FROM POTS TO PLOTS
New garden books offer tips and inspiration
Last year it seemed as if fall turned into winter overnight. One day, I was casually putting away pots of annuals that were clearly done for the season; the next day, I was frantically shoving frozen pots of flowers into the garage. I barely had time to assess my garden for changes I might want to make in 2018. But now, there is plenty time to plan. A good way to decide on changes to make to your green spaces is to check out new garden books published in late 2017 and early 2018. Here are a few of our favorites. Pick up one or two that sound intriguing, pour yourself a hot beverage (maybe a cup of tea made from herbs you grew last year?), find a sunny spot in your house and look out into your gardens as you find inspiration. Before you know it, you’ll be planting seeds and hauling your flowerpots back outside.
“Martha’s Flowers: A Practical Guide to Growing, Gathering, and Enjoying” by Martha Stewart with Kevin Sharkey (Clarkson Potter, 2018).
Kevin Sharkey, is executive director of design at Martha Stewart Living, and has worked with Stewart for 22 years. Their coffee table book is filled with beautiful photos and text that focus primarily on our most beloved flowers — for example, the daffodil, tulip, peony, rose, clematis, hydrangea and dahlia, with information on growing the plants and arranging the flowers.
Tidbit: (on arranging peonies) “Herbaceous peonies make excellent cut flowers, and are best cut in bud form so they can open in the vase. Always cut flowers early in the morning or very late in the afternoon, when it’s cool. Harvest buds when they are still fairly tight … the bud should feel like a firm marshmallow to the touch.”
“Composting for a New Generation: Latest Techniques for the Bin and Beyond” by Michelle Balz (Cool Springs Press, 2017).
This book digs into composting like no other. It shows how composting can be done anywhere — even indoors — and addresses the benefits of using compost in your garden. It covers a variety of techniques and includes information on vermicomposting, keyhole gardens, organic composting and more.
Tidbit: To build a raised African keyhole garden, put leftover materials such as wire in the center of a small-scale raised bed and then add composting materials to it. Leave an opening in the garden bed for easy access. The plants in the bed will benefit from the nutrient rich run-off that comes from the composting materials, and the composting pile benefits from the insulation of the bin and shared organisms. This concept originated in Africa as a way to grow vegetables using less water.
“Garden Renovation: Transform Your Yard into the Garden of Your Dreams” by Bobbie Schwartz (Timber Press, 2017).
Both large and small projects are addressed by the author as she helps the reader decide “which changes offer the most pay-off for your time, money and effort.”
There are bigger projects such as different styles of driveways and how they can be edged or accented for visual interest, and ideas for pathways fashioned from a variety of stone or even grasses. Screens, fences, pergolas and stone walls are also addressed, and there are sections on perennials, hedges that provide privacy, garden art and unique items to use as planters — for example, the body of a wheelbarrow.
Tidbit: Gardeners typically shop for plants in spring and early summer but stop when it gets hot in early summer or cold in fall. When shopping, remember that garden centers feature the plants that look good at that particular time. You should, therefore, shop more than once.
“The Wellness Garden: Grow, Eat, and Walk Your Way to Better Health” by Shawna Coronado (Cool Springs Press, 2017).
Coronado writes about the benefits of growing your own produce, the use of ergonomic tools and how to redefine garden chores as beneficial exercises. There is information on how to redesign your garden as a space for beauty and relaxation, along with nutrition charts, composting tips and more.
Tidbit: Gardeners should use lightweight shorthandled tools and heavier long-handled tools. The heavier weight of a long-handled tool, for example, means your tools do more of the work for you. But a short-handled tool that is heavy puts undue strain on your wrists and hands.
“Practical Organic Gardening: The No-Nonsense Guide to Growing Naturally” by Mark Highland (Cool Springs Press, 2017).
Information in this book is scientifically driven. It includes organic gardening methods, products and practices home gardeners will want to know when transitioning from conventional gardening to organic. Everything from vegetables to shrubs is addressed, and tips are provided for how to eliminate chemicals and still end up with vigorous, healthy plants.
Tidbit: Weeds are not so difficult to control organically. “The best time to control weeds is when they are young and tender. Weeding is not hard when you use a well-designed tool and do it at the appropriate time.”
“Niki Jabbour’s Veggie Garden Remix: 224 New Plants to Shake Up Your Garden and Add Variety, Flavor, and Fun” by Niki Jabbour (Storey Publishing, 2018).
Jabbour’s book introduces readers to plants from around the globe with striking photos, descriptions on taste and tips for growing. Each section introduces a crop that’s similar in flavor and texture to favorites such as cucumber, lettuce and summer squash.
This summer, why not try husk cherries, amaranth
greens or yard-long beans?
Tidbit: If you like eggplant, the author suggests trying the Casper variety. It’s “absolutely gorgeous” and “more tolerant of cooler summers, making it a good choice for gardeners in zones 4 to 6.” The plants are productive, and the flavor and texture are “more subtle and quite creamy, especially when roasted or grilled.”
“The Budget Wise Gardener: With Hundreds of Money-Saving Buying & Design Tips for Planting the Best for Less” by Kerry Ann Mendez (St. Lynn’s Press, 2018).
The author writes about her passion for gardening and her need to be on a budget, a combination that helped her turn gardening into a livelihood.
“A home-based gardening business is not a high-income profession,” she writes, “yet I was determined to create flower gardens and container gardens that were lush, opulent-looking, and done on a tiny budget.
“Everything I designed had to be easy on the pocket and on my back.”
Tidbit: “Clearance tables are a no-brainer for scouting deals. But like milk in a food market, these bargains are typically located at the back of the store. Usually the first perennials to show up in clearance are spring bloomers that are past bloom. What a goldmine!”
“Container Gardening Complete: Creative Projects for Growing Vegetables and Flowers in Small Spaces” by Jessica Walliser (Cool Springs Press, 2017).
Lots of unique tips on making small to large containers are provided. Walliser includes a three-tiered hanging begonia basket, a berry garden in a galvanized metal utility tub and a self-watering patio container made inexpensively from two plastic storage bins. She also includes wheelbarrow gardens, beet boxes, potato bins and pollinator cans to attract native bees.
Tidbit: “When designing window boxes or other hanging planters, keep the light colors toward the front and the dark colors toward the back. It helps balance the design and stop it from looking too bulky.”
“The Garden in Every Sense and Season” by Tovah Martin (Timber Press, 2018).
Martin’s own gardening experiences are the focus of this book. “This is the story of a nose and how I followed it through the year,” she writes in her introduction. ”This is the saga of a garden and how it spoke to me.
“I have learned that unless you consciously experience your garden, you might be blind to its beauty. And if you don’t listen, it will remain mute.”
For each season she has sections on sight, smell, sound, touch and taste, in which she addresses a variety of plants as well as ways to make a garden functional and beautiful.
Tidbit: “A good pathway makes moving around a garden a pleasurable experience and does more to further the adventure. Sometimes the fastest route is not the best one. If you want to immerse yourself in the garden, slow the tempo… Most of us don’t have expansive gardens, so we need to savor every inch of our little green space.”
“A Tapestry Garden: The Art of Weaving Plants and Place” by Marietta and Ernie O’Byrne (Timber Press, 2018).
This is a book with lots of beautiful photos of gardens as well as information from the authors on how they have changed and become more beautiful over the years. There’s information on vegetable and fruit gardens, wooded areas, bulbs, corms, tubers and rhizomes; goldfish ponds, perennial borders, conifers, winter gardens and seeds. In each category they include
plants they used, information on them, and how they can be combined.
Tidbit: “The success of ornamental gardening lies in creating an illusion. The garden visitor is led to believe that the multitude of ground covers growing cheek by jowl are living in happy harmony, when actually they would really like nothing better than to overwhelm their neighbor.
One of the skills, then, is choosing which plants can be kept in bounds and not kill their growing companions.”
“Success with Succulents: Choosing, Growing, and Caring for Cactuses and Other Succulents” by John Bagnasco and Bob Reidmuller (Cool Springs Press, 2017).
This text isn’t a primer for cold-hardy succulents; however, it does include information on those that can be grown here — such as the ever popular hens and chicks and sedum. It also includes lots of options for unique succulents that can be used as indoor plants.
Tidbit: It’s important that whatever kind of soil you use for your succulents — whether you’re buying a potting mx or amending the soil in your yard — it should provide good drainage to avoid soggy roots.