Seed Library

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the various methods of composting and how to adapt them to your home and garden. With full-color photographs and easy-to-follow instructions, this will be an essential addition to every gardener’s library.

Great compost is one of the most important secrets of successful organic gardening. Topics covered here include:

• What you can and can’t throw on your compost pile
• How to balance nitrogen and carbon in your pile for quick decomposition and rich compost
• Buying or building the best tools and containers
• Vermicomposting
• How to compost indoors
• Troubleshooting smelly compost, dry compost, and other problems
• How and when to apply the compost to your garden beds

With growing concerns about the use of pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs in mainstream gardening practices, more and more families are turning to their backyards to grow their own food using methods they know are safe. The need for clear, straightforward instruction on organic gardening techniques has never been greater. With Composting for Absolute Beginners, readers will get the information they need to prepare their gardens for healthy, abundant crops.

"The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden helps you become more intentional about attracting birds, bees, and more to the garden...you can build a beautiful garden for all seasons while simultaneously striving to support wildlife."―Horticulture

The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden is a beginner-friendly handbook that helps homeowners create a beautiful garden that attracts birds, bees, butterflies, and more. Everyone wants a garden buzzing with life, and Stacy Tornio makes it easy by sharing details about which plants attract specific creatures.

Stacy Tornio makes it easy to attract birds, bees, and butterflies to your home garden by sharing details about which plants attract specific creatures. The simple organization makes it easy to find exactly what you want, with chapters on attracting birds, bringing in bees butterflies, and welcoming wildlife. If you are looking to build a garden from scratch, there are ten plans with specific plant choices. The plans include a hummingbird garden, a birdseed garden, and options that are low-maintenance and drought-resistant. You'll also find expert advice on finding the right feeder, avoiding pesticides, and choosing native plants. The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden is a beautiful, photo-filled guide that will help you grow the earth-friendly garden of your dreams.

Valuable advice from an expert in soil science.

Intended for both small and medium-size gardens, Improving Your Soil reveals the steps to take to achieve the perfect soil base in which to grow plants. With directions on amending poor soil, modifying mediocre earth, aerating compacted topsoil and substrates, and testing pH levels, this book enables gardeners to nurture their plants and promote more abundant growth.

The features of good soil include proper structure and nutrients that encourage healthy plant growth. Soil in "good tilth" is loamy, nutrient-rich and friable because it has an optimal mixture of sand, clay and organic matter that prevents severe compaction. Improving Your Soil shows gardeners how to improve the soil in their garden to encourage good seed bedding and a strong root system for proper nutrient disbursement throughout various soil depths.

Flower gardeners and vegetable gardeners will all benefit from the tips and methods in Improving Your Soil.

Topics include:

• What your soil can tell you about how you need to manage it
• Soil texture and structure -- building soil tilth
• Using amendments to correct soil problems, such as clay or sandy soil
• Creating a good environment for plant growth in different situations
• Providing the right amount of water for plants
• The teeming microscopic world of soils
• Building soil organic matter
• Crop rotations
• Types of compost and how to make good compost
• Managing soils to minimize pest and disease problems
• Feeding the plants -- the nutrients they need, and how to get them there
• Overcoming common nutrient deficiencies
• Organic vs. mineral fertilizers.

The detailed information is complemented with line drawings, diagrams and illustrations that demonstrate various soil issues and how to resolve common problems. With information on remedying specific problems with particular plants, Improving Your Soil will be an often-consulted resource for all gardeners.

“If I could recommend one book for small-space vegetable gardening, this would be it. Andrea Bellamy nailed it!” —Joe Lamp’l, Growing a Greener World

Small-Space Vegetable Gardens explains the basics of growing a bounty of edibles in a minimal amount of space. Andrea Bellamy, author of the award-winning blog Heavy Petal, shares all the knowledge she’s gained from years of gardening small: how to find and assess a space, and how to plan and build a garden. Bellamy also highlights the top sixty edible plants and offers complete information on how to sow, grow, and harvest them. This hardworking and enthusiastic guide teaches gardeners how to take advantage of the space they have—whether it’s a balcony, a patio, a plot in a community garden, or even a small yard—to create the food garden of their dreams.

An extensive and info-packed bible of home vegetable growing from the editors of the world’s most-visited gardening resource, Gardening Know How. 

With the experts from Gardening Know How at your side, cultivating loads of fresh, homegrown food has never been simpler. This indispensable handbook for vegetable gardeners includes not only the essential information you need to succeed, but also a wealth of expert tips and real-world advice to smooth the many inevitable bumps on the road to a productive edible garden. 

Gardening Know How – The Complete Guide to Vegetable Gardening is here to answer your every veggie-growing question, from asparagus planting to zucchini pest control—and everything in between. Detailed plant profiles offer specific cultivation information and unique growing tips for each vegetable crop, allowing you to pick and choose which crops to grow based on your climate and personal preference.

Other highlights:  
 

• Planting plans for maximizing succession planting
• Soil-building expertise from the pros
• Budget-friendly garden design ideas and inspiration
• Seed starting and transplanting information
• Know-how on filling raised beds and containers
• Tips for companion planting
• Guidance on feeding, watering, and mulching your veggie plants
• Recommendations on the best varieties to grow
• Harvesting advice for dozens of different vegetables 

QR codes throughout the book guide you to even more available resources on the Gardening Know How website. Plus, lush, full-color photos highlight the beauty and value of homegrown harvests from backyard gardens, both large and small.

Welcome to the garden!

“Makes it easy to find information in a snap, on most any edible you want to grow.” —Kylee Baumle, Horticulture

Growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs from seed has many benefits for both the gardener and the planet. Why save seeds when you can buy them so cheap? Not only does seed saving allow you to grow a diverse, organic array of fruits and vegetables, it also offers an opportunity to work closely with nature and be even more hands-on with the food you grow, cook, and eat. Supported by research from the global conservation organizations Arche Noah and Pro Specie Rara, The Manual of Seed Saving features information on how to maximize seed quality and yield for crop plants like asparagus, carrots, corn, rhubarb, spinach, squash, and tomatoes. Plant profiles include critical information on pollination, isolation distances, cultivation, harvest, storage, and pests and diseases.

An illustrated guide to growing and using herbs to enhance your cooking and your health.

This beautifully illustrated, complete guide to herbs unlocks the secrets of these wonder plants—from planting and harvesting to cooking and storing—including their health benefits. 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

Discover the wonderful diversity of herbs in this comprehensive guide for the organic grower. The amazing range of colours, size, textures and perfumes make growing herbs an infinitely rewarding experience. Perfect for the organic gardener, herbs attract beneficial insects and wildlife and are often tough and resilient to pests and disease. Practical advice on planning a herb garden, propagating, planting, harvesting, drying and storing is included along with a handy calendar of jobs. The A-Z directory of herbs will inspire planting ideas and give background information of known culinary, medicinal and cosmetic uses for each herb.

The Compost Coach is a colourful, comprehensive and accessible guide to creating the very best compost AKA garden gold. Kate is on a mission to empower readers to understand the small steps they can take every day to look after the environment and live more sustainability.

The book is pitched at the home composter, including people who live in apartments and houses with or without gardens (yes, you can compost without a garden!). Kate helps the reader to rethink their waste management and teaches them how easy it is to divert food scraps and household carbon away from landfill. She unravels the technicalities of soil science, talks through the building blocks of a robust compost system and busts a few myths along the way. Charming illustrations, how-to photos, and Kate's warm, entertaining voice complete the package.

Winner of the American Horticultural Society Book Award

Insects are indeed valuable garden companions, especially the assassin bugs, damsel bugs, stink bugs, and other predatory carnivores that eat the insects that dine on your garden. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden is a book about bugs and plants, and how to create a garden that benefits from both. In addition to information on companion planting and commercial options for purchasing bugs, there are 19 detailed bug profiles and 39 plant profiles. These profiles include a description, a photograph for identification, an explanation of what they can do to support pest control. Design plans show how to create a border specifically for the natural, sustainable inclusion of beneficial bugs in your garden.