This step-by-step bonsai book shows you how to craft super mini bonsai--the smallest form of bonsai! Miniature Bonsai reveals the Japanese art of super-mini bonsai gardening. As rewarding as full-scale bonsai cultivation is, mini bonsai is affordable, straightforward to learn and kind to your busy schedule. It's a complete gardening experience--a plant raised from seed or cutting, carefully potted, grown and maintained over time--a world of green in a pot no bigger than a demitasse or a thimble. From mixing the right growing medium to choosing the perfect pot to displaying your mini bonsai, this Japanese gardening book gives you basic techniques and valuable tips to help you grow miniature: flowering trees pines maples oaks junipers and other varieties of tiny trees and potted plants that are readily available and last for years With Miniature Bonsai you'll learn how to: Select plants that thrive as mini bonsai Work with seeds and small cuttings Match the right plant to the right pot Buy and prepare the growing medium Maintain and drain your miniature bonsai Display and enjoy your prized bonsai plants And much more! A pleasant pastime, a perfect gift, a beautiful addition to spaces small and large--Miniature Bonsai will show you how to make it happen.

Biochar, charcoal made from wood or another type of biomass, has become the new darling of organic gardeners, embraced for its outstanding abilities to enrich the soil and improve plant growth. Gardening with Biochar is the first comprehensive guide to understanding, making, and using it effectively in the home garden. In this highly accessible handbook, long-time garden writer Jeff Cox explains what biochar is and provides detailed instructions for how it can be made at home, along with specific guidelines for using it to enrich soil, prevent erosion, and enhance plant growth. Now widely available at garden centers, biochar is also being lauded for its ability to sequester carbon in the soil, making it good for the health of the planet, as well as the plants.

Organic Gardening in Cold Climates can teach you how to reap a vegetable bounty despite a short growing season. Gardeners from the Rocky Mountains to New England can enjoy luscious red tomatoes, fresh kale, and baby carrots chilled by the damp earth in their own backyard. Perrin helps you plan your garden and shows you how to plant, fertilize, water, mulch, and harvest -- without the use of agricultural chemicals. Special sections explain companion planting, season extenders, composting, natural pest and disease control, saving seeds, and the French Intensive method of gardening. You'll also find hints for cooking and preparing vegetables, a list of cold climate seed suppliers, and sources for further information. Includes 64 pen-and-ink drawings, index, 2 appendixes, and 4 charts.

The threat of global mass extinction of bees, and the alarming decline in many native bird species, are key topics of discussion today. The main causes of this situation is intensive cultivation of monocultures, and the wide-scale use of pesticides, that in turn lead to destruction of traditional habitats and the various food sources they provide. We know that if just one species in a food chain is lost - and thus no longer able to perform its particular function - this will inevitably lead to the extinction of further species, and a reduction in the stability and productivity of the entire ecosystem. The preservation of biological diversity is guaranteed only if pollinators are able to survive - and each of us can contribute to supporting and strengthening them by creating a natural garden that welcomes and sustains these species, providing what they need to flourish. The spirit and magic of a natural garden stems from the fact that it is not created by human hands - at least not in the usual sense, with a great deal of effort and expenditure. A natural garden is about creating an ecologically balanced slice of nature - one that is not shaped by external forces, but works with what is already there. Turn your garden into a wildlife wonderland - and help to save the environment!

This title features organic gardening hints, tips and folklore from yesteryear, from companion planting to compost, with 150 glorious photographs. Tried and tested methods for today's organic gardener, helping to rediscover the wisdom born of an understanding of nature and the natural rhythms of the seasons. It covers all types of garden, including cottage gardens, orchards, hedgerows, kitchen gardens and herb gardens, as well as a range of plants, from flowers to topiary. It includes traditional techniques for sowing, planting and harvesting, as well as age-old methods for controlling pests and diseases, feeding the soil and caring for tools. Practical projects include creating a bee and butterfly garden, establishing woodland bulbs, making a scarecrow, collecting your own seed, and growing fruit in pots. It also features many ancient folk methods, such as planting by the moon and companion planting. It is illustrated with 150 beautiful, inspirational photographs. The skill of gardening and nurturing the land is as old as time. For gardeners everywhere there can be no greater pleasure than watching a tiny seed thrive, and to witness plants blooming and fruiting. This inspirational book offers practical advice for every gardener, whether your interest is in growing healthy vegetables, fruit-filled trees, a beautiful flower garden or a delightfully fragrant herb garden. The book contains a wealth of traditional gardening hints and tips, from understanding the importance of age-old crop rotation to creating perfect compost and feeding the soil. There is helpful advice on basic skills such as sowing and planting, and invaluable information on developing natural, organic defences against pests and diseases. You can discover the folklore and wisdom of yesteryear to bring natural balance, glorious scent and stunning flowers to your garden.

This title offers 101 practical ideas and projects for stress-free, low-maintenance senior gardening, shown step by step in more than 500 photographs. It presents ideas and inspiration for older gardeners wanting to keep healthy and active in the garden for years to come. It considers the practical decisions that are required in any garden, strategies to cater for individual disabilities, and sensory features to stimulate sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. It explains how different types of garden, such as flower gardens and fruit and vegetable gardens, can be designed for good access, low-maintenance and ease of care, as well as creative impact and productivity. An extensive plant directory is packed with easy-care options for all types of garden. It features accessible techniques, step-by-step projects, garden plans and over 500 photographs. You can discover how easy it is to carry on gardening into and way beyond retirement. This book shows how to plan a garden that is suitable for older people. It gives an overview of plants that will stimulate all five senses, and covers flower and herb gardens, fruit and vegetable gardens, and gardens with flexible features, such as containers, upright structures and raised beds, and indoor gardens. There is an extensive directory of planting ideas, each with an ease-of-maintenance rating. The book will give all enthusiasts, whatever their age, the wherewithal to carry on gardening and enjoying their outside space for as long as it gives them pleasure - forever.

Hydroponics offers many advantages to traditional soil-based horticulture. These include greater control over many of the limiting factors, such as light, temperature, and pests, as well as the ability to grow plants in all seasons. With instruction from one of the top recognized authorities worldwide, Hydroponics for the Home Grower gives you step-by-step guidance on how to grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, arugula, bok choy, and various herbs year-round within your home or in a backyard greenhouse. Read an Interview with Dr. Resh here With Dr. Howard Resh's help, you'll learn: Background information on how hydroponics evolved The nutritional and environmental demands of plants and how to control these factors How to provide formulations of nutrients optimal to the plants you wish to grow The many different hydroponic systems you can purchase or build for yourself Designs for different types of greenhouses with components to fit your personal taste and budget Crop selection and step-by-step procedures, including seeding, transplanting, training, pest and disease control, and harvesting-along with when to plant and when to change crops How you can grow microgreens on your kitchen counter The book includes an appendix with sources of seeds and other supplies, along with helpful websites and lists of books, articles, and conferences on growing hydroponically and caring for your crops. By following the guidelines in this book, you'll understand everything you need to know to get your home-growing operation up and running in no time.

Advice involves immediate 'rapid-response' actions to initiate containment along with preventative strategies, measures for control and monitoring requirements post-control. The manual responds to the GB Non-Native Species Strategy and deals with over 40 species which have been selected from plants listed in Schedule 9 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) for the UK; invasive alien species of EU concern (as per EU IAS Regulation 1143/2014); and other noteworthy species of the urban environment, for example butterfly-bush (buddleia). Each species account includes: a brief description on ecology and identification with corresponding photographs; a distribution map for the British and Irish Isles; immediate actions that can be taken once identified; pathways of spread; lifespan; seed-production age; seed longevity; growth rate; a 'schematic' of the life-cycle aimed at assisting the determination of schedules for survey and treatment; prevention and rapid-response measures; tables of control, management and herbicide treatment linked to decision-making flow diagrams; waste-disposal requirements; revegetation post-management; and continued monitoring. Key references to published data and links to appropriate websites are also included.

"Lasagna Gardening With Herbs"
Lasagna gardening is sweeping the nation, as more and more gardeners discover this simple, sensible method of creating healthy soil for easy-care gardens. Pat Lanza's organic, commonsense approach takes the backbreaking labor out of preparing and planting an aromatic, delicious, and low-maintenance herb garden. Discover Pat's homegrown methods for using more than 50 favorite herbs in recipes, making herbal wreaths and delicious herbal teas, and growing and using edible flowers.
"From the first paragraph of "Lasagna Gardening with Herbs" to the last, I felt as though I had finally found my soil sister. Pat Lanza writes and gardens with knowledge, passion, and a pioneer spirit. Her easy-to-implement tips, combined with her encyclopedic wisdom about plants and soil, make her book indispensable to both beginning and advanced gardeners."--Sharon Lovejoy, contributing editor of "Country Living Gardener," a "New York Times" syndicated contributor, and author of numerous books, including "Trowel & Error"
"If Pat Lanza sometimes has dirty fingernails, it's because she's a writer with the hands-on, dig-in-the-dirt passion of a gardener. When she writes about gardening methods, you know she's tried them. And with her discovery of lasagna gardening, she's managed to make it easier for all of us."--Walter Chandoha, animal and garden photographer and author and illustrator of more than 25 books, including "The Literary Gardener"
"Pat Lanza is the only one I know who turns the world upside down when she gardens. She starts with the basics-- dirt first! Her philosophy is that if you do it right from the garden up and make it fun and easy, the garden willdo the rest."--Jim Long, columnist for" The Herb Companion" and" The Herb Quarterly" magazines and author of books on herbs and history
"Pat Lanza is a true renaissance woman, always inventing new ways to tackle old tasks. One day she decided to try her lasagna method of soil improvement with herbs. Did it work? Of course! Her small garden produced prodigious harvests of delicious aromatic herbs! "Carpe diem"!"--Jim W. Wilson, horticulturist and author of numerous books, including "Jim Wilson's Container Gardening"
"About the Author"
Patricia Lanza is a lifelong gardener, a popular speaker, and the proprietor of the Potager, a garden gift shop and cafe in Wurtsboro, New York. Her first book about her time-saving garden methods," Lasagna Gardening," won the prestigious Quill and Trowel Award from the Garden Writers Association of America.

Revitalise your recipes with the joys and satisfaction of foraged ingredients from your garden and beyond. In high-end restaurants and in the home, more and more cooks have unearthed the pleasures 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. 'jammed full of fascinating garden lore, culinary history and clever recipes' Susan Low, Delicious