Vegetables are more than just food for humans: they've been characters, companions, and even protagonists throughout history. "How Carrots Won the Trojan War" is a delightful collection of little-known stories about the origins, legends, and historical significance of 23 of the world's most popular vegetables. Curious cooks, devoted gardeners, and casual readers alike will be fascinated by the far-fetched tales of their favourite foods' pasts. Readers will discover why Roman gladiators were massaged with onion juice before battle, how celery contributed to Casanova's conquests, how peas almost poisoned General Washington, why some seventeenth-century turnips were considered degenerate, and, of course, how carrots helped the Greeks win the Trojan War (hint: carrots enabled the soldiers to stay inside the Trojan horse without a break).

Best practices for the eight most profitable crops: tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers, leafy greens, lettuce, herbs, and microgreens "Mefferd's book fills a gaping void in the literature for market growers. I highly recommend it to anyone growing in greenhouses, or who aspires to."- Ben Hartman, author of The Lean Farm Whether growing in a heated greenhouse or unheated hoophouse, this book offers a decision-making framework for how to best manage crops Today only a few dozen large-scale producers dominate the greenhouse produce market. Why? Because they know and employ best practices for the most profitable crops. The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook levels the playing field by revealing these practices so that all growers-large and small-can maximize the potential of their protected growing space. Whether growing in a heated greenhouse or unheated hoophouse, this book offers a decision-making framework for how to best manage crops that goes beyond a list of simple do's and don'ts. Author Andrew Mefferd spent years consulting for growers using protected agriculture in a wide variety of climates, soils, and conditions. The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook brings his experience and expertise to bear in an in-depth guide that will help readers make their investment in greenhouse space worthwhile. Every year, more growers are turning to protected culture to deal with unpredictable weather and to meet out-of-season demand for local food, but many end up spinning their wheels, wasting time and money on unprofitable crops grown in ways that don't make the most of their precious greenhouse space. In The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook comprehensive chapters include: Protected Growing Structures and their features Heating, Cooling, Lighting, and Irrigation Plant Basics Propagation, Pruning, and Trellising Grafting And Much More! Mefferd's book is full of techniques and strategies that can help farms stay profitable, satisfy customers, and become an integral part of re-localizing our food system. From seed to sale, The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook is the indispensable resource for protected growing.

In seventeenth-century Britain, a new breed of 'curious' gardeners were pushing at the frontiers of knowledge and new plants were stealing into Europe from East and West. John Tradescant and his son were at the vanguard of this change - as gardeners, as collectors and above all as exemplars of an age that began in wonder and ended with the dawning of science. Jennifer Potter's book vividly evokes the drama of their lives and takes its readers to the edge of an expanding universe. Strange Blooms is a magnificent pleasure for gardeners and non-gardeners alike. This 'wonderful book' (Jane Stevenson, Daily Telegraph) describes the remarkable lives and times of the John Tradescants.

* Kirsty Athens and her husband Michael always had visions to escape the city and get farming - and that's exactly what they did 'Get Your Pitchfork On ' is an amusing and informative guide to country life that draws upon real-life experience.

A backyard field of grains? Yes, absolutely Wheat and corn are rapidly replacing grass in the yards of dedicated locavores across the country. For adventurous homeowners who want to get in on the movement, "Homegrown Whole Grains" is the place to begin.
Growing whole grains is simpler and more rewarding than most people imagine. With as little as 1000 square feet of land, backyard farmers can grow enough wheat to harvest 50 pounds in a single afternoon - and those 50 pounds can be baked into 50 loaves of fresh bread.
In addition to providing information on wheat and corn, "Homegrown Whole Grains" includes complete growing, harvesting, and threshing instructions for barley, millet, oats, rice, rye, spelt, and quinoa, and lighter coverage of several specialty grains. Readers will also find helpful tips on processing whole grains, from what to look for in a home mill to how to dry corn and remove the hulls from barley and rice.
Chapters for each grain include inventive recipes for cereals, desserts, casseroles, salads, soups and stews, and, of course, home-baked breads, the crowning achievement of the home grain grower. Sara Pitzer shares dozens of ideas for using whole grains - from cooking sturdy wheat berries in a slow cooker to malting barley for homebrewed beer. Whether milled into nutritional flours or used in any of their unmilled states, wheat, barley, quinoa, and the other grain crops are healthful additions to every diet.

Don't Just Plant Your Garden...Plan It Fifth-generation homesteader Melissa K. Norris has found gardening to be one of the easiest and most complex things there is. It really is as simple as plopping a seed into the soil, giving it adequate light and water, and watching it grow. But if you want to get the most out of your garden and produce more food each year, you need a plan to help you stay on track. This indispensable guide includes everything you need to plan your garden, execute your plan, and record your results, saving you time and hassle-and allowing you to have fun with the process. You'll discover a series of charts and worksheets to identify which gardening zone you are in, which crops make sense for your family, and how much you'll need to plant. Then you'll refer to a set of monthly instructions based on your gardening zone and put together a customized plan using yearly, monthly, and weekly charts to help you stay on track. The more you use this planner, the more you will get out of your garden, and the more you'll enjoy providing your family with healthy, organic fruits and vegetables all year long.

The Well-Tended Perennial Garden has proven to be one of the most useful tools a gardener can have. Gardeners everywhere have benefited from its trusty advice, reassuring tone, and helpful illustrations. Now this completely revised third edition introduces a new generation of gardeners to Tracy DiSabato-Aust's proven techniques. Along with thorough details on the essential practices of perennial care, the new edition includes new species and cultivars, on-trend garden design advice, and new photographs and illustrations. There is also an increased focus on native plants and gardening for wildlife.

The Botanical Bible is an elegant and comprehensive introduction to the beauty, diversity, and value of the botanical world. Author Sonya Patel Ellis covers the evolution of the plant kingdom, the history of horticulture, basic botany, and more. Readers will learn not only how to garden and forage in six major climate zones but also how to make the most of their harvest through a series of recipes for savory dishes, sweets, and drinks. Ellis demonstrates how to use botanicals for beauty and health, with instructions for making essential oils, herbal remedies, floral scents, and natural cosmetics--and even explores the world of botanical artistry and crafts. Gorgeously illustrated throughout, and packed with information and hands-on projects, The Botanical Bible is the ultimate guide for aspiring gardeners, botanists, homesteaders, and anyone seeking a more meaningful relationship with nature.

The growing group of bird enthusiasts who enjoy feeding and watching their feathered friends will learn how they can expand their activity and help address the pressing issue of habitat loss with 100 Plants to Feed the Birds. In-depth profiles offer planting and care guidance for 100 native plant species that provide food and shelter for birds throughout the year, from winter all the way through breeding and migrating periods. Readers will learn about plants they can add to their gardens and cultivate, such as early-season pussy willow and late-season asters, as well as wild plants to refrain from weeding out, like jewelweed and goldenrod. Others, including 29 tree species, may already be present in the landscape and readers will learn how these plants support the birds who feed and nest in them. Introductory text explains how to create a healthy year-round landscape for birds. Plant photographs and range maps provide needed visual guidance to selecting the right plants for any location in North America.

The earliest record of an enclosed space around a homestead come from 10,000 BC and since then gardens of varying types and ambition have been popular throughout the ages. Whether ornamental patches surrounding wild cottages, container gardens blooming over unforgiving concrete or those turned over for growing produce, gardens exist in all shapes and sizes, in all manner of styles. Today we benefit from centuries of development, be it in the cultivation of desirable blossom or larger fruits, in the technology to keep weeds and lawn at bay or even in the visionaries who tore up rulebooks and cultivated pure creativity in their green spaces. George Drower takes fifty objects that have helped create the gardening scene we know today and explores the history outside spaces in a truly unique fashion. With stunning botanical and archive images, this lavish volume is essential for garden lovers.

Written in a clear and accessible style, Garden Practices and Their Science guides gardeners in the practical arts of plant husbandry and in their understanding of its underpinning principles. The author, Professor Geoff Dixon, is an acknowledged and internationally respected horticulturist and microbiologist; he intertwines these arts and principles carefully, expertly leading readers from one to the other. Achieving the manipulation of plant life is described in eight full-colour, well-illustrated chapters covering the growing of potatoes, bulb onions, legumes, small-seeded vegetables, soft fruit, bulbs and herbaceous ornamentals in great detail. Environmental factors controlling the successful husbandry of these crops is described in simple, non-technical language, increasing gardeners' enjoyment and competence. Gardeners are also informed of the tools and equipment they require and their safe use. Also provided are a series of simple, straightforward tests identifying the aerial and soil environments beneficial for plant growth using readily accessible domestic tools. Discussions of very straightforward techniques for vegetative propagation conclude this book. Each chapter ends with a list of the gardening knowledge that has been gained by readers. The structure of this book fulfils a longstanding need for descriptions of practical skills integrated with the corresponding biological reactions of plants. Emphasis is placed on gardeners' development of healthy soils, which encourage vigorous, active root systems capable of withstanding stresses-an aspect of gardening that rarely receives sufficient attention. Tailored for readers requiring clear and concise directions, this very practical book is an instruction manual directed at early-stage gardening learners. These include people of all ages and requirements such as new garden owners, allotment-holders, apprentices and students of basic levels in the Royal Horticultural Society's or City & Guilds qualifications, career changers, community gardeners and those needing applied biological knowledge for GCSE examinations.

Why do so many people love gardening? What does your garden say about you? What is guerrilla gardening? The Psychology of Gardening delves into the huge benefits that gardening can have on our health and emotional well-being, and how this could impact on the entire public health of a country. It also explores what our gardens can tell us about our personalities, how we can link gardening to mindfulness and restoration, and what motivates someone to become a professional gardener. With gardening being an ever popular pastime, The Psychology of Gardening provides a fascinating insight into our relationships with our gardens.

Grow more, spend less So you want a stylish, healthy, and productive garden that is budget and Earth-friendly? Of course you do. Garden designer Kier Holmes shows you how, in this accessible and spunky guide. She shares everything you need to create a productive and lush garden that can truly be used and enjoyed. Packed with hundreds of tips on design, plant selection, and how to address problematic situations, it also has information on which hardscape elements are worth the splurge, how to decide where to start, and how to reduce maintenance through design. Inspirational, practical, and endlessly creative, The Garden Refresh is destined to become the book you turn to again and again for the best insider ideas.

'A love letter to English horticulture written by a passionate gardener. A must-read for anyone who has dreamt of cultivating their own patch of land' Jane Perrone 'Skymeadow is a fascinating book . . . Every flower, every passing bud, every change in the season is described with rapture' Jilly Cooper When Charlie Hart first visited Peverels, a small farmhouse that sits lazily on the lip of a hill running down into the Peb Valley, he was at breaking point, grieving the loss of his father and anxious about the impending death of his mother. He and his wife Sybilla felt that their London life had been steadily growing in noise: the noise of grief, the noise of busyness, the noise that comes from the expectations of others and, for Charlie, the constant clamour of dissatisfaction at work. At Peverels, Charlie found an expanse of untouched meadowland, the perfect setting for an audacious garden. Charlie felt an unquenchable urge to dig, to create something. The days he spent wrestling with the soil in the rose garden were the days in which he mourned the loss of his parents. Gardening has taught him that you can dig for victory, but you can also dig for mental health. As the garden formed around Charlie, he buried his fears and anxieties within it. A garden that is now known as Skymeadow and grows with a lusty, almost biblical vigour. In Skymeadow, Charlie seamlessly weaves together his own memoir with that of his garden. The result is a lyrical and incisive story of mental health at an all-time low, the healing powers of digging and, ultimately, a celebration of nature.

Can gardening change the world? It certainly can when it comes to butterflies. Butterflies are in danger, but everyone who has a garden can do their part to make a difference. Gardening for Butterflies is an optimistic call to arms by the experts at the Xerces Society that provides home gardeners with everything they need to create a beautiful, beneficial, butterfly filled garden, no matter the size of their space. Hundreds of plants for all of North America are profiled, with colour photographs and growing information, along with tips on plant selection, installation and maintenance.

This book is the story of one garden and one family, over a 40-year time period. In their own words, Michael and Anne Heseltine describe the ups and downs of how they set about transforming and expanding a wild, overgrown and often dilapidated woodland into the magnificent garden they have today. Today, the garden at Thenford has an arboretum which contains more than 3,500 different species of trees and shrubs, including rare plants which were wild-collected by well known plantsmen including Roy Lancaster OBE, Allen Coombes, Keith Rushforth and Chris Chadwell. It is also well-known for its sculpture garden, which has an eclectic collection of work ranging from a white marble Tazza fountain to an enormous statue of Lenin. Beautifully illustrated with both professional photographs and private family images, this personal story of the creation of an extraordinary garden will delight horticultural experts and novices alike.

No-till - a method of growing crops and providing pasture without disturbing the soil - has become an important alternative to standard farming practices. In this comprehensive guide to successful no-till vegetable farming for aspiring and beginning farmers, author Daniel Mays, owner and manager of an organic no-till farm in Maine, outlines the environmental, social, and economic benefits of this system. The methods described are designed for implementation at the human scale, relying primarily on human power, with minimal use of machinery. The book presents streamlined planning and record-keeping tools as well as marketing strategies, and outlines community engagement programs like CSA, food justice initiatives, and on-farm education.

Britain's favourite gardener Alan Titchmarsh has also been the most popular contributor to Gardeners' World magazine for the last twenty years. This collection of his very best columns, demonstrates just why he is regularly voted the readers' favourite. His brilliant writings are, in turn, practical - just how far back should we prune our roses? - opinionated - I always rail at people who go out on a Sunday afternoon to tidy their gardens. I mean, a garden is not a sock drawer - cheeky - I have a theory that gardeners grow to look like their soil and wistful - You've got to be a bit of a dreamer to get the most out of your garden. So lay down your trowel, take off your wellies, sit back and enjoy a bit of quintessential Titchmarsh.

"Explains how your garden can be a thriving, balanced community that gives more to your landscape than it takes." --Douglas W. Tallamy, author of The Nature of Oaks and Nature's Best Hope The birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects that inhabit our yards and gardens are overwhelmingly on our side--they are not our enemies, but instead our allies. They pollinate our flowers and vegetable crops, and they keep pests in check. In Garden Allies, Frederique Lavoipierre shares fascinating portraits of these creatures, describing their life cycles and showing how they keep the garden's ecology in balance. Also included is helpful information on how to nurture and welcome these valuable creatures into your garden. With beautiful pen-and-ink drawings by Craig Latker, Garden Allies invites you to make friends with the creatures that fill your garden--the reward is a renewed sense of nature's beauty and a garden humming with life.

An elegant mini edition of Katie Scott and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew's beautiful Aroboretum.

This stylish mini edition of Arboretum is the perfect gift for nature-lovers or anyone who appreciates beautiful books. Wander the galleries - open 365 days a year - and discover a collection of curated exhibits on every page, accompanied by informative text. From majestic redwoods to ornamental cherry trees, beautiful pines and exotic palms, each chapter features a different part of the arboreal kingdom.