Gardening

In Gardening with Nature, James van Sweden shows home gardeners and professionals how to conceive, design, build, and plant the romantic gardens for which he is renowned. In Part 1, van Sweden describes formative influences and outlines his credo: bold, massed, asymmetrical plant groupings, reverence for site, low maintenance, and attention to all seasons. Part 2 explores design strategies and then embarks on a garden tour to show the rationale behind specific plant choices and design decisions. Part 3, "Planting Your Garden Step-by Step, " gives the nuts and bolts and hundreds of useful tips, and Part 4, "Favorite Plants, " offers a short, illustrated glossary of plants photographed in garden settings.

A plain-English guide to the world of herb gardening

Starting an herb garden isn't free, but it certainly outweighs the growing costs of buying retail herbs. Plus, adding homegrown ingredients to your meals is a healthy and tasty way to improve upon any dish you whip up at home.

This friendly, hands-on guide is an excellent introduction to the world of herb gardening. It gives you tips and advice to grow a thriving herb garden that will add depth and flavor to home-cooked meals-as well as boost your health.

How to choose, plant, and care for herbs

Covers ready-made versus homemade soil mixes, starting plants from seeds, and other fundamentals

How to prevent insects, pests, and diseases from invading your containers

Over 30 herb recipes for everyday uses, including rubs, marinades, beauty products, and more

Whether you're interested in getting step-by-step instructions for starting on your first herb garden or already have one and want to learn new tips and techniques, Herb Gardening For Dummies, 2nd Edition has you covered!

Shiny green cucumbers; firm, juicy tomatoes; baby lettuces handpicked one salad at a time--these are the tasty benefits of the backyard vegetable garden. But earth gardens are a lot of work. They require a plot of plantable land and a significant time commitment to sowing, watering, weeding, and tending each plant.
Is there a solution? Self-watering containers allow vegetable gardeners--from the casual weekender interested in a tomato plant or two to the very dedicated gardener with limited space--to grow richly producing plants in a controlled, low-maintenance environment.
Lifelong gardener Ed Smith became fascinated with the possibilities of self-watering containers and began testing dozens of vegetables in various containers, experimenting with nutrients, soil mixtures, plant varieties, and container positioning. Now Smith is here to tell gardeners that anyone can grow and enjoy wonderful organic vegetables, using pots with continuous- flow watering systems.
Smith shares advice on choosing appropriate containers, how to provide balanced nutrition using his secret soil formula, and what additional tools benefit the container gardener. The reader will also find advice on starting from seed versus buying plants, which vegetables thrive in containers and which might be a bit more challenging, along with space-saving tips on pairing plants in single containers. After the last green tomato has been picked and is ripening on the windowsill, Smith wraps everything up with a chapter on fall clean-up and preparing for next spring. Now there's really no excuse for store-bought tomatoes!

The only guide with month-by-month advice about caring for your Mid-Atlantic garden.

If you liked Mid-Altantic Getting Started Garden Guide, Mid-Atlantic Month-by-Month Gardening should be the next addition to your bookcase!

This is the perfect book for beginning to intermediate gardeners and home landscapers living in the Mid-Atlantic (including the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, DC). Mid-Atlantic Month-by-Month Gardening gives you the when-to and how-to for growing, caring for, and maintaining your garden and all types of plants.

All of the information you need is given in a chronological, straightforward way. From January to December, each month has specific advice on what should be done in your garden. Step-by-step photographs give you the confidence to make your garden as unique as your Mid-Atlantic home.

Author George Weigel is a garden writer, designer, and speaker, a Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturist, and--as his balding, plant-killing brother likes to put it-a Certified Gardening Wacko. He is your guide to the garden, with specific when-to and how-to content to give Mid-Atlantic gardeners the tools to be successful.