Save vegetable seeds as you harvest so your favorite plants can grow again next season. In this Storey BASICS(R) guide, Fern Marshall Bradley covers everything you need to know to successfully save seeds from 20 popular garden vegetables, including beans, carrots, peas, peppers, and tomatoes. Learn how each plant is pollinated, where to store your collected seeds through the winter, and how to test their replanting viability in the spring. Now you can grow the delicious varieties you love year after year.

As gardeners become increasingly concerned with both drought and water conservation, plants that love the sun are an attractive option. From white flowering hawthorns to richly scented wisteria, they come in all shapes, colors, and sizes, with endless potential for producing stunning planting schemes. You'll find success with this vividly illustrated volume, which shows how to select the best sun-friendly varieties and plant them with confidence--whatever your experience. After explaining exactly how sunlight affects plants, it discusses creating the small amount of necessary shade; choosing and buying trees, shrubs, and flowers; preparing the soil; maintaining the plants, and solving common problems. A huge and beautiful A-Z directory covers annuals, biennials, and bedding plants; bulbous plants; perennials, climbers, conifers, and more.

Beans are easy to grow, easy to cook, delicious, nourishing and beneficial for us and the planet. Growing your own beans not only helps you build healthy soil in your garden, it also provides you with a nutrient-rich diet. Beans can play a role in reducing the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer - they are good sources of protein, fibre, folate, iron and potassium - and they can reduce your carbon footprint and food miles as well! This fascinating book brings together Susan Young's 10 years of experimentation with multiple varieties of beans. She clearly explains how to sow, grow, harvest, dry, store and cook them, and shares her six 'must grow' varieties. Go on a tasty culinary journey around the world and discover a range of colourful and historic beans, from the pink 'Fagiolo di Lamon' of Italy to the black and white 'Bosnian Pole' bean. Learn which varieties are best for eating fresh from the pod and those that are best for drying and storing for later use. Beans offer year-round nutritious meals, and dried beans can be the star of the show with their fabulous diversity of flavours, colours and textures.

Drawing directly from his experience as an acclaimed climate-change gardener, and of setting up a kitchen garden from scratch for River Cottage, Mark explains the practical aspects of organic growing, introduces us to a whole world of vegetables we may not have previously considered, and does away with alienating gardening jargon once and for all. Mark begins with a catalogue of vegetables that will grow in this country, explaining for each their benefits, what varieties to go for, dos and don'ts, and popular culinary uses. He then invites us to create a wish list of foods, and shows us his own list from his early gardening days. Next, he explains how to turn this wish list into a coherent kitchen garden plan appropriate for our space, whether it be a patch of acidic soil, a roof-top garden or an allotment, whether we put on our wellies in every free moment or are 'time-poor' gardeners. Then he puts all the theory into practice, showing us how to look after nutrients in the soil, how to resist pests and diseases, and how to make our garden sustainable and organic. In clear, concise sections we learn about seed trays, supporting plants with climbing structures, mulching, composting, companion planting, irrigation and promoting pollination, and there are additional tables showing sowing and harvesting times, plant sizes, and alternative varieties of plants for different sites.About thirty recipes and a directory of useful addresses finish the book, and the handbook is complemented by bright colour photography throughout. Practical and inspiring, with a textured hard cover and an introduction by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, "Veg Patch" is destined to join Handbooks No. 1, 2 and 3 as an indispensible household reference.

The Gardener's Guide to Growing Penstemons is a wide-ranging study of a diverse genus. It provides an up-to-date and authoritative overview of a rather complicated classification, a useful chapter on botany which provides helpful tips for identification and a detailed history of the plant including a special chapter on the history and development of the cultivars. Gardeners will derive much of interest from the chapters on garden cultivation, propagation, plant association and pests and diseases while chapters on breeding and the role of the plant in Australasia, South Africa and continental Europe further broaden the scope of this comprehensive book. Specialists and gardeners alike will profit from the detailed plant descriptions, which include full information about garden cultivation, of a comprehensive range of cultivars and species.

Learn how to create a tranquil outdoor space at home with this practical and inspiring guide! With instructive drawings and step-by-step techniques, Inside Your Japanese Garden walks you through designing and creating your very own Japanese garden. From small projects like benches and gates, to larger undertakings like bridges and mud walls, this book provides a wide variety of ways to enhance the space around your home, no matter the size. Instructions on how to work with stone, mud and bamboo--as well as a catalogue of the 94 plant varieties used in the gardens shown in the book--round out this complete guide. This book also features 19 gardens that author Sadao Yasumoro has designed and built in Japan, and some--like those at Visvim shop in Tokyo and at Yushima Tenjin in Tokyo--are open to the public. From small tsuboniwa courtyard gardens to a large backyard stroll garden with water features, stairs and walls, these real-life inspirations will help spark your own garden plan. These inspirational garden projects include: Tea Garden for an Urban Farmhouse featuring a clay wall with a split-bamboo frame and a stone base The Landslide That Became a Garden with a terraced slope, trees, bushes, long grasses and moss A Buddha's Mountain Retreat of Moss and Stone with vertical-split bamboo and brushwood fencing Paradise in an Urban Jungle with a pond, Japanese-style bridge, and stone lanterns Each garden is beautifully photographed by Hironori Tomino and many have diagrams and drawings to show the essential elements used in the planning and construction.

Learn how to make stylish dried floral designs that will last longer than freshly cut bouquets. Do you adore having flowers around the house but they always seem to wilt and fall to pieces as soon as you place them in water? No longer! Join the trend of DIY drying and create stunning bouquets that will outlast fresh cuts while still adding that soft, romantic floral touch. Expert florist Carolyn Dunster breathes new life into the age-old art of growing, drying, and displaying blooms in ways that will bring a chic, natural vibe to any room. Whether you are looking for elegant DIY bridal arrangements or trying to add a little bohemian flair to a room's decor, there are dried designs that will complement every aesthetic and occasion. Written for a new, younger audience that is just discovering the art of drying flowers and from a popular British botanical stylist with a penchant for urban gardening, this book is a modern spin on a classic craft. For those who are concerned with environmental impact, dried flowers are also gaining popularity as a more sustainable approach to floristry. Dried flowers are perfect for: DIY bridal bouquets and table arrangements Stylish home decor Sprucing up your place of business in an affordable, low maintenance way This book is an ideal purchase for anyone wanting to get started with the art of growing and drying flowers. Learn how to grow your own stems and the best combinations of colour and texture to create floral sculptures that breathe new life into any space in any season.

In this continuing series, the topic of vegetables embraces a wide range of pieces from English, American and overseas scholars. Their treatments encompass both a broader consideration of the vegetable diet and the history of the cultivation and consumption of specific varieties. Cookery and consumption are not highlighted at the expense of cultivation, so there are some interesting essays on allotments, market gardening in the Paris region, early-modern vegetable gardening in England and the development of markets in India. The theme has been treated with admirable latitude in contributions on vegetables and diplomacy, vegetable carving, and vegetables in Renaissance art. Essays include: (Don't) Eat Your Vegetables: A Historical Semiotics of Carving Legumes (Julia Abramson); The War of Vegetables: The Rise & Fall of the English Allotment Movement (Lesley Acton); The First Scientific Defense of a Vegetarian Diet (Ken Albala); Mukimono & Modoki: Japan's Culinary Trompe l'oeil (Elizabeth Andoh); The Bitter - and Flatulent - Aphrodisiac: Synchrony and Diachrony of the Culinary Use of Muscari Comosum in Greece and Italy' (Anthony Buccini); Eat Your Greens: Traditional Leafy Vegetables for Better Nutrition (Jeremy Cherfas); 'We Talked About the Aubergines: Some Minor Pleasures of European Diplomacy (Andrew Dalby); Akkoub ( Gundelia Tournefortii - Tournefort's gundelia): An Edible Wild Thistle from the Lebanese Mountains (Anissa Helou); Is There Salvation in Sweetness? Sugar Beets in America (Cathy Kaufman); The Potato in Irish Cuisine and Culture (Mairtin Mac Con Iomaire & Padraic Og Gallagher); Sweet As Notes on the Kumara or New Zealand Sweet Potato as a Taonga, or Treasure (Ray McVinnie); Wild Thing: The Naga Morich Story (Michael & Joy Michaud); 'Per rape et porri et per spinachi': Re-examining the Realities of Vegetable Consumption at the Monastery of Santa Trinita in Post-Plague Florence (Salvatore Musumeci); Les Maraichers - Market Gardeners of the Ile de France (Lizbeth Nicol); Keeping the Home Fires Burning: Culinary Exchanges, Sustainability and Traditional Vegetable Markets in India (Krina Patel); The Los Angeles Vegetable Cult (Charles Perry); From the Plate to the Palate: Visual Delights from the Vegetable Kingdoms of Italy (Gillian Riley); But Did the English Eat Their Vegetables? A Look at English Kitchen Gardens and the Vegetable Cookery they Imply, 1650-1800 (William Rubel); Renaissance Italy and the Fabulous, Flamboyant Inslata (June di Schino); Pomtajer (Karin Vaneker); A Vegetable Zodiac from Late Antique Alexandria (Susan Weingarten).

The Botanical Bible tells the story of plants and flowers, beginning with an overview of the plant kingdom and the basics of botany, then offering strategies for gardening with purpose. Later chapters introduce seasonal eating, the healing properties of plants and the world of botanical art. This stunning gift book is part history, part science, part beauty book, part cookbook and part art book. It will appeal to anyone wanting to use plants and flowers in modern life, whether they are an accomplished gardener or are simply yearning for a more natural life. This comprehensive guide to plants, flowers and botanicals covers a host of practical uses, features vintage illustrations alongside the work of current artists, and is sure to be an inspiration to anyone interested in the natural world.

This guide from the experts of Kew Royal Botanical Gardens is filled with tips and advice to help you grow your best vegetable garden ever! In this book Kew's Kitchen Gardener, Helena Dove, combines practical elements with inspiration and beauty to make a comprehensive and informative guide with all you need to know to master theart of growing vegetables. She shows how to grow some of the most popular staple crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, radishes and rocket, and also some more unusual and exciting choices such as oca, tomatillo, seakale and yacon. She gives easy to follow instructions on how to be a successful vegetable gardener, plus 12 exciting projects to try throughout the year including forcing rhubarb, creating an asparagus border and growing in raised beds. From sowing, to planting young plants, to hardening off and harvesting, find out what you need to do and when, to produce the most magnificent harvests. All the advice is underpinned by the expertise and authority of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and illustrated from Kew's world-famous botanical collection. With this book, you wil be able to reap a rich bounty of delicious vegetables from just a few packets of seed and some fertile ground! This book is from the Kew Experts series, in which the top gardeners and botanical scientists from Royal Botanic Kew Gardens offer up advice and information as well as suggesting handy projects on a range of gardening topics. Other titles include: Companion to Medicinal Plants, Guide to Growing Bulbs, Guide to Growing Fruit, Guide to Growing Orchids, Guide to Growing Roses, Guide to Growing Succulents and Cacti, Guide to Growing Trees, Guide to Growing Herbs and Guide to Growing House Plants.

There is no shortage of books on how to look after houseplants but no one has shown us how and when and why these plants came to be in our homes. Catherine Horwood's combination of social history, plant history and the history of interior design explains why, as Flanders and Swann sung in the 1950s, 'the garden's full of furniture / and the house is full of plants.' In this fascinating book we learned how potted plants are as much subject to fashion as pieces of furniture. For the Victorians, it was the aspidistra in the front parlour, the Edwardians loved a palm, and, for today's millennials, no home is complete without the ubiquitous fiddle-leaf fig. This book show that there is little new when it comes to plants in the home. In the mid-18th century, Wedgwood created a market for special bulb pots and in the 1950s, some of Terence Conran's earliest designs were for houseplant containers. Across the ages, the choice of potted plants has been influenced by the layout of houses, the levels of dirt and pollution and the equipment to hand. Now, with so much choice, we seem happy to treat houseplants as disposables. This book gives a better understanding of the miracles that were once achieved with indoor plant displays, inspired by Sir Hugh Platt's 1608 vision of a garden 'within doores'. This new edition has been revised with new material added to bring the history of the houseplant and its massive explosion in popularity right up to date.

In her latest book, 'Botanical Style', popular stylist and bestselling author Selina Lake brings her signature romantic vintage style to the current trend for all things botanical. The first chapter, Botanical Inspirations, takes a look at the ingredients of the look - antique botanical prints and artworks, flower stalls, potting sheds and houseplants - and draws upon these sources for fresh ideas to transform your home into a leafy haven. Moving on, Selina explores five different facets of the botanical look. Vintage Botanicals celebrates the gentle palette and delicate style of floral watercolours and pressed flowers, while Boho Botanicals has more of a free-spirited 1970s vibe, with jungly potted plants, flower garlands and even a decorated teepee. The varied textures and contemporary appeal of Industrial Botanicals give it a modern edge, utilizing materials such as polished concrete, rusted metal and laboratory glass and combining them with peeling paint and vintage school science posters on the walls. Next, Natural Botanicals is based around antique prints and salvaged museum specimen cases for a nostalgic feel, while Tropical Botanicals features bold leafy prints, spiny cacti and palm trees for a distinctly glamorous retro flavour. Throughout the book, Selina's imaginative 'DIY Makes' and insightful 'Style Tips' provide a wealth of inspiring suggestions for how to recreate the textures, tones and ambience of Botanical Style in your own home.

The Artist's Garden offers an intriguing study into 20 gardens that have inspired and been home to some of the greatest painters of history. The most alluring image of an artist at work is surely one where he or she has come out of their studio, set up their easel on the garden path, pulled on a hat to shade their eyes from the sun and taken their brush and palette in hand. This sumptuously illustrated and fascinating book delves into the stories behind the gardens which inspired some of the most beautiful and important works of art. These gardens not only supplied the inspiration for creative works but also illuminate the professional motivation and private life of the artists themselves - from Cezanne's house in the south of France to Childe Hassam at Celia Thaxter's garden off the coast off Maine. Flowers and gardens have often been the first choice for artists looking for a subject. A garden close to the artist's studio is not only convenient for daily material and ideas, but also has the advantage of changing through the seasons and over time. Claude Monet's Giverny was the catalyst for hundreds of great paintings (by Monet and other artists), each one different from the one before. Sometimes a whole village becomes the focus for a colony of artists as at Gerberoy in Picardy and Skagen on the northernmost tip of Denmark. This book is about the real homes and gardens that inspired these great artists - gardens that can still be visited today. The relationship between artist and garden is a complex one. A few artists, including Pierre Bonnard and his neighbour Monet were keen gardeners, as much in love with their plants as their work, while for others like Sorolla in Madrid, his courtyard home was both a sanctuary and a source of ideas. This book is as unmissable for art lovers as it is for anyone who knows the joy of time spent in gardens, offering an intriguing insight into the lives of these great painters and the gardens which inspired them to their creative heights.

Traces the evolution of Renaissance philosophy and aesthetics, architecture, horticulture and social attitudes as reflected in the villas and gardens of the Medici family. Allowing the reader to see an alternative way to see the development of the Renaissance. This book shows the evolution of the Medici villas, from defensive farms through humanist retreats to princely palaces, charts the rise of a family from humble farmers to European royalty enabling students to see how a family could rise through the classes in early modern Italy. The Medici spearheaded the movement to rediscover the classical world; in so doing they promoted the humanist philosophy of living in harmony with nature, evolved a new ideal of villa life and created the template for Renaissance architecture. Offering students and readers alike, a clear example of how the classical world influences the Renaissance world.

Providing a guide to the cultivation of both the terrestrial and epihytic orchid species growing in South Africa, this volume includes numerous hints, illustrations and photographs to help simplify the process. Detailed growing notes are given for over 60 terrestrial and over 40 epiphytic species.

American Roots is a lushly photographed, truly inspiring celebration of the wide-ranging styles that define the modern American garden, as revealed through the home gardens of twenty of the most important designers and creatives working today. In recent years, bold designers have begun championing an American design aesthetic that embraces regional cultures, plants, and growing conditions. In American Roots, Nick McCullough, Allison McCullough, and Teresa Woodard highlight designers and creatives with exceptional home gardens, focused on those who push the boundaries, trial extraordinary plants, embrace a regional ethos, and express their talents in highly personal ways. Covering all the regions of the country, the profiles dive into design influences, share the back stories of the gardens and their creators, and include design tips and plant suggestions. American Roots is a beautiful invitation to reconsider how we define the American garden, filled with guidance and encouragement for anyone looking to dig more deeply into their own home garden.

Why plant a vegetable garden with the same old tomato and cucumber plants that everyone else has? Small Fruits in the Home Garden is your home gardener?s guide to growing and harvesting small fruit for personal enjoyment. The contributors to this book provide the necessary information and helpful hints for you to grow many new varieties of small fruits, that have wonderful flavor but may not be suitable for commercial production, right at home. Now you can harvest the tastiest varieties at their peak flavor! In Small Fruits in the Home Garden, you?ll see how small fruits can enhance not only your diet, but also your garden and landscape. You?ll learn how strawberry plants, for example, make wonderful perennial borders along paths and walkways and how currants, gooseberrries, and blueberries serve as "edible" hedges that are especially lovely in the summer when their branches are laden with colorful fruit. Each chapter of this unique handbook provides detailed background and growing information on a particular fruit, with special attention to: climate soil pests water table preplant operations planting management pruning fertilizing liming wateringSee how growing and harvesting small fruit can provide you with something nutritious and beautiful that doesn?t demand too much free time. With Small Fruits in the Home Garden, you, too, can easily manage and enjoy small fruit growing.

Discover the intriguing world of wildflowers with this handy pocket guide. Beautifully illustrated throughout, The Little Guide to Wildflowers offers a fresh perspective on identifying the flowers around you. Featuring 40 of the most beautiful flowers from around the world, including the common wildflowers we know and love, as well as the rare and interesting. Each flower has been delicately illustrated by printmaker Tom Frost to capture its individual characteristics, and is accompanied by information about the plant family to which it belongs and where it can be found, plus associated facts and fables. There is also an interactive spotter's guide at the back, where you can check off each flower you find. This informative, practical and beautiful guide is part of a new nature series designed to encourage creativity through exploring the outdoors.

Learn which orchid plants to choose, how to obtain them, and how to cultivate them, either in a greenhouse or in the home.

This book offers everything readers need to know to grow tasty organic fruit outdoors - whether in a garden, allotment or on their window ledge! It is suitable for beginners and includes a comprehensive directory. This latest title, from a growing and successful series, is by an UK author. What could be better than the enjoyment of tasting your own sweet, succulent, home-grown fruit? Most people have got room to grow some kind of fruit - whether it be a small apple tree in a front garden, a grape vine up a trellis or strawberries in a window box. Gardeners seeking a concise, easy-to-follow approach to fruit growing and maintenance need look no further; this book will provide all the practical advice and information that they need. With guidance on which fruits to choose, when and how to plant, propagate, harvest and store them, plus a comprehensive directory of popular varieties to grow - it won't be long before readers are discovering the delights of their own home-grown organic fruit.

The single best and most comprehensive guide for prospective, new and experienced hobbyist beekeepers Beekeeping For Dummies, 5th Edition, is one of the most popular titles in the For Dummies series available today. Including the latest information regarding every aspect of backyard beekeeping and honey production, this book describes how to get started, how to care for and safely handle bees, and how to maintain healthy and productive colonies. This book is loaded with up-to-date, practical examples and helpful illustrations of proven techniques and strategies for both new and seasoned hobbyist beekeepers. Some of the updates for this brand-new edition include: New information regarding the critical role that nutrition plays in the health and productivity of your bees News about the latest beekeeping products, medications, and all-natural remedies Information regarding dozens of helpful beekeeping resources Redeemable coupons from beekeeping suppliers that save the reader money Beekeeping For Dummies embodies the straightforward and simple approach made famous by the For Dummies series. Each and every reader will benefit from its accessible and approachable take on beekeeping.

Grow-your-own food fans will be delighted to hear that it's possible to have tasty, homegrown mushrooms to eat every month of the year. This easy-to-follow, practical book explains how to grow them in the garden, balcony, kitchen or cellar. Mushrooms are an organic, sustainable and delicious form of plant nutrition and fungi experts Magdalena Wurth and Herbert Wurth take you through every step of the cultivation process. Learn how to grow 19 different mushroom helped along by clear tables, drawings and photographs. Whether you start mushroom growing outdoors on tree stumps and straw bales or indoors using compost or a kit, these tried-and-tested methods make this the ultimate book on small-scale mushroom growing.

Raising healthy and beautiful succulents has never been easier! This essential beginner's guide provides a complete introduction to growing and combining succulents in ways that are healthy for the plants and pleasing to the eye. It also gives an overview of the most popular succulent and cacti varieties. Succulent specialists Tokiiro (Yoshinobu Kondo) explains how the plants' appearances shift with the seasons, and give advice about how to combine them creatively to take full advantage of their seasonal changes in shapes and colors. This fascinating book includes tips and advice on all the critical topics you need to know, including: Selecting, preparing and potting your succulents Creating attractive combinations that can be enjoyed year-round Detailed information on over 200 succulent and cacti varieties And much more! Hundreds of color photographs provide new ideas that will inspire you to tell a unique story through your plants. With this book as your guide, you'll be able to create a beautiful personalized garden that will impress your friends and bring joy to your life!