“[A] step-by-step approach to container gardening . . . Smith’s practical, assuring, timely, and handsomely produced how-to will see brisk traffic.” —Booklist (starred review)Harvest tomatoes on a patio, produce a pumpkin in a planter, and grow broccoli on a balcony! Bestselling author Ed Smith shows you everything you need to know to successfully create and care for an edible container garden, from choosing the right plants and selecting appropriate containers through controlling pests without chemicals and harvesting fresh vegetables. You’ll discover that container gardening is an easy and fun way to enjoy summer’s bounty in even the smallest of growing spaces. “With detailed, illustrated advice on selecting and retrofitting containers, cultivation, efficient maintenance, and design plans to pull it all together, Smith’s latest guide provides everything needed to grow a bounty of home-grown vegetables.” —Publishers Weekly Read more

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Everything you need to grow a thriving garden in containersWhether you're on a budget, live in a small space, or simply want to raise a new plant or two, container gardening is a practical method for urban and suburban gardeners alike. Container Gardening for Beginners is packed with information and advice for using different types of containers to grow your own vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers.Learn how to get started, from gathering the tools you'll need to choosing the right container and soil mix. Once you've covered the basics, you'll get advice on what you should plant and when, when to water and how, and finally, how you can successfully grow and harvest your crop.Container Gardening for Beginners includes:Step-by-step guidance—Find detailed gardening guidance from start to finish, including things to know before you grow, how to start seeds, plant care and maintenance tips, and how to tell when your crop is ripe.Basic best practices—Grow happy, healthy plants with expert gardening insights to set you up for success, from making sure your container is properly sized to regularly fertilizing your soil.Illustrated plant profiles—Choose the right plants for you with info on the particular needs and characteristics of 30 different fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers.Start and sustain a flourishing container garden with help from the practical advice in Container Gardening for Beginners. Read more

Create your own enchanting witch’s garden and draw energy from the earth with this guide to cultivating your very own magical ingredients.A green witch embraces the power of nature, draws energy from the earth and the universe, and relies on stones, plants, flowers, and herbs for healing. In The Green Witch’s Garden, you will learn how to create your own magical space to enhance your witchcraft practice. With information on how to plan and design your sacred garden and tips and tricks to growing and harvesting magical ingredients, this book will allow you to take control of your practice and more deeply connect with the earth. Let experienced witch and author of The Green Witch Arin Hiscock-Murphy guide you on your path to creating your personal piece of nature. Read more

A gardening book that's sure to be your cup of tea What's more satisfying than brewing the perfect cup of tea? Brewing it from tea you grew yourself! Create your own tea garden with help from this beginner's guide. It walks you through every step of the process, from planning your garden plot to preparing delicious tea blends.Know your teas—Become a true devotea as you explore different types of teas and tisanes, along with the best ways to blend and brew them.Build your garden—Learn how to choose the best location for your garden, the essential tools you should have on hand, and the proper techniques for pruning and harvesting.Dig into plant profiles—From lavender to lemongrass, read quick rundowns of 25 different plants, including their taste profiles, safety considerations, and preservation techniques.Grow the skills you need to make your own tea blends for increased energy, relaxation, digestion, and just plain enjoyment with Tea Gardening for Beginners. Read more

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD: The 50th anniversary edition of the classic manual for sustainable living—with 1,000+ pages covering basic country skills and wisdom for living off the land! Whether you’re homesteading, prepping, or living off-grid, keep your family healthy, safe, and self-sufficient—no matter what’s going on in the world. From homesteaders to urban farmers, and everyone in between, there is a desire for a simpler way of life: a healthier and self-sufficient natural lifestyle that allows you to survive and thrive—even in uncertain times. Carla Emery’s classic guide will teach you how to live off the grid, be prepared, and do it yourself.  • Can, dry, and preserve food • Plan your garden with a beginner's guide to gardening • Grow your own food • Make 20-minute cheese • Make your own natural skincare products • Bake bread • Cook on a wood stove • Learn beekeeping • Raise chickens, goats, and pigs • Create natural skincare products • Make organic bug spray • Treat your family with homemade natural remedies • Make fruit leather • Forage for wild food • Spin wool into yarn • Mill your own flour  • Tap a maple tree • And so much more! The Encyclopedia of Country Living has been guiding readers for more than 50 years, teaching you all the skills necessary for living independently off the land. Whether you live in the city, the country, or anywhere in between, this is the essential guide to living well and living simply. Read more

Recipes, DIY projects, and inspiration for a beautiful and low-waste life, from the creator of @simply.living.well on Instagram In this timely and motivational guide, author Julia Watkins shares rituals, recipes, and projects for living simply and sustainably at home. For every area of your household—kitchen, cleaning, wellness, bath, and garden—Julia shows you how to eliminate wasteful packaging, harmful ingredients, and disposable items. Practical checklists outline easy swaps (instead of disposable sponges, opt for biodegradable sponges or Swedish dishcloths; choose a bamboo toothbrush over a plastic one) and sustainable upgrades for common household tools and products. Projects include scrap apple cider vinegar, wool dryer balls, kitchen bowl covers and cloth produce bags, non-toxic dryer sheets, all-purpose citrus cleaner, herbal tinctures and balms, and more, plus recipes for package-free essentials like homemade nut milk, hummus, ketchup, salad dressings, and veggie stock. Read more

Become the best houseplant parent you can be with beginner-friendly tips and toolsHouseplants are a great way to decorate, ease stress, and stay connected with nature when you're indoors. If you're looking to grow your collection and need some advice, Houseplants for Beginners has all the information you'll need to successfully care for your plants and help them thrive.Learn how to shop for and repot houseplants, choose the best place in your home for them, and address a variety of challenges like pests and diseases. With 120 common houseplant profiles grouped from low maintenance to high maintenance, you can familiarize yourself with individual plant needs and choose the best ones for your lifestyle.The perks of houseplants—Explore a brief history of houseplants and the benefits of bringing nature inside, including relieving stress and inviting more creativity and happiness into your life.Plant wisdom—Find key insights to set you up for success as you begin your houseplant adventure, from propagation techniques to safety suggestions.Troubleshooting tips—Get straightforward advice for solving seemingly difficult houseplant problems.Fill your home with flourishing houseplants with help from this essential guide for beginners. Read more

This bestselling reference guide is essential for any experienced or buddening gardener. All questions about complex plant processes can be found in the Botany for Gardeners. First published in 1990 with more than 260,000 copies sold, it has become the go-to introduction to botany for students and gardeners. Now in its fourth edition, Botany for Gardeners has been expanded and updated. It features a revised interior, with new photos and illustrations.  Additional updates address scientific advances, changes in nomenclature and taxonomy, and more. As before, Botany for Gardeners shares accessible information about how plants are organized, how they have adapted to nearly all environments on earth, their essential functions, and how they reproduce.“This should be the cornerstone of every gardener’s library.” —Jeff Gillman, Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens  Read more

There are no stupid questions here. Everyone has to start somewhere, after all. In The First-Time Gardener: Growing Plants and Flowers, Sean and Allison McManus, the gardening pros behind the popular website and podcast Spoken Garden, answer all of your questions and more.Caring for outdoor plantings can be intimidating, especially if the process is completely new to you. Before running to the hardware store to stock up on plastic bags of mulch and tools you don’t really need, arm yourself with the know-how to plant and tend outdoor areas correctly and safely. Doing so saves you time, money, and energy—and helps make the process a whole lot more fun! With help from this easy-to-follow beginner gardening guide, you’ll learn: Tips for selecting the best plants and flowers for your growing conditions The best planting techniques for different types of plantsHow to mulch trees, shrubs, and garden beds correctly Pruning dos and don’ts for common garden plantsWays to keep weeds out of outdoor areas—without using synthetic herbicidesHow to recognize and manage different pests and diseases naturallyInsider tips on everything from the difference between annuals and perennials to choosing the best organic fertilizerPlus, you’ll find time-management advice and tips for effective, resource-conscious gardening You will close the book not only knowing how to care for your home's outdoor plantings using earth-friendly methods, but also knowing the satisfaction of a beautiful, all-natural landscape. This book is part of The First-Time Gardener Guide series from Cool Springs Press, which also includes The First-Time Gardener: Growing Vegetables. Each book in The First-Time Gardener Guide series is aimed at beginner gardeners and offers clear, fact-based information that's presented in a friendly and accessible way, including step-by-step instructions and full-color illustrations throughout.   Read more

Create the flower garden of your dreams. This comprehensive guide includes expert advice on everything from choosing an appropriate growing site to maximizing the lifespan of your plants. Charming illustrations and photographs accompany helpful tips on how to improve soil, fight off pests, and make all your flowers bloom with radiant color. Whether you’re a beginning gardener or a seasoned florist, The Flower Gardener’s Bible is a useful resource that will help you keep your garden healthy and beautiful for years to come.  This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.   Read more

A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. In Wicked Plants, Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations. It’s an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. You’ll learn which plants to avoid (like exploding shrubs), which plants make themselves exceedingly unwelcome (like the vine that ate the South), and which ones have been killing for centuries (like the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother). Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers. Read more

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The New York Times-bestselling guide to botany and booze celebrates its 10th anniversary with an updated edition—now including a guide to planting your very own cocktail garden to go with more than fifty drink recipes. This fascinating, go-to text about the plants that make our drinks is the ideal gift book for every cocktail aficionado, the perfect drinks book for every plant-lover. Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley, tequila from agave, rum from sugarcane, bourbon from corn. Thirsty yet?  In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart explores the dizzying array of herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, and fungi that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol over the centuries. Of all the extraordinary and obscure plants that have been fermented and distilled, a few are dangerous, some are downright bizarre, and one is as ancient as dinosaurs—but each represents a unique cultural contribution to our global drinking traditions and our history. This charming concoction of biology, chemistry, history, etymology, and mixology—with delightful drawings, tasty cocktail recipes, and fun factoids throughout—will make you the most popular guest at any cocktail party. “A book that makes familiar drinks seem new again . . . Through this horticultural lens, a mixed drink becomes a cornucopia of plants.”—NPR's Morning Edition “Amy Stewart has a way of making gardening seem exciting, even a little dangerous.” —The New York Times   Read more

Increase your stock of plants easily and for free by propagating them yourself. RHS How to Grow Plants for Free demystifies the art of taking cuttings and explains the other ways you can multiply your garden plants. Propagating your own plants is fun, inexpensive, and a sustainable way to garden.An introductory section explains the botanical science behind all types of propagation and defines and simplifies the language. The book is then split into self-contained practical chapters detailing each of the different types of propagation. Each chapter includes a selection of 'plant profiles' for the plants best suited to eachpropagation method: - Dividing Plants covers the easiest methods of splitting one plant into several new ones- Saving Seeds introduces how to collect and process seeds from flowers, vegetables, herbs and trees- Cuttings covers how to successfully grow a new plant from an existing one using several different methods for taking cuttings- The Houseplants chapter shows techniques needed to increase your collection.- The final chapters show how to grow new plants from kitchen scraps, and gives ideas on how to make the most of all the new plants you've created by giving them as gifts Read more

Spoil your chickens and beautify your coop with 101 Chicken Keeping Hacks from Fresh Eggs Daily. Join Lisa Steele, chicken-keeper extraordinaire and founder of Fresh Eggs Daily, on a behind-the-coop tour like you've never seen. Lisa has spent years figuring out the best ways to keep chickens healthy, the natural way, and she's collected more than just your average tips.101 Chicken Keeping Hacks from Fresh Eggs Daily includes simple ideas for re-using and upcycling old items, as well as detailed information on using natural ingredients to enhance and improve your chickens' lives without breaking the bank. This guide includes these handy ideas and much more:Feeding: Try homemade scratch, growing fodder, or frozen treatsThe Run: Make a chicken swing or DIY scarecrowChicken Health: Find ideas for boredom busters, homemade salves, and herbal teasThe Coop: Keep it clean with a natural coop cleaner and make your own coop curtainsThe Garden: Build an herb drying rack or brew a batch of chicken poop “tea”So what are you waiting for? Make your chickens the happiest birds on the block! Read more

“An outstanding and enjoyable introduction to botany, whether the reader is a gardener, or just a garden visitor.” —Bloomsbury Review   What happens inside a seed after it is planted? How are plants structured? How do plants reproduce? The answers to these and other questions about complex plant processes can be found in the bestselling Botany for Gardeners. Written in accessible language, this must-have guide allows gardeners and horticulturists to understand plants from the plant's point of view. Now in its third edition, Botany for Gardeners has now been expanded and updated, and includes an appendix on plant taxonomy, a comprehensive index, and dozens of new photos and illustrations.   Read more

Win the blue ribbon every time! Master Gardener Jodi Torpey offers all the information you need to grow champion vegetables — beans, beets, cabbages, cucumbers, eggplants, onions, peppers, pumpkins, squash, and tomatoes — covering everything from choosing the right varieties and scheduling planting dates to harvesting, preparing, and transporting your produce. She also walks you through every aspect of competitive showing, with useful tips for thinking like a judge. This book will delight you with lively photos of mammoth pumpkins, truly gigantic onions, perfectly pear-shaped eggplants, and the farmers and gardeners who grow them. Filled with the excitement of a county fair, it’s a fun read as well as a solid guide to growing the biggest, tastiest, best-looking vegetables for miles around.  Read more

How to keep alive 119 gorgeous indoor plants, then help them bloom and thrive.You've welcomed a plant into the home: Now what? Your first job is to keep it alive, then after that help it bloom and thrive. Learn all the tips and tricks you need to become a proud plant parent-of more than 100 different plants (if you're up for it)!Yellowed leaves, drooping leaves, dried leaves, even though you've watered it: What's going on? How Not to Kill Your Houseplant will explain-and fix-your houseplant woes. Learn to spot the danger signs and take the proper action to rescue your sick plant. Follow quick tips to understand what your plant does and doesn't like: how much light, water, food, heat, and humidity.Discover the perfect plant for your unique space and needs. Bathrooms, cold rooms, at a desk, on a windowsill, or in a gloomy corner or hot suntrap-there are plants for every location to create your own indoor oasis.Thisis your guide to every stage of plant parenting for beginners, from identifying exactly what's in the pot to keeping it in check when it grows too well! Read more

A garden journal customized for Louisiana gardeners and homesteaders that reflects the unique climate and planting calendar.Want to create a beautiful and abundant garden that offers fresh, wholesome food year-round?This Florida Louisiana planner covers August 2024 through December 2025, to accommodate a year-round planting and harvesting calendar.Features:A Louisiana month-by-month guide of what vegetables you can plant in your region of the stateNEW THIS YEAR: A complete list of the best varieties of fruit trees you can grow in your Louisiana garden and when to plant them in your region.A monthly guide for both North and South Louisiana to what flowers to add to your garden to attract critical pollinatorsExtensive lists of the most heat-tolerant and disease-resistant varieties of vegetables for Louisiana's hot and humid climateOur gardening journal and log book provides scheduling tools to help you stay on top of gardening tasks.Our gardener's log book includes a harvest tracker so you can add up your garden abundanceMonth-at-a-glance sheets to sketch out garden goals and tasks alongside other scheduled eventsWeekly planning sheets to plan your Garden Jobs for the Week, including what to plant, what to sow, what to propagate, and other outdoor projects.Graphing sheets to make Louisiana garden design easy on a monthly basis so you can make the most of succession planting.Annual vegetable logs to monitor and document the varieties you grow, their requirements, and your results, for future reference.Perennial logs to track and document your perennial edibles, like fruit trees and berry bushes, to help you stay on top of critical feedings and pest control.Contact sheets to keep track of your favorite nurseries and seed sellers.A plan to succeed is one of the best garden accessories you can have.Have you decided to ensure food security for yourself and your family by growing more of your own food?You’re not alone.More Louisiana families are taking advantage of the state’s abundant sunshine and prolific rainfall to grow their own fruits and vegetables.Whether you’re new to gardening, or just new to gardening in Louisiana, the Bayou State’s unusual growing calendar features some unique challenges.The gardening season in Louisiana starts in August and September, as fall brings milder temperatures and fewer pests.Our planner will help you map out a blueprint for year-round food security, so you can take advantage of the lush climate and the wide variety of crops.You will learn about the best times to plant vegetables, fruit plants, and pollinator plants, taking the seasonal variations into consideration.You’ll find a reference list of vegetable and fruit varieties best suited to the Louisiana climate. You’ll also learn about the wide variety of exotic tropical fruits and vegetables from around the world that Louisiana families have relied on for generations.Discover delicious new flavors and enjoy unparalleled ease of production.Gardening in Louisiana can be tough but it can also be a source of great pride. Nothing tastes better than the food you’ve grown with your own hard work.As you plan your next growing season, imagine the lush, vibrant garden that awaits you. By creating a plan that works with nature, you can create a beautiful and productive garden space. Your garden will reflect the unique beauty of Louisiana as well as your own commitment to a more self-sufficient way of life.Welcome to gardening in the South! Read more