A guide to the practice and principles of forest gardening

A guide to the practice and principles of forest gardening

Do you dream of a low-maintenance perennial garden that is full to the brim of perennial vegetables that you don't have to keep replanting, but have only a small space? Do you want a garden that doesn't take much of your time and that needs little attention to control the pests and diseases that eat your crops? Do you want to grow unusual vegetable varieties? You can have all of this with Edible Perennial Gardening. Anni Kelsey has meticulously researched the little-known subject of edible perennials and selected her favorite, tasty varieties. She explains how to source and propagate different vegetables, which plants work well together in polycultures, and what you can plant in small, shady, or semi shady beds, as well as in sunny areas. It includes: - Getting started and basic principles - Permaculture, forest gardening, and natural farming - Growing in polycultures - How to chose suitable leafy greens, alliums, roots, tubers, and herbs - Site selection and preparation - Building fertility - Low-maintenance management strategies If you long for a forest garden but simply don't have the space for tree crops, or want to grow a low-maintenance edible polyculture, this book will explain everything you need to know to get started on a new gardening adventure that will provide you with beauty and food for your household and save you money.

You may never look at a garden in the same way again. Though not a “how-to” book, Beauty By Design is a treasure trove of ideas and enchantment for seasoned gardeners and beginners alike. Eleven inspired artists of the garden share their stories, their secrets, and their passion for gardening. Landscape is the canvas. Foliage, flowers, rocks, water, and other bounties of nature are the materials. With plants, objects, art, and artifice, they create magical spaces, engage our senses, and summon forth pure delight. Travel with Bill Terry and Rosemary Bates to these special places on the Pacific Northwest coast. Visit Dan Hinkley’s enchanted garden, perched above the shore of Puget Sound in Washington State. Close by, beauty explodes in an earthly paradise created by sculptors George and David Lewis and in Linda Cochran’s stunning garden of exotics. Cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island and potter Robin Hopper’s “Anglojapanadian” woodland wonderland. Enjoy the subtle blending of texture and colour in painter Eva Diener’s Sunshine Coast botanical garden. Admire the genius of Robert and Birgit Bateman’s inspiring space on Salt Spring Island, Des and Sandy Kennedy’s fairy-tale forest house and garden on Denman Island, and Kathy Leishman’s garden of refinement for all seasons on Bowen Island. In downtown Vancouver, Glen Patterson indulges his passion for alpines and conifers in his astonishing third-storey roof garden. Elsewhere in the city, Pam Frost’s eye for colour and arrangement transports the viewer out of the urban into the sublime, while on the Saanich Peninsula, writers Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane speak with love and eloquence of their garden, and in verse, too. Accompanied by breathtaking photographs, these gardeners and their stories will inspire all who love to paint with plants.

Inspiration and practical advice for a fantastic garden. Kim Smith's passion is her garden, a small and densely-packed quarter acre beside her family's seaside home in Gloucester, brimming with every species imaginable and some (including apricots) a few might consider unimaginable. Here she has created a living tapestry of fragrance, foliage, flower and fruit. She is sensitive to the plant's forms, hues, and horticultural demands, and has, by design, established a succession of blooms and a selection of plant materials that reduce the needs for pesticides and herbicides. Any gardener wrestling with the challenges of blight, bugs, poor soil, limited light, and the vagaries of weather will find in these pages both sound advice and practical solutions. But this is intended as more than another how-to book. The author is especially interested in the intangibles a garden provides: the moods and ambiance, the butterflies attracted, the harmonious patterns of color, light, and texture. Her advice is as much about how to visualize a garden, as about particular trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, and annuals. Illustrated in full color with the author's own exquisite drawings, containing twenty-two chapters that illuminate every aspect of garden planning and planting, this book is for gardeners seeking both sensible guidance and extraordinary design ideas.

This is not your grandmother's gardening book. You Grow Girl is a hip, humorous how-to for crafty gals everywhere who are discovering a passion for gardening but lack the know-how to turn their dreams of homegrown tomatoes and fresh-cut flowers into a reality. Gayla Trail, creator of YouGrowGirl.com, provides guidance for both beginning and intermediate gardeners with engaging tips, projects, and recipes -- whether you have access to a small backyard or merely to a fire escape. You Grow Girl eliminates the intimidation factor and reveals how easy and enjoyable it can be to cultivate plants and flowers even when resources and space are limited. Divided into accessible sections like Plan, Plant, and Grow, You Grow Girl takes readers through the entire gardening experience: Preparing soil Nurturing seedlings Fending off critters Reaping the bounty Readying plants for winter Preparing for the seasons ahead Gayla also includes a wealth of ingenious and creative projects, such as: Transforming your garden's harvest into lush bath and beauty products Converting household junk into canny containers Growing and bagging herbal tea Concocting homemade pest repellents ...and much, much more. Witty, wise, and as practical as it is stylish, You Grow Girl is guaranteed to show you how to get your garden on. All you need is a windowsill and a dream!

Reproduction of the original.