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Books > Gardening > General
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.
One of the latest trends in home horticulture is regional
gardening, but most popular garden books and syndicated columns are
written by authors on the East and West coasts. Possum in the
Pawpaw Tree is aimed at the heartland of the United States, where
"normal" weather means bitter winters, torrential spring rains, and
summer drought. Since such normal weather is assured, midwestern
gardeners must be prepared for the unexpected. Inspired by actual
gardeners' inquiries, each chapter deals with such down-to-earth
subjects as when to start seeds, why plants might fail to bloom,
pruning techniques, identifying and controlling common pests, home
fruit production, plant propagation, harvesting and storing, and
seasonal gift ideas. The material is arranged to provide a handy
month-by-month guide to indoor and outdoor gardening activities,
both for the novice and the more experienced gardener. Each chapter
contains a gardening calendar, short essays, and a section of
questions-and-answers that focus on gardening problems and
disasters peculiar to the Midwest. The seasonal arrangement serves
as a starting point for beginners and provides reminders for more
experienced gardeners. Monthly topics cover houseplants, garden
flowers, vegetables, woody landscape plants, lawns, and ideas for
new gardening adventures.
Monograph on Raymond Jungles, a contemporary landscape architect
based in Miami known for innovative but timeless design and a
commitment to ethical stewardship of the land. For almost 40 years,
Raymond Jungles has generated design solutions that respond to
surrounding natural systems while restoring nature's balance and
harmony on a micro-scale. His completed gardens personify
timelessness and beauty, with verdant spaces that entice
participation and soothe the psyche. This monograph, the fourth to
focus on his work, will present 21 completed projects, along with a
section of work in progress featuring sketches, renderings, and
site plans of 12 current projects of varying typologies including
an 18-acre Phipps Ocean Park in the Town of Palm Beach, Florida.
Among the featured works are major landscapes surrounding luxury
residential complexes as well as lush private gardens from the
mountains in Mexico to volcanic craters in Panama, Caribbean
beachfronts, the Florida Keys, and densely populated cities like
Manhattan and Miami. Highlights include the restoration of the
famed interior garden by the revered landscape architect Dan Kiley
at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice in New York; a
landscape to evoke the work of legendary Brazilian designer Roberto
Burle Marx at the New York Botanical Garden, and two new gardens at
the the Naples Botanical Garden. Founded in 1985 by Raymond
Jungles, the firm's design priorities are generated by the scale
and functionality of a space. Simple, clean, and well-detailed
hardscape elements are the quintessential bones of a garden.
Planting volumes vary and bold colors and textures are used with
intent. The firm is guided by Raymond's personal and design
principles: integrity, relevance, and nature's honor. Their
informed designs tread lightly on the land, provide habitat, and
incorporate elements of surprise.
In his articles and in best-selling books such as The Botany of
Desire, Michael Pollan has established himself as one of our most
important and beloved writers on modern man's place in the natural
world. A new literary classic, Second Nature has become a manifesto
not just for gardeners but for environmentalists everywhere. "As
delicious a meditation on one man's relationships with the Earth as
any you are likely to come upon" (The New York Times Book Review),
Second Nature captures the rhythms of our everyday engagement with
the outdoors in all its glory and exasperation. With chapters
ranging from a reconsideration of the Great American Lawn, a
dispatch from one man's war with a woodchuck, to an essay about the
sexual politics of roses, Pollan has created a passionate and
eloquent argument for reconceiving our relationship with nature.
The most comprehensive, entertaining, down-to-earth one-volume
gardening reference ever, and highly praised:
"Barbara Damrosch delivers the goods."--"Chicago Tribune"
"Best of the crop."--"House Beautiful"
"Barbara Damrosch's writing has the snap of a good snowpea and the
spice of an old rose."--"The Seattle Times/Post
Intelligencer"
"Covers just about everything you could think of and then some."
-- "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
"An extraordinarily comprehensive guide." -- "The San Francisco
Examiner-Chronicle"
"Takes your soaring visions of garden splendor and plants them
firmly in the ground."--"The Toronto Star"
Now the beloved classic is revised front-to-back. The new edition
has gone 100% organic, which in Barbara Damrosch's hands also means
completely accessible. It reflects the latest research on plants,
soils, tools, and techniques. There is updated and expanded
information on planning a garden, recommended plants, and best
tools. Ecological issues are addressed much more extensively,
covering lawn alternatives, the benefits of native species,
wildlife-friendly gardens, and how to avoid harmful invasive
species. More attention is paid to plants appropriate to the South,
Southwest, and West Coast, while cold-climate gardeners are given
detailed advice on how to extend the growing season. Simply put,
the book is a richer and fuller compendium than ever before, with
more text, more illustrations and garden plans, expanded plant
lists, and gardener's resources. But Barbara Damrosch's core of
practical, creative ideas and friendly style remain--she is still
an "old-fashioned dirt gardener" at heart.
A follow-up to Black Dog's bestselling "Country Wisdom and
Know-How," the "Country Wisdom Almanac" provides hundreds of ideas
and methods for living the good and simple life, plus information
on weather, gardening, buying produce and cooking by season,
holidays, frost dates, moon phases, and more.
Divided into the four seasons and then organized into 373
individual tips, the "Country Wisdom Almanac" presents a wide
variety of ways to live a simpler, more self-sustained life year
round. Each season offers home-improvement ideas (wallpaper a room
in the Fall or build a stone wall in the Spring), crafts (create
gorgeous homemade decorations for Christmas, Halloween, or the
Fourth of July), recipes (use seasonal produce to create fresh,
healthy meals), gardening advice (what and when to plant in order
to get the maximum results from your land), and more.
Also included is year-round advice on caring for pets, creating
your own health and beauty remedies, canning and preserving food,
and more. Each season opens with a list of holidays and a guide to
in-season produce. Appendices cover average weather by city and
month, frost dates, and moon phases.
Almost eighty years after her death, Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) is
still one of the most influential of all English garden designers.
Best known for the superb use of colour schemes in her hallmark
flower borders, she combined an early training in art with
self-taught horticultural skills. Early influences included William
Morris, John Ruskin and William Robinson, but it is her partnership
with the architect Edwin Lutyens that produced some of the most
distinctive of Edwardian houses and gardens. From her house (and
nursery) at Munstead Wood, Surrey, Jekyll designed over 400 gardens
across Britain and Europe, and some in America where her archive of
designs and drawings is now held. This book explores her life,
influences on her early work in art and crafts, the transfer to
Munstead Wood and working relationship with Edwin Lutyens, as well
as her own writings and achievements.
First monograph to present the work of Laguardia Design Group, a
highly regarded landscape architecture firm specializing in
contemporary residential design in the Hamptons. With offices in
Water Mill, LaGuardia Design Group is immersed in the fragile
landscape of the Hamptons, both its woods and meadows and the
dramatic shoreline along the Atlantic. Notable projects include the
rebuilding of the dunescape surrounding a landmark Norman Jaffe
house damaged by storms, collaborations with well-known
contemporary architects, and the setting for a distinguished
collection of contemporary sculpture in Bridgehampton. Founded in
1994 by Christopher LaGuardia, this firm is committed to expressing
the character of each site and recognized for its environmental
stewardship, historic references, and meticulously designed outdoor
spaces. Rather than attempting to mimic nature, LDG's goal with
every design is to interpret natural processes as an artistic
expression in their work. In 2013, LDG received the American
Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) award of excellence in
residential design, the highest residential award in the
profession.
Are you facing drought or water shortages? Gardening with Less
Water offers simple, inexpensive, low-tech techniques for watering
your garden much more efficiently - using up to 90% less water for
the same results. With illustrated step-by-step instructions, David
Bainbridge shows you how to install buried clay pots and pipes,
wicking systems, and other porous containers that deliver water
directly to a plant's roots with no or minimal evaporation. These
systems are available at hardware stores and garden centres; are
easy to set up and use; and work for garden beds, container
gardens, and trees.
"Growing some fruit, veg and herbs is one of the most
life-enhancing, practical and enriching things that anyone with a
scrap of land can ever do." - Monty Don Unrivalled gardening wisdom
from Britain's favourite gardener. Written as he talks, this is
Monty Don right beside you in the garden, challenging norms and
sharing his advice based on years of experience. Month-by-month,
Monty reveals the jobs he does in his own garden, that he hopes are
relevant to you. Discover Monty's thoughts and musings on nature,
seasons, colour, design, pests, flowering shrubs, containers, and
much more. Monty's intimate and beautifully written narrative is
accompanied by photos of his own garden. "You need nature more than
she needs you. It is not an equal relationship. Serve her well and
she will look after you. Abuse her and everyone loses." - Monty Don
Gardens across the globe come in many sizes and styles, but for the
most part they share a remarkable number of similar components.
Suzanne Staubach revels in this interconnectivity in A Garden
Miscellany. In short essays meant to be dipped in and out of,
Staubach shares the history, evolution, and contemporary use of all
the parts and pieces that make up a home garden - from borders,
compost bins, and decks to pergolas, roof gardens, statues, and
troughs. Readers will learn that fairy gardens have their roots in
the Tang Dynasty, the difference between an arbor and a pergola,
how geometry plays a role in garden design, what a ha-ha is (a
ditch deep enough to be a barrier that doesn't interrupt a view),
and much more. Featuring bold and whimsical illustrations by Julia
Yellow and filled with interesting facts and anecdotes, A Garden
Miscellany is a fun and informative gift book for gardeners, plant
lovers, and the naturally curious everywhere.
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.
**SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** The Garden Jungle is a wonderful
introduction to the hundreds of small creatures with whom we live
cheek-by-jowl and of the myriad ways that we can encourage them to
thrive. The Garden Jungle is about the wildlife that lives right
under our noses, in our gardens and parks, between the gaps in the
pavement, and in the soil beneath our feet. Wherever you are right
now, the chances are that there are worms, woodlice, centipedes,
flies, silverfish, wasps, beetles, mice, shrews and much, much
more, quietly living within just a few paces of you. Dave Goulson
gives us an insight into the fascinating and sometimes weird lives
of these creatures, taking us burrowing into the compost heap,
digging under the lawn and diving into the garden pond. He explains
how our lives and ultimately the fate of humankind are inextricably
intertwined with that of earwigs, bees, lacewings and hoverflies,
unappreciated heroes of the natural world. The Garden Jungle is at
times an immensely serious book, exploring the environmental harm
inadvertently done by gardeners who buy intensively reared plants
in disposable plastic pots, sprayed with pesticides and grown in
peat cut from the ground. Goulson argues that gardens could become
places where we can reconnect with nature and rediscover where food
comes from. For anyone who has a garden, and cares about our
planet, this book is essential reading.
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.
"I'm not dead yet," writes Clare Hastings to her daughter, Calypso,
who will one day inherit Clare's beloved cottage garden in the
Berkshire Downs. "In fact I woke up this morning feeling quite
chipper. I glanced out of the window . . . and thought about you.
And felt a frisson of panic. What if I were to be struck down
before elevenses on the B4009? I realized that I needed to leave
you a handbook about the garden. For you the countryside is a
pathway from the car park to the door, to be completed on the run.
But I'm not giving up." The daughter of writer and gardener Anne
Scott-James, Clare too was a latecomer to gardening, daunted by
Latin names and nervous around plants. Then she realized she wasn't
and never would be a 'proper plantsman' and that it didn't matter.
Since then she has explored the joys of gardening and now after
many years' experience of her own cottage garden, Clare shares her
gardening life notes with Calypso.
Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?
Cut trees and plants at the right time - this pruning and plant
training guide will show you how. Keep your garden in top shape
with RHS's guide to pruning over 800 plants, shrubs, fruit bushes,
ornamental trees, and climbing plants. RHS Pruning and Training
(Revised Edition), is packed with tips and advice on keeping your
plants neat, tidy, and growing. Inside you will find: -
Comprehensive guidance for pruning and training over 800 plants -
Clear artworks and step-by-step photographs to guide horticultural
experts and gardening novices alike - A practical A-Z approach,
organised by plant type, displays detailed information in an
easy-to-use format - Guides to specialised techniques for each
plant type, such as renovation pruning, pollarding, fruit bush
training, topiary, and pinch pruning. Gardening design is so much
more than aesthetic! Knowing how to prune and shape plants
correctly will help you achieve the best displays of flowers,
produce bumper crops of fruit, and help your plants remain
disease-free. Learn how to understand how different trees change
through the seasons and the best way and time to cut them, apply
best-practice techniques to different species, and gain expert
insight into gardening a variety of plants. Detailed instructions
and illustrations allow novice and amateur-expert gardeners to
prune and train their gardens with confidence. Author Christopher
Brickel has ensured that this gardening book is an excellent quick
reference guide and simple step-by-step instruction manual with
illustrations to demonstrate precisely where, how, and when to make
those crucial cuts.
Do you know every gardening technique and rule of thumb off pat? Or
do you occasionally straighten up from your digging to try and
remember exactly what you're meant to be doing? How deep should you
plant these bulbs? Was it now you were supposed to prune this rose,
or in February? Can you compost this weed? Is it OK to plant out
these seedlings now? It's such a pain having to go indoors, kick
off your boots, shed your outdoor clothes and start looking up the
answer to your question in some great gardening tome. And that's
where The Gardener's Pocket Bible comes in. Now, you can stay in
the garden and look up all those essential facts and figures in an
instant. At your fingertips you'll have all the answers to your
on-the-spot questions such as: Which plants do you need to protect
from frost? When should you cut the hedge? What plants need
staking, and when? How can you get rid of greenfly without using
pesticides? This indispensible little guide will tell you what you
need to know, when you need to know it - and will save you thumbing
through gardening encyclopedias when what you actually want to do
is get on with the gardening. This beautiful hardback edition has
both dust-cover and gold embossing on the spine making it the
perfect gift. Every Pocket Bible is lovingly crafted to give you a
unique mix of useful references, handy tips and fascinating trivia
that will enlighten and entertain you at every page. There is a
Pocket Bible for everyone... Other titles in the series: The
Outdoor Pocket Bible, The Camping Pocket Bible, The London Pocket
Bible, The Camping Pocket Bible and The Railway Pocket Bible.
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.
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