The diversity of Britain's gardens reflects the great variety of conditions in different areas, but sometimes the same questions get asked as Stefan Buczacki travels to six very different locations in this book. He offers answers to those specific questions, to help gardeners everywhere to make the most of their particular conditions.

Stefan Buczacki sets out a blueprint for commonsense down-to-earth gardening - an approach that is based on an understanding of the environment and also relates to gardeners and their lifestyle: what gardeners need and want from their gardens and how they can set about getting it. The author looks at the basics of gardening, examining such topics as soil, fertilizers, pesticides and pruning, revealing his knowledge derived from years of practical gardening experience. He then proceeds to a detailed discussion of the commonsense approach to tree and shrub gardening, kitchen gardening, gardening and ornamentals, water gardening and wildlife gardening, ending with a chapter on garden design.

In a much-anticipated addition to the New Naturalist library, Stefan Buczacki takes a broad look at the relatively unexplored world of the garden, and its relevance within the context of natural history overall. Though gardens are often viewed merely as artificial creations rather than easily accessible places to observe and encourage wildlife, 'Garden Natural History' rectifies this misconception. By viewing gardens within the wider context of the British ecological landscape, Buczacki follows the garden's development as a habitat within which vertebrates, invertebrates and native and alien plants alike have been introduced and to which they have adapted. 'Garden Natural History' offers a fascinating insight into the diversity of organisms and ecological processes that constitute the garden, whilst also highlighting the role of the gardener as conservator and showing how the garden can inspire all naturalists.