity for producing new forms and patterns.As the manager of Rainbow Iris Farm and co-editor of the Bulletin of the American Iris Society, Kelly Norris is the authority on gardening with bearded irises. His introductory chapters offer tips for successful growth, garden design, plant selection, and "creating" new irises. A Guide to Bearded Irises also provides portraits of the most outstanding plants in each of the six recognized categories, from the dainty miniature dwarf bearded irises to the stately tall bearded irises. A resource section lists specialty nurseries, organizations devoted to bearded irises, and public gardens with notable iris collections.
The Organic Backyard Vineyard: A Step-by-Step Guide to Growing Your Own Grapes
by Tom PowersInterest in wine shows no signs of slowing down—wine tours, tastings, and vacations are now common and homeowners often have space dedicated to their collection. The logical next step? Learning to grow and make your own.In The Organic Backyard Vineyard expert Tom Powers walks the small grower through the entire process of growing grapes, with a month-by-month maintenance guide covering all regions of the U.S. and Canada. He explains everything a beginning grape grower needs to know: how to design and build a vineyard, how to select grapes for each region, how to maximize yield using organic maintenance techniques, how to build a trellis, how to harvest at peak flavor, and how to store grapes for winemaking.This edition includes organic growing information and all new photography.
The Roots of My Obsession: Thirty Great Gardeners Reveal Why They Garden
by Thomas C. CooperWhy do you garden? For fun? Work? Food? The reasons to garden are as unique as the gardener.The Roots of My Obsession features thirty essays from the most vital voices in gardening, exploring the myriad motives and impulses that cause a person to become a gardener. For some, it’s the quest to achieve a personal vision of ultimate beauty; for others, it’s a mission to heal the earth, or to grow a perfect peach. The essays are as distinct as their authors, and yet each one is direct, engaging, and from the heart. For Doug Tallamy, a love of plants is rooted first in a love of animals: “animals with two legs (birds), four legs (box turtles, salamanders, and foxes), six legs (butterflies and beetles), eight legs (spiders), dozens of legs (centipedes), hundreds of legs (millipedes), and even animals with no legs (snakes and pollywogs).” For Rosalind Creasy, it’s “not the plant itself; it’s how you use it in the garden.” And for Sydney Eddison, the reason has changed throughout the years. Now, she “gardens for the moment.” As you read, you may find yourself nodding your head in agreement, or gasping in disbelief. What you’re sure to encounter is some of the best writing about the gardener’s soul ever to appear. For anyone who cherishes the miracle of bringing forth life from the soil, The Roots of My Obsession is essential inspiration.
Super-Charged: How Outlaws, Hippies, and Scientists Reinvented Marijuana
by Jim RendonMarijuana has been illegal in the United States since 1937. Yet, thanks in large part to a loosely connected underground world of breeders, dealers, and smokers, there are currently more than 2000 varieties available. And since 1996, when California first passed legislation allowing for legalized medical marijuana, the underground has slowly surfaced, pushing what was once a decentralized, lawless world closer to the corporate world of business, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals. Super-Charged gets up close and personal with the people who have transformed this controversial drug. With personalities and backgrounds as diverse as the plant itself, the growers include a former Silicon Valley software entrepreneur; third-generation Humboldt, California, growers; a publicly traded pharmaceutical company; and the famous marijuana personality Jorge Cervantes. Jim Rendon takes readers behind the scenes and into the homes and grow operations of the committed, quality-obsessed practitioners in the international underground industry responsible for creating today's super-charged cannabis. Ironically, these pioneers who built this illegal industry may one day find themselves out of business in the face of the drug's growing mainstream acceptance. Just how this could come about is part of the incredible story.
Cacti and Succulents for Cold Climates: 274 Outstanding Species for Challenging Conditions
by Leo J. ChanceThere are many reasons to grow cacti and other succulents—they're drought-tolerant, low-maintenance, and they look great. But what about hardiness? For those who thought that these spectacular plants were only for gardens in California and the Southwest, guess again—hundreds are fully cold-hardy and can be grown outdoors from New England to British Columbia, Wisconsin to Texas. Cacti and Succulents for Cold Climates is filled with inspirational portraits of 274 plants that can be used to create drought-tolerant gardens, as well as tips from regional experts who have mastered the art of growing cacti in parts of the country not usually associated with high temperatures or a scarcity of water. Expert Leo Chance describes how to prepare planting beds, how to get plants well established, how to handle cacti during planting, how to protect plants from cold winters, and when and how much to water.
The Unexpected Houseplant: 220 Extraordinary Choices for Every Spot in Your Home
by Tovah MartinIt's time for plant lovers to dust off their houseplants, update their image, and discover just how exciting, trendy, and crucial plants can be in the home.The Unexpected Houseplant, by renowned plant authority Tovah Martin, isn't your typical, old-fashioned, dowdy houseplant book. Martin's approach is revolutionary—picture brilliant spring bulbs by the bed, lush perennials brought in from the garden, quirky succulents in the kitchen, even flowering vines and small trees growing beside an easy chair. Martin brings an evangelist's zeal to the task of convincing homeowners that indoor plants aren't just a luxury—they're a necessity. In addition to design flair, houseplants clean indoor air, which can be up to ten times more polluted. Along with loads of visual inspiration, readers will learn how to make unusual selections, where to best position plants in the home, and valuable tips on watering, feeding, grooming, pruning, and troubleshooting, season by season.
Keeping Bees in Towns and Cities
by Luke DixonKeeping Bees in Towns and Cities features everything an urbanite needs to know to start keeping bees: how to select the perfect hive, how to buy bees, how to care for a colony, how to harvest honey, and what to do in the winter. Urban beekeeping has particular challenges and needs, and this book highlights the challenges and presents practices that are safe, legal, and neighbor-friendly. The text is rounded out with profiles of urban beekeepers from all over the world, including public hives at the Maryland Center for Horticulture, beekeeping on an office balcony in Melbourne, Australia, and a poolside hive at a hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage
by Rob Cardillo David L. Culp Adam Levine“Gardenmaking, in its finest form, is a celebration of life and of love. David and his book epitomize this.” —Lauren Springer Ogden Brandywine Cottage is David Culp's beloved two-acre Pennsylvania garden where he mastered the design technique of layering—interplanting many different species in the same area so that as one plant passes its peak, another takes over. The result is a nonstop parade of color that begins with a tapestry of heirloom daffodils and hellebores in spring and ends with a jewel-like blend of Asian wildflowers at the onset of winter.The Layered Garden shows you how to recreate Culp's majestic display. It starts with a basic lesson in layering—how to choose the correct plants by understanding how they grow and change throughout the seasons, how to design a layered garden, and how to maintain it. To illustrate how layering works, Culp takes you on a personal tour through each part of his celebrated garden: the woodland garden, the perennial border, the kitchen garden, the shrubbery, and the walled garden. The book culminates with a chapter dedicated to signature plants for all four seasons.
Succulents Simplified: Growing, Designing, and Crafting with 100 Easy-Care Varieties
by Debra Lee BaldwinSucculents are hot. And Debra Lee Baldwin, the bestselling author of Designing with Succulents and Succulent Container Gardens, is the ideal guide for gardeners, crafters, and DIYers looking for an introduction to these trendy, low-maintenance, drought-tolerant plants. Along with gorgeous photos packed with design ideas, Debra offers her top 100 plant picks and explains how to grow and care for succulents no matter where you live. Step-by-step projects, including a cake-stand centerpiece, special-occasion bouquets, a vertical garden, and a succulent topiary sphere, will inspire you to express your individual style. Whether you’re a novice or veteran, have an acre to fill or a few pots, live in Calexico or Canada, Succulents Simplified is a dazzling primer for success with succulents wherever you live!
Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener's Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition (Science For Gardeners Ser.)
by Jeff LowenfelsA 2014 Garden Writers Association Media Award Winner Just as he demystified the soil food web in his ground-breaking book Teaming with Microbes, in this new work Jeff Lowenfels explains the basics of plant nutrition from an organic gardener’s perspective. Most gardeners realize that plants need to be fed but know little or nothing about the nature of the nutrients and the mechanisms involved. In his trademark down-to-earth, style, Lowenfels explains the role of both macronutrients and micronutrients and shows gardeners how to provide these essentials through organic, easy-to-follow techniques. Along the way, Lowenfels gives the reader easy-to-grasp lessons in the biology, chemistry, and botany needed to understand how nutrients get into the plant and what they do once they’re inside.
Gardening in Miniature: Create Your Own Tiny Living World
by Janit CalvoGet ready to journey into the huge world of growing small!The next garden trend combines the joy of gardening with the magic of miniatures. Gardening in Miniature is a complete guide to creating lush, living, small-scale gardens. It has everything you need to pick up this new hobby, including scaled down garden designs, techniques for creating tiny hardscapes, miniature garden care and maintenance, tips on choosing containers, how to buy the right plants, and where to find life-like accessories. Inspiring step-by-step projects feature basic skills that can be recreated in any number of designs, like a tiny patio, a trellis, a pond, and a secret garden.Whether you want to build a miniature empire in your garden bed or design a private garden with a pebble patio for an indoor centerpiece, Gardening in Miniature is the primer for creating your own tiny, living world.
How to Eradicate Invasive Plants
by Teri Dunn Chace“Every garden shed should have a copy of this book. The wisdom that it wields will hold the invaders at the gate.” —Roger B. Swain, The Victory GardenHow to Eradicate Invasive Plants offers a clear, practical solution to the increasingly common problem of invasive plants. Clearly written and easy-to-use, Teri Dunn Chance shows you how to recognize more than 200 common invasive plants and offers organic and responsible chemical eradication options for each species. With this reference on their shelves, gardeners, landscapers, and managers of public and private land across the country can confidently tackle the invasive plants to make room for a sustainable plant community!
How to Buy the Right Plants, Tools, and Garden Supplies: Find The Pruners That Will Last A Lifetime Choose The Best Mulch For Your Garden Pick The Shovel That's Right For You Spot The Healthy Perennials
by Jim FoxAre you confused by all the choices when you visit a nursery? Do you get sticker shock when you see how much that nice little shade tree costs? Let Jim Fox, a nursery professional with over twenty years of experience, show you how to become a savvy garden consumer and get the most for your hard-earned landscaping dollars. <P><P>How to Buy the Right Plants, Tools, and Garden Supplies will arm you with a wealth of knowledge! You’ll learn how to determine if a plant is healthy, how to choose the right size, how to correctly read the plant tag, how to choose the best tools and supplies for your needs, and how to confidently recognize a well-made tool. <P><P> In addition to helping you navigate the nursery, it tells you what you need to know before you get there and offers helpful tips on how to successfully garden once you get home.With this essential guide in hand, you’ll never experience buyer’s remorse again!