When the inspiration hits to start an organic garden, many novices could benefit from a guidebook that speaks directly to their enthusiasm, their goals, and, of course, their need for solid information that speaks a newbie’s language—from the most trusted source for organic gardening methods. 

In Rodale’s Basic Organic Gardening, general garden-building skills (from "Do I need to dig?" to "Where do I dig?") and specific techniques (from "How do I plant a seed?" to "How much should I water?") are presented in growing-season order—from garden planning and planting to growing and harvesting. Many other need-to-know topics like soil, compost, seeds, pest control, and weeds are explained in simple language to ensure success, even on a small scale, on the first try. More than 100 common garden terms are defined, and Smart Starts sidebars offer doable projects to build confidence and enthusiasm for expanding a garden when a gardener is ready. A flower, vegetable, and herb finder highlights easycare plants with good track records. Plus, there are no-dig garden methods, simple garden layouts, and tips and hints inspired by the most popular page views on OrganicGardening.com. 

With a "no question is unwelcome" approach, a troubleshooting section lessens frustrations and encourages experimentation. Rodale’s Basic Organic Gardening is everything a beginning gardener (or one who’s new to gardening organically) needs to get growing and keep a garden going strong all season.

Ground covers are widely thought of as utilitarian—we turn to them when we have a problem that needs a solution. How fast will it fill an area? Can we put it into the tight spaces between pavers? How much foot traffic can it withstand? Yet these plants also offer a diverse range of beautiful and intriguing options with a variety of colors, textures, and forms. They can unify a landscape, knit together plantings and hardscape, and add extra layers of beauty, dynamism, and surprise. As a replacement for lawns, they can reduce our use of water, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, carbon-based fuels, and transform a yard into a diverse landscape of habitat and food for native insects, birds, and other wildlife.
 
In this meticulously researched reference, nurseryman Gary Lewis profiles more than 4000 ground covers that can perform these roles with aplomb. No matter what kinds of conditions you’re facing—shade, dry soil, heavy clay, excess moisture—there’s a ground cover that will thrive and beautify your garden. Comprehensive, practical, and copiously illustrated, this indispensable volume belongs on the shelf of every designer, landscape architect, and serious gardener.

“Grow Now is an earth manual that applies to everyone, everywhere. Regenerating life begins with our hands, the soil, and our heart. Take this book and go outside, stay outside, and transform.” —Paul Hawken, author of Drawdown and Regeneration

Did you know you can have a garden that’s equal parts food source and wildlife haven? In Grow Now, Emily Murphy shares easy-to-follow principles for regenerative gardening that foster biodiversity and improve soil health. She also shows how every single yard mirrors and connects to the greater ecosystem around us.
 
No-dig growing, composting and mulching smartly, and planting a variety of edible perennials that attract bees and butterflies are all commonsense techniques everyone can use to grow positive change. You'll also find detailed advice on increasing your nature quotient, choosing plants that cycle more carbon back into the soil, selecting a broader variety of vegetables and fruits to improve overall soil fertility, rethinking space devoted to lawns, and adding companion plants for pollinators to rewild any plot of land.

Exquisitely photographed and filled with helpful lists and sidebars, Grow Now is an actionable, hopeful, and joyful roadmap for growing our way to individual climate contributions. Gardening is climate activism!
 

Winner of the 2016 IPPY Award Gold Medal for Home & Garden

40 down-to-earth ideas for inspired garden crafts, including containers, handmade gifts, outdoor lighting, holiday decorations, and more.

Blending the pleasures of gardening with the joys of crafting, Garden Made showcases over forty projects to adorn your garden, beautify your home, or give as gifts. Following the natural cycle of the garden in all its seasons—yes, even winter!—these garden-inspired projects, made by hand and finished with finesse, are the perfect way to express your love of the garden in fresh ways. With full step-by-step instructions, as well as gardening tips and advice, Garden Made will inspire seasoned and novice gardeners, and everyone in between.

Harvest year-round from your bountiful and sustainable fruit and vegetable garden.

Huw Richards' ultimate guide to permaculture gardening, outlining the regenerative methods that make gardening easier to do while being more productive. Huw shows you how to expand your growing beyond annual staples like tomatoes and cabbage to perennial fruits and vegetables, berry bushes, and fruit trees.

By mixing your planting, gardening with the seasons, and optimizing your garden design, you will create a more beautiful and more sustainable garden that is better for the soil, local wildlife, and your crops - without costing more of your time.

The book includes:
 

• What to grow: a substantial and comprehensive reference of all the edible plants and flowers you can grow - when to sow, grow, and harvest.
• Includes perennials that produce every year, maximizing yield for effort as well as introducing new plants to your garden.
• A permaculture approach: streamline the way your garden operates with ideas on building resilience (for example, how to store water), using vertical space, generating healthy soil, and mixed "polyculture" planting.
• Aesthetics and environment: how to make your kitchen garden look good year-round by planting ornamental edibles and flowering crops that attract pollinators.
• Maximizing space: a chapter on spaces helps you grow in shade or a south-facing corner and use pots and climbing varieties up walls and fences to bolster beds and under-cover growing areas.
• A roadmap for the year ahead guides you through the key moments throughout the four seasons.

Eat homegrown food all year round and save money on your weekly shop by following a simple plan for self-sufficiency.

Huw Richards and Sam Cooper have spent the past two years planning and trialing their very own self-sufficiency garden in a 10x12.5m plot and now they've worked out the perfect formula. Grow five portions of nutritious veg a day for four people following their month-by-month growing plan, which is realistic and flexible with cost, space, and time in mind.

- Learn about Huw and Sam's self-sufficiency ethos, goals and approaches
- Create your garden and learn how to build all the growing spaces you will need, such as hot beds and polytunnels
- Follow month-by-month planting plans with guidance on key tasks throughout the year
- Discover useful kitchen tips meal prep, storage, and preserving ideas along with base recipes so you can make the most of your crops

Follow Huw and Sam's tried-and-tested methods and save money while enjoying homegrown food all year.

Gardeners are generally always looking for inspiration. In the forward of Planning & Designing Your First Garden: 50 Ways to Add Style for Personal Creativity, P. Allen Smith states, "Helen has outlined 50 ways to add style to express one's personal creativity in the garden--when in fact her 50 will inspire at least 50 more ideas." Rather than force her own creative ideas on you, author, gardener, and horticulturalist, Helen Yoest teaches you to recognize and act on your own creativity. Easy to follow sections are divided into four basic priorities when thinking about your garden: Garden Basics, Garden Styles, Garden Elements and Your Garden Environment. Chapters include how to create rhythm, scale, and balance along with curb appeal to shape your owns ideas as well as a chapter on creating a sustainable garden environment where plants and animals can live together. Also learn about the importance of selecting the perfect space and sketching out your plan first, how to use containers effectively, as well as how to incorporate other features including water, walkways and walls. Let your imagination go wild and create an amazing space that will give back season after season!

An instant New York Times Bestseller

"If you want to be happy for a year, get married. If you want to be happy for a decade, get a dog. And if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, make a garden."

--Martha Stewart, Martha Netflix Documentary

The first fully comprehensive gardening guide from the legendary Martha Stewart in more than 30 years, with everything you need to know to curate a beautiful, thriving garden

Master the art of gardening with Martha Stewart's Gardening Handbook: an in-depth guide that will teach you the knowledge and skills to cultivate a flourishing garden. From understanding soil composition to learning about different types of plants and gardening methods, you'll discover the secrets to creating a stunning outdoor oasis.

Martha covers:

• the nuances of careful planning
• soil testing
• drainage
• watering and rainfall
• understanding plant hardiness zones
• the art of choosing the healthiest plants for your specific climate

Plus, all different kinds of plants like:

• annuals, perennials, and bulbs
• succulents and cacti
• vegetable and herb gardens
• trees and shrubs

From designing your garden to selecting the right varieties for your region, this manual has every detail covered. Whether you're a green thumb or a gardening novice, this gorgeous book, filled with practical tips, stunning images (many from Martha's personal gardens), and detailed explanations, will arm you with the knowledge to help your garden thrive. As Martha likes to say, gardening is a never-ending opportunity for growth.

Perfect for spring planting season--an outstanding book about backyard science the whole family will appreciate.

Alice's family plants a vegetable garden each spring, and this budding naturalist reports all she sees about how the plants grow, what insects come to eat the plants, and what birds and animals come to eat the insects. It's the food chain, right in her own backyard!

While Alice's narrative is simple and engaging, science concepts are presented in more depth in sidebars by a pair of very knowledgeable (and highly amusing) chickens! Noted science writer Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld knows how to layer information to make it accessible to a wide range of readers and useful for educators. And illustrator Priscilla Lamont's funny, friendly paintings make this a garden everyone will want to explore.

Kids will eat up this wonderful book of backyard science--and perhaps they'll even be inspired to eat their vegetables!

"A wonderfully informative and enjoyable journey through one family's backyard garden, from spring planting to fall harvest. . . . this is bound to spark some backyard explorations." --Kirkus, Starred Review

This illustrated garden of vegetable delights will make children interested in learning about what's on their plates.

As more and more families focus on local and organic eating, this delightful introduction to common vegetables offers a delectable serving of uncommonly beautiful illustrations and fascinating information. As in his previous book, Flower Power, Olaf Hajek's wondrously imaginative and detailed illustrations of vegetables are paired with engaging and eye-opening texts. Organized by season, the book tells how each vegetable is grown, how it can be enjoyed on our plates, its health benefits, historical tidbits, and botanical fun facts. From the first spring onion to pumpkins harvested just before the frost, this inviting journey through the growing seasons celebrates the artistic, historical, and culinary bounty that awaits us in the garden and at the table.

"Birthday flowers. Valentine's Day flowers. Sympathy flowers. Red vs. yellow roses. Carnations. Orchids. We give/receive flowers for all sorts of reasons, but have you ever wondered what these beautiful flowers are REALLY trying to say? In this fully illustrated book, young readers will learn how everything from the color to the genus of a flower can communicate the simplest message. This is not your typical gardening book with step-by-steps to prepping soil, planting seeds, etc. (although we'll have a section on how to plant the perfect garden for your personality). Channel your inner horticulturist and learn the language of flowers! Featuring a similar illustration style to The Junior Witch's Handbook and Astrology for Black Girls, this gorgeous (and gifty) book will guide young readers as they learn to decipher the deeper meanings behind some of the most beautiful flowers. From Ancient Greece to the Middle Ages, to Victorian times to today, flowers are given as symbols of love, celebration, remembrance, friendship, etc. The book will include interactive elements like quizzes ("What's Your Flower Power?") to color codes charts, and a section called "How Does Your Garden Grow?" that will allow readers to create/plan a personal garden that is the best representation of their "kindred" flower spirits"--

Learning about fruits and vegetables becomes fun in What's in the Garden? This book serves as a garden tool for kids and doubles as a healthy cookbook, with tons of kid-friendly recipes for you to cook with your child. Children at home this summer will be inspired learn about the world around us!

Good food doesn't begin on a store shelf with a box, it comes from a garden bursting with life, color, sounds, smells, sunshine, moisture, birds, and bees!

Healthy food becomes much more interesting when children know where they come from. So what's in the garden? Kids will find a variety of fruits and vegetables, from carrots to broccoli, apples to onions. For each vegetable comes a tasty, kid-friendly recipe making this book not only the perfect gardening book for kids, but also a healthy cookbook for kids from 4-8. Author Marianne Berkes consulted with nutritionists and personally made every recipe in the book, to be sure they are both tasty and kid-friendly.

Recipes include:

Applesauce

Carrot Muffins

Tomato Sauce

French Onion Soup

Blueberry Pie

Backmatter Includes:

Further information about the foods in the book

A glossary to help with food preparation

Facts about gardening and plant anatomy

With 18 projects gleaned from the author's experience as director of the Good Earth Kids' Club, Kids' Container Gardening will teach enthusiastic young gardeners how to create an assortment of container gardens that are simple to make, that are fun to work on, and that make great gifts. Organized by season, the books' chapters will help kids develop their green thumbs with projects ranging from "Great Big Garden Bowls for Mom," "Father's Day Fountains," and other special occasion/holiday containers to sand art terrariums. In addition to providing the basics on plants and gardening, this helpful guide also includes a glossary of terms, a listing of plants used in the book, a list of resources, and numerous photographs to show kids that they're proceeding on the right path as they create their individual containers.

Whether in a big backyard or on a small city balcony, children will have a blast with this do-it-yourself book full of great gardening ideas.

No need for sophisticated equipment or a large yard: Let's Garden is a true DIY book that children can easily follow to take their first steps in gardening. Inspired by their own children's fascination with everything that sprouts, Clara Lidstr�m and Annakarin Nyberg teamed up to create a book that would encourage others to interact with their surroundings, whether in the countryside or the city.

From planting a sunflower in a pot and feeding the birds with leftover seeds to growing your own garlic and using it to flavor homemade cream cheese, Let's Garden is full of inventive ideas. Step-by-step instructions are presented alongside whimsical illustrations and photographs, inspiring children to get their hands dirty!

An interactive, illustrated guide perfect for any burgeoning plant lover!



Research shows plants can keep us (and our living spaces) happier and healthier. This illustrated guide breaks down everything from basic light and water needs to soil and temperature requirements for over fifty plants, and will help you find the right plant(s) for your personality, regardless of where you live or how much space you have. With an expansive glossary of plant terms, you'll be speaking like a horticulture pro in no time.

Each section includes:

• "How To" instructions for planting and caring for greenery
• Fun plant facts
• Troubleshooting tips
• Interactive quizzes
• Informative, handy charts
• DIY crafts and projects