Wherever you are right now, the chances are that there are worms, woodlice, centipedes, flies, silverfish, wasps, beetles, mice, shrews and much, much more, quietly living within just a few paces of you.Dave Goulson gives us an insight into the fascinating and sometimes weird lives of these creatures, taking us burrowing into the compost heap, digging under the lawn and diving into the garden pond. He explains how our lives and ultimately the fate of humankind are inextricably intertwined with that of earwigs, bees, lacewings and hoverflies, unappreciated heroes of the natural world.The Garden Jungle is at times an immensely serious book, exploring the environmental harm inadvertently done by gardeners who buy intensively reared plants in disposable plastic pots, sprayed with pesticides and grown in peat cut from the ground. Goulson argues that gardens could become places where we can reconnect with nature and rediscover where food comes from. With just a few small changes, our gardens could become a vast network of tiny nature reserves, where humans and wildlife can thrive together in harmony rather than conflict.For anyone who has a garden, and cares about our planet, this book is essential reading.

    It recalls the monastic past of the house. It covers from the crunch of grass underfoot at midnight on a frosty New Year's Eve to the drip of trees in a melancholy March dawn.

    It’s easy, and it’s fun! Authors Robert Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough thoroughly explain every step in the seed-saving process. Descriptions of seed biology; tips on how to select plants for the best seeds; and advice on harvesting and cleaning, proper storage and care, and propagating and caring for new seedlings are all presented with clear, easy-to-follow instructions. Chapters dedicated to individual plants contain species-specific directions and detailed information. Gardeners of any experience level will find all the information they need to extend the life of their favorite plants to the next generation and beyond.

    A gardening system that works-- so you don't have to!Turn in your tiller for a stack of old newspapers! Replace your shovel with a layer of grass clippings! Let Pat Lanza show you how you can create lush, successful, easy-care gardens in practically any location without hours of backbreaking digging or noisy tilling.* Practical, first-person advice from an experienced gardener* Great ideas to let you spend more time enjoying your gardens and less time working in them* Specific "lasagna" techniques for the most popular vegetables, flowers, herbs, fruits, and more

    Award-winning author Anna DeSimone explains all the ways that sustainably sourced, locally grown food is healthier, preserves farmland, and lowers your carbon footprint. LIVE IN AGRIHOOD, an eco-friendly, healthy-lifestyle community centered around a professionally managed farm. Discover why agrihoods are winning awards across the nation for "best places to live." You can have a beautiful, sustainably built home with the latest energy conservation features, and yet be surrounded by pastoral landscapes and natural habitat. This book takes you through a virtual tour of agrihoods, known for amenities such as charter K-12 schools, clubhouses, fitness centers, boating, golf, horseback riding, swimming, walking, hiking, and biking trails. Best of all, many are surprisingly close to major cities and metro areas. ORGANIC ROOFTOP FARMS are the newest trend in multifamily housing, where tenants can take the elevator to shop for fresh food, or perhaps dine at the on-site café where meals are prepared with food from the chef's garden. Many apartment complexes are incorporating community gardens into the landscape or offering individual raised-bed gardens for tenants to grow their own produce. GROW YOUR OWN ORGANIC FOOD on your porch, balcony, or in your backyard with helpful tips, planting guides, and valuable resources about sustainable, chemical-free, and environmentally friendly growing methods. This book teaches the basics of organic certification, food safety, biodiversity, beekeeping, soil testing, composting, and local laws. With infographics and clear commentary, readers will understand how sustainable agriculture helps the environment, and how far food travels. You might be inspired to start planting microgreens indoors after learning about aeroponics, hydroponics, and aquaponics. SHOP FROM THE FARMER YOU KNOW and learn the story behind your food. This book illustrates the "harvest season," and describes the scope of food products and pick-your-own options at "on-farm" markets. You'll learn about "food hubs," mission-based organizations dedicated to sustainable agriculture, fair trade, social, and environmental causes. Food hubs bring together local farmers, fisheries, ranchers, and artisans. By enrolling in a season-long "farm share" program known as "Community-Supported Agriculture" your family can enjoy fresh, healthy food and connect with the people who plant, manage and harvest your food. Contents:•The Local Food Sensation•Say Hello to Your Farmer•Urban Agriculture•Agrihoods•Backyard Farming•Community-Supported Agriculture (CSAs)•On-Farm Markets•Food HubsBOOK INCLUDES A NATIONAL DIRECTORY OF AGRIHOODS AND LISTS OVER 2,200 RESOURCES TO BUY FRESH, LOCALLY GROWN FOOD.

    Just about everyone's familiar with the Venus flytrap...but did you know that there are pitcher plants that can-and do!-digest an entire rat? Or that there are several hundred species of carnivorous plants on our planet? Full-color photographs of the plants at work and play, plus everything you need to know to successfully grow your own Little Shop of Horrors.Awards1999 American Horticultural Society Book Award Winner ReviewsHow to get kids interested in gardening? The San Francisco Chronicle recommends The Savage Garden, "because there's nothing children like better than catching insects and feeding them to their houseplants."

    In Designing the New Kitchen Garden, Jennifer Bartley shows how the traditional features of the classic kitchen garden, or potager, can be adapted to contemporary needs and conditions. Throughout, the book is informed by Bartley’s conviction that the nurturing, preparing, and eating of home-grown vegetables greatly enhances our connection to the natural world. Copiously illustrated with photographs and with the author's delightful watercolors, Designing the New Kitchen Garden is the perfect blend of inspiration and practical guidance.

    Walled off from the world for decades behind the towering fence surrounding her home, Iris has built a new family…of flowers. Iris propagates her own daylilies and roses while tending to a garden filled with the heirloom starts that keep the memories of her loved ones alive.When Abby Peterson moves next door with her family—a husband traumatized by his service in the Iraq War and a young daughter searching for stability—Iris is reluctantly yet inevitably drawn into her boisterous neighbor’s life, where, united by loss and a love of flowers, she and Abby tentatively unearth their secrets, and help each other discover how much life they have yet to live.With delightful illustrations and fascinating detail, Viola Shipman’s heartwarming story will charm readers while resonating with issues that are so relevant today

    And about the sublime pleasure of having a little piece of French land all to oneself to till. Richard Goodman saw the ad in the paper: "SOUTHERN FRANCE: Stone house in Village near Nimes/Avignon/Uzes. 4 BR, 2 baths, fireplace, books, desk, bikes. Perfect for writing, painting, exploring & experiencing la France profonde. $450 mo. plus utilities." And, with his girlfriend, he left New York City to spend a year in Southern France. The village was small—no shops, no gas station, no post office, only a café and a school. St. Sebastien de Caisson was home to farmers and vintners. Every evening Goodman watched the villagers congregate and longed to be a part of their camaraderie. But they weren't interested in him: he was just another American, come to visit and soon to leave. So Goodman laced up his work boots and ventured out into the vineyards to work among them. He met them first as a hired worker, and then as a farmer of his own small plot of land.French Dirt is a love story between a man and his garden. It's about plowing, planting, watering, and tending. It's about cabbage, tomatoes, parsley, and eggplant. Most of all, it's about the growing friendship between an American outsider and a close-knit community of French farmers. "There's a genuine sweetness about the way the cucumbers and tomatoes bridge the divide of nationality." —The New York Times Book Review "One of the most charming, perceptive and subtle books ever written about the French by an American." —San Francisco Chronicle

     After tragedy shatters her small community in Seattle, the Reverend Elsa Montgomery has a crisis of faith. Returning to her hometown of Pueblo, Colorado, she seeks work in a local soup kitchen. Preparing nourishing meals for folks in need, she keeps her hands busy while her heart searches for understanding.   Meanwhile, her sister, Tamsin, as pretty and colorful as Elsa is unadorned and steadfast, finds her perfect life shattered when she learns that her financier husband is a criminal. Enduring shock and humiliation as her beautiful house and possessions are seized, the woman who had everything now has nothing but the clothes on her back.   But when the going gets tough, the tough get growing. A community garden in the poorest, roughest part of town becomes a lifeline. Creating a place of hope and sustenance opens Elsa and Tamsin to the renewing power of rich earth, sunshine, and the warm cleansing rain of tears. While Elsa finds her heart blooming in the care of a rugged landscaper, Tamsin discovers the joy of losing herself in the act of giving—and both women discover that with time and care, happy endings flourish.

    It is rarely visited so he is the only person who fully knows its secrets; but it is not his own. His relationship with the garden’s owner is both distant and curiously intimate, steeped in the mysterious connection which exists between two people who inhabit the same space in very different ways.In this life-enhancing book Marc takes us month-by-month through his experiences both working in the garden and outside it, as the seasons’ changes bring new plants and wildlife to the fore and lead him to reflect on his past and future. Through his peaceful and meditative prose we learn about gardening folklore and wisdom, the joys of manual labour, his path from solitary homelessness to family contentment and the cycle of growth and decay that runs through both the garden’s life and our own.Beautifully illustrated, Seed to Dust is a moving and restorative account of a life lived in harmony with nature.You’ve seen gates like that at the side of the road, you’ve wondered what’s behind them. They really are the entrance to the wonders you imagined.

    Cheerful and informative, Happy Houseplants will guide any budding indoor botanist through a bevy of topics, from soil and water to light and fertilizer. With beautiful illustrations accompanying 30 different profiles of plants, from the easygoing Air Plant to the striking Zebra Cactus, this nifty book is the perfect gift for anyone looking to bring a piece of the outdoors inside.

    A core book for any golfer--how to read a golf course, through the eyes of a course architect.

    Belknap's Waterproof Grand Canyon River Guide (All New Color Edition)

    In the last half of The Resilient Gardener, Deppe extends and illustrates these principles with detailed information about growing and using five key crops: potatoes, corn, beans, squash, and eggs.In this book you'll learn how to:-Garden in an era of unpredictable weather and climate change-Grow, store, and use more of your own staple crops-Garden efficiently and comfortably (even if you have a bad back)-Grow, store, and cook different varieties of potatoes and save your own potato seed-Grow the right varieties of corn to make your own gourmet-quality fast-cooking polenta, cornbread, parched corn, corn cakes, pancakes and even savory corn gravy-Make whole-grain, corn-based breads and cakes using the author's original gluten-free recipes involving no other grains, artificial binders, or dairy products-Grow and use popbeans and other grain legumes-Grow, store, and use summer, winter, and drying squash-Keep a home laying flock of ducks or chickens; integrate them with your gardening, and grow most of their feed.The Resilient Gardener is both a conceptual and a hands-on organic gardening book, and is suitable for vegetable gardeners at all levels of experience. Resilience here is broadly conceived and encompasses a full range of problems, from personal hard times such as injuries, family crises, financial problems, health problems, and special dietary needs (gluten intolerance, food allergies, carbohydrate sensitivity, and a need for weight control) to serious regional and global disasters and climate change. It is a supremely optimistic as well as realistic book about how resilient gardeners and their vegetable gardens can flourish even in challenging times and help their communities to survive and thrive through everything that comes their way -- from tomorrow through the next thousand years. Organic gardening, vegetable gardening, self-sufficiency, subsistence gardening, gluten-free living.