If you want a vibrant, chemical-free vegetable garden, companion planting is the solution. Did you know tomatoes produce a natural insecticide that can help protect carrots against pests? Or that planting mint near lettuce can repel slugs? Every gardener knows that the key to an abundant harvest in their vegetable garden is controlling pests and disease, while still maintaining a healthy growing environment. But it is possible to have a healthy, thriving vegetable garden without using dangerous chemicals? It is, as long as you know how to pair up the right plants. Organic gardeners have known for years that planting the right plants together is the key to minimizing pests, improving soil quality, and increasing the yield of their gardens, and almost any vegetable you can grow likely has a beneficial companion. Companion planting is the ideal way to avoid using chemicals, while still increasing the efficiency of your garden. Expert organic gardener Brian Lowell will teach you how to use plants to create a beautiful, vibrant vegetable garden that will be free of toxic chemicals. Here's what you'll find inside: Handy companion planting pairings for all of the most common garden vegetables Practical, simple photography and colorful illustrations for dozens of beneficial planting configurations Expert advice from a master gardener that is specifically designed for beginners Loads of troubleshooting tips for fixing common issues with companion-planted gardens Tips for setting up the perfect vegetable garden, including practical advice on watering, soil management, troubleshooting, and more

The new Kew guide to planting and cultivating herbs features 12 easy and inspiring projects as well as detailed information on 80 of the most important species to grow, all accompanied by Kew's beautiful botanical illustrations. Herbs provide flavours and scents unlike any other, and the 80 hand-picked herbs in this book are a living trove of fresh flavours for any cook, with power to transform the simplest dish. Find out how to grow herbs in beds, pots, borders and windowboxes, how to plant, and how to propagate and harvest your herbs, as the kew experts equip you with all you need to create a flourishing herb garden of your very own. Following this, 80 of the most important and exciting herbs are identified, illustrated and their uses explained. This is accompanied by 12 projects which show how to develop a herb garden at the next level and use herbs in the most interesting and creative ways, from planting a herb roof to making herbal oils. Herbs can be used as seeds, flowers, or leaves; cooked and eaten themselves or used to infuse a dish or drink. They are high-value ingredients for foraged dishes, and must-have crops for the best restaurants as chefs realise that often the only way to capture their elusive flavour is to grow and harvest fresh herbs on their doorstep. With this book these intense flavours can now be a reality for gardeners and home-cooks with any size of garden, from an acre to a window box. Underpinned by the authority of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the expertise of Holly Farrell this book combines practical elements with inspiration and beauty. 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 Vegetables and Guide to Growing House Plants.

What would a greengrocer say if you were to ask for half a dozen Grenadiers and a couple of Catsheads? In the course of the past century we have lost much of our rich heritage of orchard fruits, but with taste once again triumphing over shelf-life and a renewed interest in local varieties, we are rediscovering the delights of that most delicious and adaptable fruit: the apple. This book features apples from the Herefordshire Pomona that are still cultivated today. The Pomona - an exquisitely illustrated book of apples and pears - was published at the height of the Victorian era by a small rural naturalists' club. Its beautiful illustrations and authoritative text are treasured by book collectors and apple experts alike. From the familiar Blenheim Orange and Worcester Pearmain to the less feted yet scrumptious Ribston Pippin, Margil and Pitmaston Pine Apple, Heritage Apples is illustrated with the Pomona's stunning paintings and tells the intriguing stories behind each variety, how they acquired their names, and their merits for eating, cooking or making cider. Also including practical advice on how to choose and grow your own trees, this is the perfect book for apple-lovers and growers.

This fascinating work presents the story of the growth of Japanese culture and philosophy as illustrated by gardens. The author identifies the importance of the garden in Japanese art throughout history, tracing its development from Ancient Chinese prototype, to early Japanese gardens, to the mansions of Muromachi, the Tea Gardens, and finally modern gardens. She relates the evolution of the garden to Oriental religion and philosophy, political and historical events, the arts in general, and the tea ceremony. The book's lively, interesting prose and handsome illustrations give it enduring appeal.

Although the integration of sculpture in gardens is part of a long tradition dating back at least to antiquity, the sculptures themselves are often overlooked, both in the history of art and in the history of the garden. This collection of essays considers the changing relationship between sculpture and gardens over the last three centuries, focusing on four British archetypes: the Georgian landscape garden, the Victorian urban park, the outdoor spaces of twentieth-century modernism and the late-twentieth-century sculpture park. Through a series of case studies exploring the contemporaneous audiences of gardens, the book uncovers the social, political and gendered messages revealed by sculpture's placement and suggests that the garden can itself be read as a sculptural landscape.

The New Wild Garden combines new approaches to a more naturalistic design with the practical side of growing wildflowers and shows how to incorporate wildflowers, real meadows and a looser prarie-style planting into gardens and wild spaces. With serious concern into the decline of pollinators and habitats, meadows are currently the focus of enormous creativity. Gardeners, wildlife lovers, professional designers and seed manufacturers are all pushing the envelope of what can be grown, the pictorial effects that can be achieved, and the benefits that this provides for gardeners and wildlife. This book includes 15 step-by-step projects and an essential plant list, as well as offering inspiration to gardeners and an overview of the most influential movement in garden design over recent decades. In this book you can learn: * How to sow or plant meadow to suit your space * Planting plans for every plot size: from a container, small patch, allotment or an acre * How to grow and propagate more than 50 kinds of wildflowers * Understand and emulate the new natural style followed by designers * Meadow recipes for every soil, situation and wildlife habitat.

Steven and Susan show how to create a range of useful structures and furnishings, both large and small, at relatively little expense by using mostly recycled materials. The first chapters show the kinds of materials used and their possible uses; the next demonstrate some basic making skills. The book then showcases a variety of projects, including structures like a garden shed/studio and a recycled deck, as well as smaller items of garden furniture, such as garden chairs and tables, as well as various forms of storage. Each project includes step-by- step construction techniques with illustrations.

Learn how to use statues, sculptures, fixed structures, water features, plants and more to add the finishing touch to your garden. Magnificent commissioned photographs taken in gardens throughout the country, with extended captions, show and tell you how to achieve the illustrated effect in your own garden. With loads of hints and tips throughout, the title not only inspires but has a solid, practical application. The contents include: paths and paving; containers; colour and its use; edging and finishing; statues and structures; original ideas; lights and lighting; plants as focal points.

Contemplative landscape and contemplative space are familiar terms in the areas of design, landscape architecture and architecture. Krinke and her contributors, all highly regarded scholars and designers, set out to explore definitions, theories, and case studies of contemplative landscapes. The contributors, Marc Treib, John Beardsley, Michael Singer, Lance Neckar, Heinrich Herman, and Rebecca Krinke, have spent their careers researching, critiquing, and making landscapes. Here they investigate the role of contemplative space in a post-modern world and examine the impact of nature and culture on the design or interpretation of contemplative landscapes.
The authors investigate principles and strategies often used as guidance for creating contemplative landscapes, as well as the relationships and differences between contemplative and commemorative space. The essays, drawn from both scholarship and personal experience explore the links between spaces designed to provide health benefits and contemplative space.

Charles Dowding draws on his years of experience, to show how easy it is to start a new vegetable garden. Any plot - whether a building site, overgrown with weeds or unwanted lawn - can be turned into a beautiful and productive vegetable area. Charles's no-nonsense and straightforward advice is the perfect starting point for the beginner or experienced gardener. The book takes you step-by-step through: * Planning and early stages * Clearing the ground * Mulch - what, why, how? * Minimizing digging * Sowing and planting across the seasons * Growing in polytunnels and greenhouses It is filled with labour-saving ideas and the techniques that Charles uses to garden so successfully and is illustrated throughout with photos and tales from Charles's first year in his new vegetable garden.

Marijuana Garden Saver is the go-to field guide designed for growers who need to quickly identify and fix problems and restore plant health. It covers the pests, diseases, environmental stresses and nutrient deficiencies that impact the cannabis garden, threatening a successful harvest.

Marijuana Garden Saver is the resource for all types of gardens, greenhouses and farms:

• Clear photographs help you quickly identify problems indoors and out
• Tells you how to fix problems now, and how to prevent them in the future
• Features organic and safe IPM solutions
• Addresses all major marijuana garden problems

The most trusted name in marijuana cultivation is here to save your garden.

In Six Thousand Years up the Garden Path, a seasoned horticulturalist takes others on a light-hearted and magical journey through the history of gardens. Ian Robertson has spent a lifetime working in the world of plants and design and relies on his experience as an international garden designer to narrate a fascinating history of gardening. Beginning with Sumerians learning to garden between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Robertson transports others through the Fertile Crescent to western Europe, forward to the British Isles, and onward to the New World all while describing the beauty of the gardens of Andrew Jackson Downing, Wolfgang Oehme, Frederick Law Olmstead, and many others. Included in his story of the foliage and blossoms that surrounded kings, princes, queens, and mistresses, Robertson shares a timeline, glossary, and roadside stopovers that make the journey up the garden path even more delightful. Tailored for the enjoyment of either experienced or novice gardeners immersed in the second fastest growing hobby in America, Robertson provides insights into the people, events, and plants that have vibrantly colored the landscape of the world for thousands of years.

Ben Raskin's wide-ranging work in varied locations makes The Woodchip Handbook a really useful overview of the possibilities afforded by woodchip. Charles Dowding, author of Charles Dowding's No Dig Gardening The first and only complete guide to sourcing and using woodchip - an abundant, inexpensive and ecologically sustainable material - for savvy growers and landscapers at any scale, from farm to garden to greenhouse. The Woodchip Handbook is the essential guide to the many uses of woodchip both in regenerative agriculture and horticulture. Author Ben Raskin, Head of Horticulture and Agroforestry at the Soil Association, draws on his extensive practical experience using woodchip, provides the latest research from around the world and presents inspiring case studies from innovative farmers. The book explores and unlocks the tremendous potential of woodchip to enhance soil health and plant growth: As a natural mulch for weed suppression, temperature buffering and water conservation As a growing medium for propagating plants As a decomposing source of warmth for hotbeds in the greenhouse or hoop house As a carbon-rich compost ingredient that supports beneficial fungi and microorganisms As a powerful soil health booster when applied as small-sized ramial chipped wood As an ideal substrate for growing many kinds of edible or medicinal mushrooms As a sustainable, versatile and durable material for foot paths and ornamental landscaping Some of these techniques, like mulching - or the renewable harvest potential from coppicing and pollarding trees - have been around forever. Yet there is always new science to be discovered, such as the role that salicylic acid from willow woodchip can play in preventing tree diseases or promoting livestock health when used as a bedding material. Whether you are a commercial grower or farmer, a permaculture practitioner or a serious home gardener producing your own fruit and vegetables, The Woodchip Handbook will show you how to get the most out of this readily available and renewable material. I did not know the world needed a whole book on woodchip, but from the first chapter I could not put this book down. Alys Fowler, author of The Edible Garden and The Thrifty Gardener

Interest in the environment has never been greater and yet most of us have little knowledge of the 4 billion years of history that formed it. This book explains the principles of geology, geography and geomorphology, and shows how a basic understanding of geological timescales, plate tectonics and landforms can help you 'read' the great outdoors. This is a highly illustrated book with a very accessible text that beautifully illuminates the landscape around us.

'Breathtakingly beautiful' i 'Tender and wholehearted' Helen Jukes LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE INDEPENDENT, FINANCIAL TIMES, I and GARDENS ILLUSTRATED When she suddenly finds herself uprooted, heartbroken, grieving and living out of a suitcase in her late twenties, Alice Vincent begins planting seeds. She nurtures pot plants and vines on windowsills and draining boards, filling her many temporary London homes with green. As the months pass, and with each unfurling petal and budding leaf, she begins to come back to life. Mixing memoir, botanical history and biography, Rootbound examines how bringing a little bit of the outside in can help us find our feet in a world spinning far too fast.