Celebrated farming expert Eliot Coleman helped start this movement with "The New Organic Grower" published 20 years ago. He continues to lead the way, pushing the limits of the harvest season while working his world-renowned organic farm in Harborside, Maine.Now, with his long-awaited new book, "The Winter Harvest Handbook," anyone can have access to his hard-won experience. Gardeners and farmers can use the innovative, highly successful methods Coleman describes in this comprehensive handbook to raise crops throughout the coldest of winters.Building on the techniques that hundreds of thousands of farmers and gardeners adopted from "The New Organic Grower" and "Four-Season Harvest," this new book focuses on growing produce of unparalleled freshness and quality in customized unheated or, in some cases, minimally heated, movable plastic greenhouses.Coleman offers clear, concise details on greenhouse construction and maintenance, planting schedules, crop management, harvesting practices, and even marketing methods in this complete, meticulous, and illustrated guide. Readers have access to all the techniques that have proven to produce higher-quality crops on Coleman's own farm.His painstaking research and experimentation with more than 30 different crops will be valuable to small farmers, homesteaders, and experienced home gardeners who seek to expand their production seasons.A passionate advocate for the revival of small-scale sustainable farming, Coleman provides a practical model for supplying fresh, locally grown produce during the winter season, even in climates where conventional wisdom says it "just can't be done."

    Springing with amazing vigour from the soil behind the house, this space has been central to Monty's life; ever since he dug the very first border, he has obsessively written about it. The Ivington Diaries is a personal collection of Monty's jottings from the past fifteen years. Generously illustrated with his very own photographs, and beautifully packaged, this book promises to be one of the most delightful garden books ever published.

    Trained as a copperplate engraver and watercolorist, she documented the metamorphosis of butterflies, laying the foundation for modern entomology. What Merian observed when breeding native species of butterfly triggered her curiosity, and spurred her to further investigation; the development from ovum, via larva and chrysalis, to adult butterfly was not fully understood in the 17th century. And not every pupa developed into a butterfly, which puzzled Merian for a long time. On seeing a collection of butterflies from Dutch Guiana, modern Surinam, she decided to study tropical flora and fauna, to discover whether the moths and butterflies she saw in collections shared the same life cycle as those she had bred: the egg and caterpillar stage. In 1699 she sailed for South America with daughter Dorothea, the first time any woman had ventured on a journey of exploration on this scale. Having evaluated and categorized her specimens, in 1705 she published her major work Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, in Dutch and Latin. She made 60 copperplate engravings to illustrate the stages of insect development, arranged around the cultivated and wild plants she had encountered on her travels. With its detailed text and imagery, the Metamorphosis is the first work on the natural history of Surinam. For 17th century Europeans it was an insight into an unknown world. TASCHEN’s reprint of a hand-colored first edition copy includes the complete plates with a commentary by Katharina Schmidt-Loske. Merian accomplished a pioneering achievement of the modern age. This publication pays homage to her work and offers readers an opportunity to appreciate her sumptuous engravings.

    Now you can discover the joy and pleasure of growing your own herbs-for spicing up meals, creating crafts, treating ailments, and more. In this comprehensive and beautifully illustrated herbal guide you'll find information on their history, cultivation, propagation, and harvesting, along with a wealth of great ideas for using herbs everyday in a variety of ways. This guide unravels the mysteries of these versatile plants, with savvy tips and simple formulas for maximizing their powers. Did you know?Mint can repel ants, flies, mice, and moths Garlic can seriously lower cholesterol Chives, fennel, tarragon, thyme, oregano, and winter savory are perennials Rosemary was used in the Middle Ages for its tranquilizing effects, and it is still a digestion aid Known for alleviating common ailments, herbs are an ancient natural wonder-herbs are hotter than ever. Extremely informative and fascinating, this book will help you find which herb can treat various complaints. Throughout the guide are instructions for bursting-with-flavor recipes, health-care products, decorative craft ideas, insect repellents, cosmetics, cleaning agents, and much more.

    Japanese maples are unlike any other tree. They boast a remarkable diversity of color, form, and texture. As a result of hundreds of years of careful breeding, they take the center stage in any garden they are found. In the last decade, the number of Japanese maple cultivars available to gardeners has doubled and there is a pressing need for an up-to-date reference. This new fourth edition offers detailed descriptions of over 150 new introductions, updates to plant nomenclature, and new insights into established favorites. Gardeners will relish the practical advice that puts successful cultivation within everyone's grasp. Accurate identification is made simple with over 600 easy-to-follow descriptions and 500 color photographs.

    

    Dan Hinkley, founder of the original Heronswood Nursery, has scoured the globe for botanical treasures, a bounty that has enriched gardens throughout the world. He presents the most outstanding shrubs and vines from his plant-collecting trips to Chile, Costa Rica, South Africa, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Nepal, Bhutan, India, New Zealand, Europe, and North America. Explorers will encounter little-known exotics such as the sapphire-berried dichroas and vermilion-flowered" Desfontainea spinosa" (Chilean holly). "The Explorer's Garden: Shrubs and Vines from the Four Corners of the World" also includes more familiar, but just as garden-worthy, plants such as witch hazels, hydrangeas, and sassafras. In every case, Hinkley zeroes in on why the plant deserves your garden space and what you can expect as the plant matures. Excerpts from Hinkley's travel journals evoke the plant's native setting with poetic precision, painting seductive portraits of the monkey-puzzle forests of South America or the rhododendron-clad slopes of the Himalayas. As this brimming collection makes clear, there are still scores of exciting plants that await wider use by the gardening public. Readers who yearn for an expert guide to this cornucopia of riches will find no better companion than Dan Hinkley.

    It is a concise, easy-to-read reference that gives instant access to a wide range of information needed on a daily basis, both out on site and in the office.Covering all the major topics, including hard landscaping, soft landscaping as well as planning and legislation, the pocket book also includes a handy glossary of important terms, useful calculations and helpful contacts. Not only an essential tool for everyday queries on British standards and procedures, this is a first point of reference for those seeking more extensive, supplementary sources of information, including websites and further publications.This new edition incorporates updates and revisions from key planning and environmental legislation, guidelines and national standards.

    A secondary purpose is to make available information about traditional medicine to anyone interested in disease prevention through Native American knowledge and traditions.Plants have always played an important role in human history. Plants not only provide food but they can provide clothing, shelter, and medicine. Many plants contain hundreds of chemicals, and most have many active ingredients. Native American knowledge of plant uses is extensive. Current knowledge extends to more than one thousand plants that were used by all Native American Indians, and that is just a fraction of what was once known and used before European contact. Foods introduced by Europeans soon replaced traditional foods, but out of necessity, the practice of traditional plant medicine has survived.Through interviews with tribal elders, as well as information passed down to younger generations, we have been able to highlight thirty-one plants commonly used by Southern California Native American Tribes, which is the limited focus of this study. There are many more medicinal plants that we have documented, but we do not have the necessary data or chemical analysis to include them in this current project.

    In addition to describing the plants and their habitats, this guide relates the significance that native and Polynesian introduced plants had to traditional Hawaiian culture, and tell how these plants are still used today.