Best Topiary Gardening & Horticulture
With Aquaponics: The Ultimate Aquaponics Guide - From Beginner To Expert , you’ll learn to create your own aquaponic system in your home or backyards.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I was curious about Aquaponics since I've heard from my neighbors that it can be perfect solution for your backyard garden for growing healthy vegetables and fruits."
"The book will guide you through your own aquaponic system in your backyard and provide fruits and vegetables for your family and friends step by step."
"This book has a great list of fish that are compatible with the plants I wanted to raise."
"This book covers pretty much everything you would need to plan out your own aquaponic garden.I can't wait to start."
"I really liked the book, and think it's a great beginners guide, and I recommend it to anyone curious or just getting started with aquaponics."
"Learning that aquaponics can grow more produced compared to produce grown conventionally in the ground completely ignites my interest."
"I wanted something that would help me understand all of the systems required and at this point this book really helped me a lot. I will recommend this book to all."
"I expected more depth of knowledge."
Victoria joutuu kauheimpaan asiaan, joka voi tapahtua naiselle: hänen lapsensa tulee laittomasti käyttää elinten luovuttajana.
Find Best Price at Amazon
Even if you live in the frigid North where temperatures drop below zero in Winter, you can still have flowers blooming all year round with ease! Included is a list of the top 10 most beautiful indoor flowering plants and detailed instructions on their care and nourishment. Even in the heart of Manhattan you can breath fresh, pure air thanks to these incredible plants that have been studied by NASA and proven to remove pollutants like benzene, formaldehyde and Volatice Orcanic Compounds (VOCs). Learn about new, state-of-the-art home aeroponics gardening systems that you can use to grow fresh food, greens, tomatoes, and much more all year round. It doesn't take a lot of time, skill, energy or effort for you to enjoy all the amazing benefits of an indoor garden.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book is great straightforward advice for starting your own indoor garden."
"I want to have a garden but I don't have a lot of room for one, so I was happy to find Indoor Gardening: How to Grow Gorgeous Gardens Indoors with Ease by Will Cook."
"will Cook adds his wonderful knowledge to this great book!"
"This book was a bit light on content to be honest."
"Not really a lot of houseplant or veggie info that I didn't already know, but the pest and compost info, as well as the seed facts, could prove helpful for some folks."
"Between plant, design and container ideas, I found a lot of inspiration in this book and look forward to making some changes to my indoor garden soon."
"I would not call this book a 'how to' book.. more like a 'ideas that you then must do further intensive research on'."
Best Organic Gardening & Horticulture
Even if you have never been a farmer or a gardener, this book covers everything you need to know to get started: buying and saving seeds, starting seedlings, establishing raised beds, soil fertility practices, composting, dealing with pest and disease problems, crop rotation, farm planning, and much more. �A concept destined to appeal to that intrepid individual whose independent nature finds the idea of abandoning the grocery store alluring.� ---Booklist Brett L. Markham is an engineer, third-generation farmer, and polymath.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I'm about five chapters into this book and am absolutely enjoying it!"
"If you want to take your garden one step further or make a significant dent in your grocery costs then you will find this book very helpful."
"This is a great book!"
"I've never farmed before and this book provides plenty of information for someone like me with little to no experience."
"Great product, great price!"
"Good place to start and great charts and how to."
"Showing how an average, but dedicated individual can grow almost everything they need (veggies, fruits, nuts) in a very small space, only about 1/4 of an Acre and save some money."
"This book has a bunch of great information for anyone planning/developing their homestead."
Best Urban Gardening
He also explains how you can make gardening fun for kids by teaching them the square foot method. "Bartholomew, author of the popular Square Foot Gardening (1981), has refined his original square-foot gardening concept by adding ten improvements, including a new location for the garden that is closer to the house, a special soil mix, and six-inch deep, 4' x 4' above-ground boxes with grids. He clearly explains the square-foot concept, from the rationale behind it (the square-foot garden takes up much less space than traditional row gardening and saves time, money, and aggravation) to how to plan the garden, build the boxes and vertical supports, and employ his planting and cultural techniques.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The thought of tilling our soil was too daunting, so we put the gardening project on hold for several years. This year we decided to "go for it" and the idea of using raised garden beds made sense (due to our horrible local soil). One of the key elements of this book is the innovative composition of the soil used in the garden beds. I'll quote a portion of the book that discusses the ideal soil: "There are three characteristics of a perfect growing mix. Next, it is nutrient rich and has all the minerals and trace elements that plants need without adding fertilizers. Mr. Bartholomew goes on to say, "After many experiments, I found three of my favorite ingredients made the perfect mix when combined in equal portions." Ok. Now, something about cost that will make you feel better: When using this mix again for another planting season, you do not need to ever again add vermiculite and peat moss. I also needed seeds, seed starters, ingredients for organic pest control mixture (I chose neem oil and organic liquid peppermint soap - I got this idea from the Global Healing Center... they wrote an article entitled "10 Organic Homemade Pesticides"), a water hose nozzle, garden fabric (for underneath raised beds), and other miscellaneous items. Fortunately, a dear older couple is giving us their anti critter materials because they no longer garden. Again, all of these prices can vary dramatically, but I'm just giving you a ball park figure based on my own experience. Available information at this website includes a blog by Mel Bartholomew as well as a forum with posts from SFG gardeners from around the world. In the forum, moderators and SFG gardeners provide a huge amount of supporting information. Based on my family's experience so far (we are at the indoor seed raising stage), I have to highly recommend this book. UPDATE 3/2013: We are in the process of determining where our raised beds should be located based on sun exposure. QUICK SEED STARTING TIP: My daughter and I found that a turkey baster is excellent for watering seedlings gently and precisely. UPDATE 4/23/2013: I have had various experiences (very bad and very good) with Jiffy seed starters (pellets). I started my beds a bit late in the season, but there is still time for them to produce a good harvest. I think my successes are completely due to the SFG method (vermiculite water retention is great). I know that my situation is unusual, but I think it is a credit to this method that if circumstances are less than perfect, you won't have a total loss. My Black Krim tomatoes produced a nice amount of juicy and sweet fruits (and they are still going). Those tomatoes not planted with basil nearby had some leaves stripped off by caterpillars (I'm not sure if there was a direct connection, perhaps it was a coincidence). We got one beautiful Sugar Baby watermelon (a personal sized melon and you typically only get one or two per plant each season). Our chives survived and even our carrots did ok. Our squash, bell pepper, and eggplant, and cucumber plants fared badly. I took a big chance on the radishes because they hate very hot weather (I at least wanted to try). UPDATE 01/10/2014: Despite bitter cold days (sometimes in the teens), I have been having fantastic success with winter variety vegetables. These included: Lunar White, Solar Yellow, Cosmic Purple, Atomic Red, Bambino and Dark Knight. UPDATE 3/23/2014: I planted tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, anaheim chiles and eggplant 2/21/2014. The "in-and-out" thing (no pun intended for my CA readers who are burger lovers), can be tiresome. UPDATE 4/13/2014: Unfortunately, my family and I did not make a concerted effort to prepare our own compost during the past months. I have been getting some good advice from folks at the Square Foot Gardening Forum. The good news is that I have gotten lots of Anaheim peppers, tomatoes of all sorts of varieties and and an eggplant (with more to come it looks like). I set up a large pot full of Mel's Mix and in it I have rosemary, thyme and ginger. With regard to tomato horn worms: After my daughter saw the first one of the season, I applied BT Thuricide. Something interesting: My daughter has foregone her flower bed for winter variety vegetables."
"I read this book last winter and my husband built 5 boxes for me for my summer 2016 garden. Lettuce grew great but other plants grew to about 4 inches and then seemed to stop. This increased my depth (6 inches just was not getting the job done) and lessened the percentage of vermiculite which was making Mel's mix too light and dusty. The book says to use 1/3 vermiculite which might work for growing flowers, herbs, lettuce but next time I will make his mix with only 1/5 vermiculite."
"I'm an absolute novice at vegetable gardening and this book was among the 6 books I found at the library."
"The only people selling organics at the farmer's market were the square foot gardeners. It was such a powerful testimony of all the ways people win when it comes to personal gardens!"
"Not only did I learn how easy it was to put together a small garden, but I also really enjoyed reading Mel's story on how he developed the SFG method."
Best Container Gardening
He also explains how you can make gardening fun for kids by teaching them the square foot method. "Bartholomew, author of the popular Square Foot Gardening (1981), has refined his original square-foot gardening concept by adding ten improvements, including a new location for the garden that is closer to the house, a special soil mix, and six-inch deep, 4' x 4' above-ground boxes with grids. He clearly explains the square-foot concept, from the rationale behind it (the square-foot garden takes up much less space than traditional row gardening and saves time, money, and aggravation) to how to plan the garden, build the boxes and vertical supports, and employ his planting and cultural techniques.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The thought of tilling our soil was too daunting, so we put the gardening project on hold for several years. This year we decided to "go for it" and the idea of using raised garden beds made sense (due to our horrible local soil). One of the key elements of this book is the innovative composition of the soil used in the garden beds. I'll quote a portion of the book that discusses the ideal soil: "There are three characteristics of a perfect growing mix. Next, it is nutrient rich and has all the minerals and trace elements that plants need without adding fertilizers. Mr. Bartholomew goes on to say, "After many experiments, I found three of my favorite ingredients made the perfect mix when combined in equal portions." Ok. Now, something about cost that will make you feel better: When using this mix again for another planting season, you do not need to ever again add vermiculite and peat moss. I also needed seeds, seed starters, ingredients for organic pest control mixture (I chose neem oil and organic liquid peppermint soap - I got this idea from the Global Healing Center... they wrote an article entitled "10 Organic Homemade Pesticides"), a water hose nozzle, garden fabric (for underneath raised beds), and other miscellaneous items. Fortunately, a dear older couple is giving us their anti critter materials because they no longer garden. Again, all of these prices can vary dramatically, but I'm just giving you a ball park figure based on my own experience. Available information at this website includes a blog by Mel Bartholomew as well as a forum with posts from SFG gardeners from around the world. In the forum, moderators and SFG gardeners provide a huge amount of supporting information. Based on my family's experience so far (we are at the indoor seed raising stage), I have to highly recommend this book. UPDATE 3/2013: We are in the process of determining where our raised beds should be located based on sun exposure. QUICK SEED STARTING TIP: My daughter and I found that a turkey baster is excellent for watering seedlings gently and precisely. UPDATE 4/23/2013: I have had various experiences (very bad and very good) with Jiffy seed starters (pellets). I started my beds a bit late in the season, but there is still time for them to produce a good harvest. I think my successes are completely due to the SFG method (vermiculite water retention is great). I know that my situation is unusual, but I think it is a credit to this method that if circumstances are less than perfect, you won't have a total loss. My Black Krim tomatoes produced a nice amount of juicy and sweet fruits (and they are still going). Those tomatoes not planted with basil nearby had some leaves stripped off by caterpillars (I'm not sure if there was a direct connection, perhaps it was a coincidence). We got one beautiful Sugar Baby watermelon (a personal sized melon and you typically only get one or two per plant each season). Our chives survived and even our carrots did ok. Our squash, bell pepper, and eggplant, and cucumber plants fared badly. I took a big chance on the radishes because they hate very hot weather (I at least wanted to try). UPDATE 01/10/2014: Despite bitter cold days (sometimes in the teens), I have been having fantastic success with winter variety vegetables. These included: Lunar White, Solar Yellow, Cosmic Purple, Atomic Red, Bambino and Dark Knight. UPDATE 3/23/2014: I planted tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, anaheim chiles and eggplant 2/21/2014. The "in-and-out" thing (no pun intended for my CA readers who are burger lovers), can be tiresome. UPDATE 4/13/2014: Unfortunately, my family and I did not make a concerted effort to prepare our own compost during the past months. I have been getting some good advice from folks at the Square Foot Gardening Forum. The good news is that I have gotten lots of Anaheim peppers, tomatoes of all sorts of varieties and and an eggplant (with more to come it looks like). I set up a large pot full of Mel's Mix and in it I have rosemary, thyme and ginger. With regard to tomato horn worms: After my daughter saw the first one of the season, I applied BT Thuricide. Something interesting: My daughter has foregone her flower bed for winter variety vegetables."
"I read this book last winter and my husband built 5 boxes for me for my summer 2016 garden. Lettuce grew great but other plants grew to about 4 inches and then seemed to stop. This increased my depth (6 inches just was not getting the job done) and lessened the percentage of vermiculite which was making Mel's mix too light and dusty. The book says to use 1/3 vermiculite which might work for growing flowers, herbs, lettuce but next time I will make his mix with only 1/5 vermiculite."
"Ove been gardening in my backyard most of my life but have never had much luck with veggies until I started using the square foot method. This book has so much great information like how to build your raised bed, exactly what soil to use, profiles on different veggies, information on how many of each kind of plant to plant in each square foot and much more."
"I'm an absolute novice at vegetable gardening and this book was among the 6 books I found at the library."
"This got me to go ahead and get back into gardening. I couple things in there I thought maybe no. Considering other that might be better off with harsh winter and deeper dirt to protect it."