Hide An environmentally friendly sourcebook that is actually two books in one, providing everything the gardener needs to know about setting up a healthy growing environment within a sunspace, plus a complete guide to growing flowers, vegetables and herbs in the greenhouse. Highly recommended.

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This classic paperback shows how to create beautiful native-plant gardens. Through 500 color photographs of 35 gardens, Ken Druse introduces nature's original plant communities — grasslands, drylands, wetlands and woodlands. Listings of plant sources, places to visit, and societies and organizations.

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The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering.

Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance. Crowded raised beds require high inputs of water, fertility and organic matter, and demand large amounts of human time and effort. But, except for labor, these inputs depend on the price of oil. Prior to the 1970s, North American home food growing used more land with less labor, with wider plant spacing, with less or no irrigation, and all done with sharp hand tools. But these sustainable systems have been largely forgotten. Gardening When It Counts, a MOTHER EARTH NEWS book, helps you rediscover traditional low-input gardening methods to produce healthy food.

Designed for readers with no experience and applicable to most areas in the English-speaking world except the tropics and hot deserts, this book shows that any family with access to 3-5,000 sq. ft. of garden land can halve their food costs using a growing system requiring just the odd bucketful of household waste water, perhaps two hundred dollars worth of hand tools, and about the same amount spent on supplies — working an average of two hours a day during the growing season.

About the Contributor:

Steve Solomon is a well-known west coast gardener and author of five previous books, including Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades which has appeared in five editions.

Today, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, MOTHER EARTH NEWS is recommending books to its readers. For more than 30 years, MOTHER EARTH NEWS has been North America’s “Original Guide to Living Wisely,” creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature.

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This 344-page book combines practical wisdom on ecological design and community-building with a fresh, green perspective. Activist and urban gardener Heather Flores shares her nine-step permaculture design to help you build fertile soil, promote biodiversity and increase natural habitat in your own garden.

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Trees and shrubs can be the heart and soul of the home landscape, providing spring blossoms, summer fruit, a regal silhouette, rough and rugged bark and seasonally changing foliage. Learn how to use them effectively with this comprehensive handbook, covering all the essentials of woody plant gardening. In addition to basic design principles and plant selection and care, the handbook features an extensive encyclopedia of hundreds of tree and shrub profiles, covering ease of cultivation, availability, history, hardiness, size and growth rate, and special characteristics.

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The most comprehensive and entertaining single-volume gardening reference ever printed is now 100% organic. This beloved classic has been revisited by author Barbara Damrosch to reflect the latest research on plants, soils, tools and techniques.

The updated edition includes expanded information on planning an organic garden, recommended plants and the best tools. Ecological issues are addressed more extensively, covering lawn alternatives, the benefits of native species, wildlife-friendly gardens and how to avoid harmful invasive species. More attention is also paid to plants native to the South, Southwest and West Coast, while cold-climate gardeners are given detailed advice on how to extend the growing season. Simply put, this new edition is a richer and fuller compendium than ever before, including more text and illustrations, additional garden plans and expanded plant lists. This new version of Barbara Damrosch's classic guide rejuvenates the original material while maintaining its primary appeal — practical, creative ideas and friendly style.

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A perfect lawn may not always be a good thing, as manicured lawns are high-maintenance, chemical-dependent water guzzlers. This handsome, informative and amusing book should serve as an inspiration to those who are tired of manicured lawns.

Alternatives to the traditional lawn effectively cut down on water usage and may also play host to beneficial insects and birds. Once the desire to do away with grass takes root, readers can turn to author Liz Primeau for help in rejuvenating a front yard so that flowers, foliage textures, and hardscaping come together in inviting swaths to both beautify and benefit the environment.

Useful as a source book, this volume presents photographs and text that suggest potential ideas to increase curb appeal through the transformation of front yards and parkways.

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Beginning with the down-to-earth basics of soil, sun and water, fertilizer and seeds and propagation, The Bountiful Container is an extraordinarily complete guide to container gardening. Written by two seasoned container gardeners and writers, McGee and Stuckey share their expertise and experience in the art of container gardening.

Armed with this manual, frustrated apartment dwellers can indulge their passion for growing edible things. If there is an available balcony, porch, front or back steps, growing produce in containers can be easy and rewarding. With some limitations, it is even possible to grow foods in a window box or on an indoor windowsill.

This collection of practical advice includes detailed information on the types of containers to use, equipment needed, the right soil, when to plant which seeds and how best to deal with problems such as too much or too little sunlight. Written for the beginner as well as for those with a background in gardening, the book contains comprehensive, clearly written and frequently inspiring directions from authors McGee and Stuckey.

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Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn documents the first four Edible Estates prototype gardens with personal accounts written by the owners, garden plans and photographs illustrating the creation of the gardens as the domestic lands are turned into highly productive edible garden landscapes.

The Edible Estates project proposes the replacement of the domestic front lawn with a highly productive edible landscape. It was initiated by architect and artist Fritz Haeg. Essays by Haeg, landscape architect Diana Balmori, garden and food writer Rosalind Creasy, author Michael Pollan and artist and writer Lesley Stern set the Edible Estates project in the context of larger issues concerning the environment, global food production and the imperative to generate a sense of community in our urban and suburban neighborhoods.

This book also includes reports and photographs from the owners of other edible front yards around the country, as well as helpful resources to turn your own lawn into an abundant food garden.