Showing titles in Gardening & Horticulture

Herbs are the most liberating and confidence-boosting of ingredients: grow some and you feel like a proper gardener, bring some into the kitchen and you feel like a proper cook. They allow you to experiment and bring individuality to your cooking while, at the same time, anchoring you in sound culinary tradition because herbs are often responsible for those key flavours that 'make' a dish. Not only that but they are a step on the road to a more self-sufficient, homegrown, organic way of eating.

A lot of famous and successful people are embracing the life of a homesteader. Homesteading has become a catharsis for people who finally want to live the life of a producer rather than a mere consumer. Thousands of people all over the globe have decided to say “yes” to gardening and domesticating animals. But, are you uncertain and hesitant to take the step? If so, then you’ve come to the right place. You see, homesteading doesn’t have to be difficult.

Cultivating herbs for medical use is an ancient and powerful practice—ginger to boost your immune system, basil to ease your morning sickness, garlic to soothe your child’s cough—all these are there in your own kitchen closet. Plus, you can have 71 more science-backed ailments and their remedies in your backyard at your fingertips. But that’s just the beginning…your body’s natural wisdom is just waiting to be unlocked. But our modern, harsh chemicals can block that potential from ever being realized.

Almost every plant in a garden forms a relationship with fungi, and many plants would not exist without their fungal partners. By better understanding this relationship, home gardeners can take advantage of the benefits of fungi, which include an increased uptake in nutrients, resistance to drought, earlier fruiting, and more. This must-have guide will teach you how fungi interact with plants and how to best to employ them in your home garden.

Ever wonder if plants sleep or why their leaves are shaped a certain way? The inner workings of the plants you love are revealed and celebrated in this guide by botany expert Dr. Scott Zona. A Gardener’s Guide to Botany is not just another book on how to grow plants. Instead, it’s a botanical journey into what makes plants tick, delivered in layman’s terms that are easily understood and appreciated by both advanced gardeners and first-timers. It’s the chlorophyll-infused science behind the plants you know and love, whether you grow them indoors or out.

Are you longing to delve into the rewarding world of raised bed and container gardening but feel hesitant because of limited space, budget or a lack of expertise? Do you find yourself yearning for a hobby that offers stress relief, beauty, and the satisfaction of growing your own food and becoming self-sufficient? If so, your gardening dreams are about to become a reality!

In this hard-hitting, witty, deeply original book, the renowned novelist Jamaica Kincaid offers an ABC of the plants that define our world and reveals the often brutal history of colonialism behind them.

Are you looking for some really great homemade spice mixes, that contain some of natures best anti-inflammatory ingredients? Well, this book has exactly what you are looking for.

Drawing directly from his experience as an acclaimed climate-change gardener, and of setting up a kitchen garden from scratch for River Cottage, Mark explains the practical aspects of organic growing, introduces us to a whole world of vegetables we may not have previously considered, and does away with alienating gardening jargon once and for all. Mark begins with a catalogue of vegetables that will grow in this country, explaining for each their benefits, what varieties to go for, dos and don'ts, and popular culinary uses.

Compared to Charles' other books, this is more about no dig, eliminating weeds, garden layout, compost making, and using compost. There is also a history of no-dig vegetable gardening in the last 100 years. I want listeners to understand the context and the reasons why no dig has not been much valued until recently, and why it is now. This audiobook has 18 sections, covering the key methods and wonderful results of no dig, from starting with weeds to sowing and planting straightaway, and cropping soon after.

When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains plants and then become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of toxic substances. Teaming with Microbes offers an alternative to this vicious circle and details how to garden in a way that strengthens, rather than destroys, the soil food web. You’ll discover that healthy soil is teeming with life - not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms.

Have you ever wanted to experiment with growing your own food but didn’t think you had the space, the time, or the knowledge? Justin Rhodes thought the same thing—until after years battling systemic illness and struggling to provide the kind of wholesome food he wanted for his family, he bought a seed packet at the grocery store and was hooked.

When Charles and Perrine Hervé-Gruyer set out to create their farm in an historic Normandy village, they had no idea just how much their lives would change. Neither one had ever farmed before. Charles had been circumnavigating the globe by sail, operating a floating school that taught students about ecology and indigenous cultures. Perrine had been an international lawyer in Japan. Each had returned to France to start a new life.

This book offers an introductory guide to psilocybin—magic—mushrooms and how to grow them at home. Whether you’re a beginner looking to get into mushroom cultivation or an enthusiast of the medicinal qualities of psilocybin, this is the book for you.

The Garden Jungle is about the wildlife that lives right under our noses, in our gardens and parks, between the gaps in the pavement and in the soil beneath our feet. 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.

What could be fresher than farm-to-table terms than vegetables you've grown at home? The new edition of Vegetable Gardening for Dummies puts you in touch with your roots in a thousands of years old farming tradition by demonstrating how easy it is to grow your own. In a friendly, come-relax-in-my-garden style Charlie Nardozzi-leading horticultural writer and guest expert on shows such as Martha Stewart Living Radio - shares the nutritious results of a lifetime of vegetable-growing experience to delve into the nitty-gritty of micro-farming. 

Compact Farms is a guide for anyone dreaming of starting, expanding, or perfecting a profitable farming enterprise on five acres or less. The farm plans explain how to harness an area's water supply, orientation, and geography in order to maximize efficiency and productivity while minimizing effort. Profiles of well-known farmers such as Eliot Coleman and Jean-Martin Fortier show that farming on a small scale in any region, in both urban and rural settings, can provide enough income to turn the endeavor from hobby to career.

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, aster for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own.

Throughout this audio book, Caroline shows how much joy she gets from spending time in her garden, whether it be grappling with the best way to grow plants and vegetables, or raising seeds in her potting shed. Though she now has a large following on her Instagram account, @CQGardens, her attitude to gardening is the same as it has always been–expertise helps, but is not essential. Gardening should be fun and enjoyable, filled with the simple pleasures of planning, planting, harvesting, and cooking. It is also a meditative and restorative pastime, and a great way to lift your spirits.

Why Women Grow is a much-needed exploration of why women turn to the earth, as gardeners, growers and custodians. This book emerged from a deeply rooted desire to share the stories of women who are silenced and overlooked. In doing so, Alice fosters connections with gardeners that unfurl into a tender exploration of women's lives, their gardens and what the ground has offered them, with conversations spanning creation and loss, celebration and grief, power, protest, identity and renaissance.