Mouthwatering heirlooms, exciting hybrids, sensational herbs, colorful flowers - you dream of a garden overflowing with vibrant, healthy plants. Turn your dream garden into reality with seeds you save and start yourself! With easy ideas on harvesting, storing, sowing and nurturing your seeds into flourishing plants, this helpful guide gives you a sure path from start to success. In it, you get: A look at seed and plant anatomy and how pollination works. Simple suggestions for identifying seeds to save, and for gathering and prepping seeds for next year's garden. Guidance on germinating seeds, indoors or out, using scarification or stratification. Tips for transplanting, thinning, hardening off, and protecting seedlings from weather, pests and disease. Easy ideas for cross-breeding plants and creating hybrids suited to your garden and climate. A comprehensive directory of botanical names and harvesting, germination, and sowing data for hundreds of plants. The Complete Idiot's Guide To Seed Saving And Starting is an essential resource to reap richer results with plants grown from your own seeds!

Provides step-by-step instructions for both outdoor and indoor gardening including information on seeds, soil, compost, equipment and fertilizers, as well as types of covers and greenhouses and how to garden and harvest in root-cellars during the winter. Original.

A garden of delight-and healthy, economical eating. In The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Heirloom Vegetables, readers will learn the rewards of growing heirlooms; find hundreds of descriptions and histories of a variety of available vegetables and find out how to make pollination work. ?Helps readers grow and eat locally, reduce or eliminate pesticides and additives, and save money along the way ?Includes step-by-step instructions for harvesting, drying, cleaning, and storing heirloom seeds ?For economical reasons-as well as concern for the environment and personal health-the popularity of gardening has grown in recent years

Give this book a green thumb's up. Includes CD-ROM. This guide provides the home landscaper with all the information necessary to plan, plant, and nurture trees and shrubs. Arborist professional Josh Plunkett provides the kind of practical, hands-on guidance necessary to transform yards into beautiful havens. Includes a dynamic, interactive CD-ROM featuring hundreds of full-colour photos of trees and shrubs in every season and a checklist of the most important factors necessary in choosing the right tree or shrub More than 200 different trees and shrubs featured Insider advice on how to select the healthiest plants from local and online nurseries Dozens of illustrated, step-by-step instructions for planting, feeding, and pruning

Readers will flock to this book Raising chickens is a growing trend hitting urban and suburban areas, as well as the country. The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Raising Chickens covers every aspect of raising chickens, whether one lives in the country, suburb, or city. People wanting their own supply of organic, additive-free, free-range eggs want to know how to keep their chickens healthy and egg producing. • How to choose what to start with-chicks, pullets, or hens • How best to feed and water • Coverage of the most popular breeds • Everything about eggs, including how to sell them

Allotment Gardening For Dummies is a lively, hands-on guide to getting the most out of your allotment. Whether you're interested in eating fresh, saving money, getting exercise or enjoying wholesome family fun, this is the guide for you. The step-by-step advice takes you through all the stages in the process, from securing an allotment and preparing your plot, to choosing what to grow and enjoying the benefits of abundant fresh food and a sociable and healthy hobby. With over 50 handy line drawings, plus information on how to grow organic and advice on storing and cooking the food you grow, this guide really does have it all! Allotment Gardening For Dummies includes: Part 1: Getting to Grips with Allotment Gardening Chapter 1: What Are Allotments All About? Chapter 2: Getting hold of an Allotment Chapter 3: Getting Started Part 2: Preparing for Allotment Success Chapter 4: Deciding What to Grow, When Chapter 5: Preparing Your Plot Chapter 6: Keeping Your Soil Healthy Chapter 7: Keeping Your Plants Healthy Chapter 8: Growing Organic Part 3: Growing a Few of Your Favourite Vegetables Chapter 9: Going Underground Chapter 10: The Staples Chapter 11: Growing Leafy Greens Chapter 12: Planting Peas, Beans and Other Pods Chapter 13: Growing More Exotic Veg Part 4: Extending Your Allotment Repetoire Chapter 14: Growing Wholesome Herbs Chapter 15: Growing Fruitful Fruit Chapter 16: Nurturing Flowers on an Allotment Part 5: Getting the Most Out of Your Allotment Chapter 17: Involving Children Around the Allotment Chapter 18: Hobnobbing with Allotment Society Chapter 19: Growing Giant Veg Part 6: The Part of Tens Chapter Chapter 20: Ten Common Accidents and How to Prevent Them Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Revive a Flagging Allotment

-- Builds on the best trends in gardening today and the growth of the gardening and cooking categories. -- Daria Bowman has written for this market and category before, knows the audience well, and will bring in top experts for technical review. -- Timing is right for holidays and winter Perfect for holiday gifts and winter garden planning. Home-based, comfort activities including gardening are booming plus there is growing popularity for cooking and growing your own veggies, herbs and even healing herbs! The Complete Idiot's Guide "RM" to Edible Gardening includes all you need to know about selecting, plotting, planting, pruning and harvesting vegetables, fruit and herbs. Whether it's growing your own carrots or tomatoes in a back yard plot, keeping lemon trees on the patio or a windowsill herb gardening, this title will help you choose what you're going to grow, where you're going to grow it and even what you'll do with it when it's finished. The Complete Idiot's Guide "RM" to Edible Gardening includes selecting space and what you'll grow, organic gardening - how to choose, what to use, pros and cons, growing seasons, styles types of vegetables, fruits, herbs for cooking and medicinal/healing herbs, options from large plots to container gardening, seeds, seedlings, starters and weeding watering, feeding, pruning and trimming, harvesting and some ideas for storing your bounty, seed saving, year-round gardens, and planning for next season, troubleshooting - determining what the problem is and how to fix it!

Enhanced by a helpful resources section, an indispensable handbook for urban and suburban dwellers seeking a more rural lifestyle offers suggestions on how to select the right location, building or renovating a home, home farming, essential tools and supplies, and how to cope with such issues as schools, weather, and utilities. Original.

A concise, user friendly guide covering all the basics, this second edition offers extensive lists of easy-to-grow plants, tips on how to save money on tools, and full-color photos and illustrations. 8-page color insert.

You're no idiot, of course. You know that grass needs sun and water and care. So why does your house appear to be sitting in the middle of the Dust Bowl? Don't call the Astroturf salesman yet; help is on the way! The Complete Idiot's Guide to a Beautiful Lawn is your one-stop reference for creating the lawn of your dreams! Here you'll learn about the parts of the grass plant, the best ways to start a new lawn, proper soil care--and even the art of baseball stadium--quality lawn mowing. Author Maureen Gilmer walks you through every aspect of turf care, from proper watering to integrating a sports court onto your lawn. No stone is left unturned in this comprehensive, fun, and infinitely useful guide. Here's what you get: