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Books > Health, Home & Family > Gardening > Specialized gardening methods
Selected as one of the best gardening reads of 2019 by The Daily
Mail Short of outdoor space but want to grow fruit and vegetables?
Congratulations. Really, lucky you. Not for you the back-breaking
trudge of tending large spaces of land, the weeding, digging and
pest vigilance. Gluts? They will mean nothing to you. Instead you
can look forward to small but perfectly formed bursts of flavour.
Handfuls of fresh leaves, berries and tomatoes, just when you want
them, and at arm's reach. As more of us live in cities with
restricted outside spaces, growing food becomes all the more
important, not just for the delicious results, but as a mindful way
to connect us to the seasons and to nature. Full of
tried-and-tested, fool-proof crop ideas exclusively tailored for
containers, raised beds and small gardens, Crops in Tight Spots
guarantees vegetable growing success for even the most newbie of
gardeners and limited of spaces.
Aquaponics is a revolutionary system for growing plants by
fertilizing them with the waste water from fish in a sustainable
closed system. A combination of aquaculture and hydroponics,
aquaponic gardening is an amazingly productive way to grow organic
vegetables, greens, herbs, and fruits, while providing the added
benefits of fresh fish as a safe, healthy source of protein. On a
larger scale, it is a key solution to mitigating food insecurity,
climate change, groundwater pollution, and the impacts of
overfishing on our oceans.
"Aquaponic Gardening "is the definitive do-it-yourself home
manual, focused on giving you all the tools you need to create your
own aquaponic system and enjoy healthy, safe, fresh, and delicious
food all year round. Starting with an overview of the theory,
benefits, and potential of aquaponics, the book goes on to
explain:
- System location considerations and hardware components
- The living elements--fish, plants, bacteria, and worms
- Putting it all together--starting and maintaining a healthy
system
Aquaponics systems are completely organic. They are four to six
times more productive and use ninety percent less water than
conventional gardens. Other advantages include no weeds, fewer
pests, and no watering, fertilizing, bending, digging, or heavy
lifting--in fact, there really is no downside Anyone interested in
taking the next step towards self-sufficiency will be fascinated by
this practical, accessible, and well-illustrated guide.
Sylvia Bernstein is the president and founder of The Aquaponic
Source. An internationally recognized expert on aquaponic
gardening, Sylvia speaks, writes, and blogs extensively about this
revolutionary technique.
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.
Begin your lifelong love affair with the mindful art of bonsai. Do
you know your shari from your nebari? Can you tell literati styling
from informal upright? Want to know how to create that gnarled and
twisted look? Let Happy Bonsai guide you along the path to
enlightenment, with care and display profiles for 40 top trees and
fully illustrated step-by-steps of more than 20 bonsai techniques
and styles. Find your perfect tree and discover how to prune,
shape, and tend to its needs to create a beautiful living
sculpture. Fall in love with this most meditative of garden crafts.
A landscape architect, city planner, and creative genius who
transformed the American landscape, Frederick Law Olmsted was a man
of passionate vision. He defined the profession of landscape
architecture and designed America s most beloved parks and
landscapes, many of them gorgeously illustrated here, including New
York s Central Park, Brooklyn s Prospect Park, the U.S. Capitol
grounds, and the lands and gardens of the Biltmore Estate. During a
remarkable forty-year career that began in the mid-1800s, Olmsted
created the first park systems, urban greenways, and suburban
residential communities in this country. A comprehensive view of
the man and his work, the new edition includes new photography of
Olmsted s masterworks Central and Prospect Parks, as well as a new
introduction and new final chapter by the author that examines
Olmsted s ongoing influence.
After years of living in awe of the mysterious fungi known as mushrooms -- chefs, health enthusiasts, and home cooks alike can't get enough of these rich, delicate morsels. With updated production techniques for home and commercial cultivation, detailed growth parameters for 31 mushroom species, a trouble-shooting guide, and handy gardening tips, this revised and updated handbook will make your mycological landscapes the envy of the neighborhood.
A practical, accessible, and lushly photographed guide to making
your garden a place of beauty and inspiration during the winter
months as well as throughout the year. Why put all of our gardening
effort into planting only for the magnificent but short months of
summer? The dramatic stillness of the garden in winter provides its
own opportunities to deepen our connection with nature. In
Winterland, accomplished landscape designer Cathy Rees guides
readers through the basics of creating rich and compelling
all-season environments-exploring shape, scale, texture, layering,
contrast, plant choices, lighting, garden structures and
sculptures, and more. Design strategies are reinforced by practical
advice on garden care, pruning, maintenance, and coexisting with
animals and birds. Winterland gives beginning and experienced
gardeners alike the tools to develop outdoor havens that will
evolve over seasons and years to become true garden sanctuaries.
Know, grow, and create beautiful bonsai Step-By-Step Bonsai is the
ultimate introduction to bonsai trees, with illustrated
step-by-step projects to make bonsai for beginners simple and
achievable. With an A-Z directory of bonsai tree care, you'll learn
the key techniques needed to create your own beautiful miniature
landscapes. Author and internationally renowned bonsai artist Peter
Warren has taught and worked all over the world and brings you the
best of Japanese bonsai. His expertise will introduce you to the
tools you'll need, tips for bonsai tree care, styling ideas and how
to get the best from your bonsai plants. A complete 'how to' on
planting, propagation, pruning and training techniques, plant care,
and siting. Bonsai trees will bring serenity to your garden and
make your landscape truly unique, even in an urban setting. With
traditional techniques, display ideas and 20 contemporary projects
for your miniature trees, Step-By-Step Bonsai uses photographic
guides to make growing bonsai easy and approachable.
A food forest is a productive landscape developed around a mix of
trees and perennials. Rooted in permaculture principles, this
integrated approach to gardening incorporates a variety of plants
such as fruit and nut trees, shrubs, vines, and perennial herbs and
vegetables. Food forests can help increase biodiversity, protect
valuable habitat for beneficial insects, and promote food security
and resilience, all while providing an abundant harvest. The Food
Forest Handbook is a practical manual for the design and management
of a home-scale perennial polyculture garden. Simple,
straightforward instructions guide the reader through: Getting
started - site assessment and planning Tending the forest garden -
maintaining soil health, succession planning, , mulching, pruning
and more The fruits of your labor - crop profiles, harvest,
storage, nutrition and recipes. This timely book makes the concept
of food forests accessible to everyone. Focusing on the potential
of perennial polyculture to enhance local food systems, The Food
Forest Handbook shows the reader how to mix and match plants in
unique combinations to establish bountiful landscapes and create
genuine self-reliance in years to come. Darrell Frey is the owner
and manager of Three Sisters Farm, a five-acre permaculture farm,
solar greenhouse and market garden located in Western Pennsylvania.
He has been permaculture teacher for thirty years, and is the
author of Bioshelter Market Garden: A Permaculture Farm. Michelle
Czolba is co-owner of Pittsburgh Permaculture and co-founded the
Hazelwood Food Forest. She has extensive experience in the design
and maintenance of perennial polyculture.
Since the first edition was published in 1992, Nick Robinson's The
Planting Design Handbook has been widely used as a definitive text
on landscape architecture courses throughout the world. It remains
one of the few titles written by a practicing landscape architect
and educator who is also a horticulturalist and accomplished
plantsman, and which deals with the application of planting design
on a large scale in landscape architecture and urban design
projects. The Planting Design Handbook is distinctive for its
elegant integration of an ecological approach with an understanding
of visual and spatial composition. It emphasizes the role of
vegetation layers and designed plant communities in complex and
diverse plant assemblages for all kinds of sites and uses. This
expanded and comprehensively updated third edition still provides a
complete examination of principles and practice of design for
public, institutional and private landscapes. It takes account of
developments in theory and practice, especially in the use of
perennials, and reflects a variety of media and approaches current
in landscape architecture and design. All chapters have been
revised and re-written to ensure updated references and new
references have been added. Many new photographs of planting and
projects around the world have been included, with examples of
current professional drawings to illustrate the design process. It
is generously illustrated, including a colour section and the
beautifully detailed line drawings of the Chinese architect and
painter Jia-Hua Wu.
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