Taking the fear out of chainsaws by emphasizing safe handling practices, this resource aims to put raw power in the hands of everyday yardworkers. With step-by-step color photographs throughout, 12 of the most common household chainsaw operations--such as cutting firewood, taking down small trees, trimming branches, grooming hedges, and making lumber--are tackled with expert advice and sure-handed guidance. With an additional section devoted to chainsaw types, potential buyers can also assess which size and type of chainsaw best meets their needs. Also included is an appendix that has useful technical information and identifies the parts of a chainsaw and how each functions.

You may already have a bird feeder in your yard, but you can attract a far wider range of species, and they will stay longer, if you create a bird-friendly landscape. Gardening for the Birds shows you how.With the right native plants, arranged to mimic natural ecosystems, you will provide birds with food, water, shelter, and nesting places. Instead of just visiting your garden to snack, birds will call it home.With hundreds of native plants, extensive seasonal bloom and fruiting charts, and the techniques for creating a balanced ecosystem, this book helps you turn any space from a small, urban terrace to a large suburban yard into a home for a fascinating variety of birds. Close-up profiles of birds from across all regions of North America teach you their nesting, breeding, and feeding habits.Birding and gardening are natural companions: let this rich compendium help you make your garden a sanctuary for the local bird population and yourself "

For decades fruit growers have sprayed their trees with toxic chemicals in an attempt to control a range of insect and fungal pests. Yet it is possible to grow apples responsibly, by applying the intuitive knowledge of our great-grandparents with the fruits of modern scientific research and innovation.Since "The Apple Grower" first appeared in 1998, orchardist Michael Phillips has continued his research with apples, which have been called organics final frontier. In this new edition of his widely acclaimed work, Phillips delves even deeper into the mysteries of growing good fruit with minimal inputs. Some of the cuttingedge topics he explores include: The use of kaolin clay as an effective strategy against curculio and borers, as well as its limitationsCreating a diverse, healthy orchard ecosystem through understory management of plants, nutrients, and beneficial microorganismsHow to make a small apple business viable by focusing on heritage and regional varieties, value-added products, and the community orchard modelThe authors personal voice and clear-eyed advice have already made "The Apple Grower" a classic among small-scale growers and home orchardists. In fact, anyone serious about succeeding with apples needs to have this updated edition on their bookshelf.

As showcases for dramatic changes in garden style and new technology, world's fairs offered leading landscape designers and nurserymen the chance to tempt visitors to try new garden trends in backyards across the nation. From horticultural innovations to new landscape styles, the wonders displayed at these fairs had a distinct influence on America's largest urban parks.

In World's Fair Gardens, Cathy Jean Maloney offers a lavishly illustrated exploration of the gardens and grounds of America's nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century world's fairs. Maloney describes the landscapes of nine of America's great fairs from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia to the 1940 World's Fair of Tomorrow in New York, many of whose legacies are still evident.

The fairs also created an arena for intense competition among nations. Foreign plant introductions included English rhododendrons in Philadelphia, Mexican cacti in New Orleans, and Japanese gardens at nearly all the fairs, a feat considering the formidable challenge of shipping live plants great distances in those times. Maloney also explores innovations from the "glazeless putty system" greenhouse in 1884 and cold storage systems in 1904 to modernistic glass fences in 1940.

Complete with more than 50 color and 70 black-and-white illustrations, World's Fair Gardens will appeal to historians, gardeners, urban planners, landscape architects, public park advocates, preservationists, and anyone interested in the history of these global festivals.

Supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts

Like the idea of growing your own fruit, veg and herbs but don't have the room or energy? "Crops in Pots" is a user-friendly guide to getting a taste of self-sufficiency, growing wherever you can grab the space - whether it be your patio, balcony or window sill. Apart from the many joys of growing your own food, the benefits of container gardening are manifold: accessibility, portability, soil choice, easier pest and disease control...Find out how to get started and choose your pots, how to grow and harvest - including the most appropriate crops for small spaces, how to deal with problems and lots of great tips on how to be successful on a shoestring.

Discover all you need to know about creating and maintaining the water garden of your dreams with this practical guide. "Garden Ponds, Fountains & Waterfalls" provides readers with essential information on designing and installing all types of domestic water gardens - from naturalistic to formal, plus fountains, waterfalls, streams, and even bog gardens. With dozens of inspiring photographs, readers will learn how to construct each of these structures, as well as how to design bridges and stepping-stones. Its additional features include a comprehensive plant encyclopedia and supplementary sections on aquatic plant, fish and pond dwellers.

Creative Gardening with Indigenous Plants, now in its second edition, is an invaluable handbook for South African gardeners. In this comprehensive guide the authors set out to popularise the use of indigenous South African plants in gardens, parks, on roadsides and anywhere where previously exotic plants were preferred.
This book covers more than 300 plants, all illustrated by stunning photographs in full colour showing the whole plant as well as selected features such as flowers, fruit, leaves and bark.
The text comprises a description of each plant, its usages – including medicinal uses and snippets of folklore – and advice on cultivation. Introductory chapters cover topics such as propagating plants from seeds and cuttings, gardening in the different climate regions, and using indigenous plants to attract birds and insects to the garden.
Taking a very practical approach, using symbols, distribution maps, plant size and flower colour, the authors lead the reader to the correct plant to choose for the application, whether this be tree, shrub, annual, perennial, climber or water-loving plant.
This all-inclusive book is a must for gardeners, horticulturists, landscape designers and anyone involved in the South African nursery industry.

Piet Oudolf, one of world's most visionary and influential landscape gardeners, is at the forefront of the New Perennial planting movement. This glorious full-colour volume features twenty-three of Oudolf's most beautiful public and private gardens. Noel Kingsbury's accessible text places Oudolf's work in context, and explains how each garden and the plants selected for it fit the specific environment, while Oudolf's detailed plans provide inspiration and insight for all those interested in small personal gardens and the design of large-scale public landscapes alike.

This book defines and describes the ancient craft of bonsai, explaining the best trees and shrubs to use as well as the importance of size, proportion and aesthetics. The art of display is also examined, with useful advice on pots and containers, as well as how to display bonsai indoors and outdoors. The techniques of this precise art form are clearly described, and there is guidance on tools, propagation, and soil types, as well as on basic pruning, shaping and wiring. An invaluable bonsai directory provides information on a variety of popular species, while a chapter on caring for bonsai gives advice on general maintenance, as well as coping with pests and diseases. A unique section describes 15 of the most popular styles and includes how-to instruction on how to achieve each example.

What would it take to grow mushrooms in space? How can mushroom cultivation help us manage, or at least make use of, invasive species such as kudzu and water hyacinth and thereby reduce dependence on herbicides? Is it possible to develop a low-cost and easy-to-implement mushroom-growing kit that would provide high-quality edible protein and bioremediation in the wake of a natural disaster? How can we advance our understanding of morel cultivation so that growers stand a better chance of success? For more than twenty years, mycology expert Tradd Cotter has been pondering these questions and conducting trials in search of the answers. In Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation, Cotter not only offers readers an in-depth exploration of best organic mushroom cultivation practices; he shares the results of his groundbreaking research and offers myriad ways to apply your cultivation skills and further incorporate mushrooms into your life-whether your goal is to help your community clean up industrial pollution or simply to settle down at the end of the day with a cold Reishi-infused homebrew ale. The book first guides readers through an in-depth exploration of indoor and outdoor cultivation. Covered skills range from integrating wood-chip beds spawned with king stropharia into your garden and building a "trenched raft" of hardwood logs plugged with shiitake spawn to producing oysters indoors on spent coffee grounds in a 4x4 space or on pasteurized sawdust in vertical plastic columns. For those who aspire to the self-sufficiency gained by generating and expanding spawn rather than purchasing it, Cotter offers in-depth coverage of lab techniques, including low-cost alternatives that make use of existing infrastructure and materials. Cotter also reports his groundbreaking research cultivating morels both indoors and out, "training" mycelium to respond to specific contaminants, and perpetuating spawn on cardboard without the use of electricity. Readers will discover information on making tinctures, powders, and mushroom-infused honey; making an antibacterial mushroom cutting board; and growing mushrooms on your old denim jeans. Geared toward readers who want to grow mushrooms without the use of pesticides, Cotter takes "organic" one step further by introducing an entirely new way of thinking-one that looks at the potential to grow mushrooms on just about anything, just about anywhere, and by anyone.

In high-end restaurants and in the home, more and more cooks have discovered the joy of using natural, foraged ingredients. But, what few realise is that you don't necessarily have to go rootling in hedgerows or woodlands to find them. Many of our own gardens contain an abundance of edible and medicinal plants, grown mainly for their ornamental appearance. Most gardeners are completely unaware that what they have actually planted is a rather exotic kitchen garden. The Garden Forager explores over 40 of the most popular garden plants that have edible, medicinal or even cosmetic potential, accompanied by recipes, remedies, and interesting facts, and illustrated throughout in exquisite watercolours by Lizzie Harper. This beautifully illustrated book redefines how we look at our gardens and unleashes the unknown potential of everyday plants - making it a must-have for anyone interested in gardening, cooking, or foraging.

2020 Independent Press Award Winner--Home & Garden Category Turn water scarcity into water abundance! Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1, 3rd Edition is the best-selling, award-winning guide on how to conceptualize, design, and implement life-enhancing water-, sun-, wind-, and shade-harvesting systems for your home, landscape, and community. This book enables you to assess your on-site resources, gives you a diverse array of strategies to maximize their potential, and empowers you with guiding principles to create an integrated, multi-functional plan specific to your site and needs. Clearly written with more than 290 illustrations, this full-color edition helps bring your site to life, reduce your cost of living, endow yourself and your community with skills of self-reliance and cooperation, and create living air conditioners of vegetation growing beauty, food, and wildlife habitat. Stories of people who are successfully welcoming rain into their life and landscape will invite you to do the same.

Churchill was born amidst the splendour of Blenheim Palace but, ever a restless spirit, he owned, rented and was provided with many houses, both grand and relatively modest, over the course of his long life, including country retreats, town apartments and, as a statesman, Admiralty House, 10 and 11 Downing Street and Chequers. But it was his own house at Chartwell that will be for ever associated with his name. From Blenheim to Chartwell charts the life of Winston Churchill through the houses he lived in and the gardens he made. It culminates with the full story of his purchase, alteration and creation of Chartwell, Kent, his home for more than forty years before and after the war, and which is now, in keeping with his intentions, owned and run by the National Trust. Gardening expert and author Stefan Buczacki has researched Winston Churchill's homes and gardens, discovering a side to the great leader that is largely unknown - that of a man steeped in Victorian values who cared deeply for his personal staff and behaved with the utmost integrity and honesty in all his business dealings. Based on extensive and scholarly archive study, this well illustrated book brings to light an array of previously unpublished details and reveals a fascinating side to Britain's greatest war leader. Also by Stefan Buczacki and Unicorn: Earth to Earth: A Natural History of Churchyards 987-1-910787-74-8.

NEW EDITION 2018. Extend the life of your plants, trees and shrubs with this authoritative and comprehensive gardening manual. It covers all the standard propagation techniques including sowing seed; taking cuttings; dividing; growing suckers and offsets; layering; how to create extra bulbs, tubers and corms; and grafting two plants together. An A-Z directory lists all the key plants for propagating, describing each plant's size, colour and shape, and how and when to propagate them to get the best results. Plants propagate themselves naturally in the wild, using all kinds of ingenious techniques. This practical book explains the most effective techniques for propagating 375 different types of plants. The book begins with growing plants from seed, covering everything from lettuces and chillies to sunflowers and sweet peas. Next, there are instructions on taking cuttings from established plants to give you exact copies of the parent plant at minimal cost. Dividing plants, layering and grafting methods all follow and all are explained with step-by-step instructions and photographs. The directory of plants includes growing tips for each individual species.There is also advice about propagation equipment from secateurs and garden knives to bio-degradable pots and cold frames, as well as how to improve your soil and make compost. Beautifully illustrated with over 1100 clear and informative photographs and illustrations.

Make the most of your balconies and windowsills with this handy gardening guide from the author of the award-winning RHS Grow Your Own Crops in Pots. RHS Little Book of Small-space Gardening is packed with practical information and inspirational ideas for anyone who wants to grow plants in a variety of outside spaces, from balconies to stairways, windowsills to doorsteps. Look inside to discover a host of creative step-by-step projects, such as speedy salads, wildlife pots, fragrant baskets and green garden walls. Handy plant profiles tell you what's best to grow in a variety of conditions, such as wind, shade and drought. Whether you choose to start with a simple pot or tackle a more ambitious project, with this beautifully illustrated book you'll soon see how even the smallest spaces can be amazing growing spaces.

Home Gardener's Bonsai is the essential guide to the art and craft of growing bonsai in the garden or in the house. With topics ranging from watering and feeding to spirit and aesthetics, it provides an all-in-one guide to this ancient and fascinating hobby. The book features advice on looking for and raising trees, handling pests and diseases, using composts, potting, choosing containers, pruning the plants and displaying them. A convenient A-Z guide covers virtually every species of indoor and outdoor tree.