"When your garden contains lots of earthworms, your soil is good." This maxim may not sound familiar, but before the days of landscapers and lawn-maintenance companies, this type of knowledge was common. Gardening skills were passed down from generation to generation, and yards were personal places that flourished under the care of time-tested wisdom. Today the pace of life is faster, and modern advances make gardening tasks easier, but we can all benefit from the techniques and common-sense advice of the past to have beautiful, fruitful gardens now. With Back to Basics: Traditional Garden Wisdom, anyone can: Develop a dream, green garden without spending a fortune Grow an organic and eco-friendly garden with minimum fuss and maximum taste Discover how to collect and save seeds Make your own compost and learn "no-dig" gardening Make a cold frame and protect plants from frost Repel moles with castor oil, prevent mice with the right plants, and make herbal insect repellents Find out the best way to prune a hedge, tree, or climbing flower Know which gardening tasks to do for each season Raise a panel fence and use recycled materials for landscaping Plant raised beds and container gardens, and build a natural grape arbor Discover how companion planting can discourage harmful pests and encourage growth Back to Basics: Traditional Garden Wisdom has full-color step-by-step illustrated instructions that will bring new knowledge to gardeners of all levels. Soon you'll be adding fireplace ashes to the garden to give it a potassium boost and using your elbow to see if the soil is warm enough for planting. With this insightful book, you'll discover why sage advice never goes out of style.

Harness the magic of nature to produce astonishing results in your garden, whatever its size and location. This invaluable retro handbook combines the ecological wisdom of organic gardening with traditional folklore for back-to-basics gardening in a flash. With a little sprinkle of good garden magic you can transform even the most barren backyard into a bountiful Eden! Book jacket.

Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills--and enjoy a healthier, greener, and more self-sufficient lifestyle--need look no further than this eminently useful guide that features hundreds of projects and old-fashioned fun. Full-color and b&w photographs throughout.

Step into the garden with writer and rural historian Jerry Apps. In this treasure trove of tips, recollections, and recipes, Jerry combines his hard-earned advice for garden success with a discussion of how tending a garden leads to a deeper understanding of nature and the land. From planning and planting to fending off critters and weeds, he walks us through the gardening year, imbuing his story with humor and passion and once again reminding us that working even a small piece of land provides many rewards. Gardening has always been a group endeavor for the Apps family. In Garden Wisdom, readers will learn gardening basics along with Jerry’s grandchildren as they become a new generation of gardeners. They’ll devour Ruth’s recipes for preparing and preserving fresh garden veggies—from refrigerator pickles to rutabaga pudding. And they’ll savor son Steve’s beautiful color photographs, capturing the bounty of the family garden throughout the growing season.

You may not have the green fingers or the resources to build the Hanging Gardens of Babylon but it is still possible to create a blossoming haven in your own back garden. This practical book guides you through the mysteries of the seasons, with simple, easy-to-follow tips on the best way to make your garden grow. Battle the bugs and the slugs, and plant, prune and dig your way to very own paradise.

Whether you’re a suburbanite looking to live more simply or a die-hard homesteader interested in taking your garden to the next level, this guide is packed with step-by-step instructions, useful tips, vintage photographs and illustrations, and time-honored wisdom—creating one of the most comprehensive books on country skills available. This book is compiled of tested and practical experience passed down from generations of farmers and homesteaders. Here readers can learn about: Creating a vegetable garden Canning and preserving Keeping poultry Soap making Natural medicine Bridge building Farm mechanics Crop rotation Cattle and dairying The basics of beekeeping Foraging for wild food Fertilizing, soils, drainage, and irrigation Building a barn And much, much more! Success comes to the person who works the most efficiently—not simply the person who works the hardest. Learn invaluable advice and tips for how to create a sustainable lifestyle and live off the land.

“A Way to Garden prods us toward that ineffable place where we feel we belong; it’s a guide to living both in and out of the garden.” —The New York Times Book Review For Margaret Roach, gardening is more than a hobby, it’s a calling. Her unique approach, which she calls “horticultural how-to and woo-woo,” is a blend of vital information you need to memorize and intuitive steps you must simply feel and surrender to. In A Way to Garden, Roach imparts decades of garden wisdom on seasonal gardening, ornamental plants, vegetable gardening, design, gardening for wildlife, organic practices, and much more. She also challenges gardeners to think beyond their garden borders and to consider the ways gardening can enrich the world. Brimming with beautiful photographs of Roach’s own garden, A Way to Garden is practical, inspiring, and a must-have for every passionate gardener.

Achieve your goal of a self-sufficient, sustainable lifestyle with instruction on a range of basic garden and trail techniques inspired by old time country living​. Achieve your goal of a self-sufficient, sustainable lifestyle with instruction on a range of basic garden and trail techniques inspired by old time country living, no matter where you live. As big box stores and foreign-made, disposable goods take over commerce, the drive to get back to the origins of what we consume and how we sustain ourselves is becoming ever more compelling. Whether you are a country dweller or an urbanite, or somewhere in between, you can respond by learning to garden more simply, use what you have, and be more sustainable. With content from and expanding on the classic Jerry Mack Johnson book Old-Time Country Wisdom and Lore, this is a guide to living a sustainable lifestyle, lowering your carbon footprint, and finding the appreciation in the know-how to do for yourself or go without. Make your garden an adventure where you invest yourself and learn to live with purpose using country wisdom and know-how as your guide. With thousands of recipes, projects, and instructions, Old-Time Country Wisdom and Lore for Garden and Trail includes practical information on: Composting Planting Vegetables Water collection Flowers Herbs Pest control Land management Beekeeping Attracting Pollinators Resilient planting Preserving Overwintering 4-Season Gardening And so much more Basic, thorough, and reliable, this book deserves a place in urban and rural homes alike.

“Packed with practical gardening advice on everything from priming your soil and starting seeds to fighting plant diseases and controlling insects....Takes gardening back to the basics....Browse this book for fun and ideas, or use it as a handy resource when a garden problem arises.”—Better Homes & Gardens “Maxcy has collected a delicious potpourri of tips that work.”—Cleveland Plain-Dealer