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Create Your Dream Garden

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Create Your Dream Garden

Tips and Techniques to Make Your Garden Bloom
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Description

"Don't worry. This isn't a garden makeover book that'll convince you to put decking over every plant you see nor will it teach you how to spot your Symphoricarpos albus from your Cladonia rangiferina. "Create your dream garden" is a practical insider's guide to help you identify what you want from your garden, what's practical for you to achieve and most importantly what you can do that's (relatively) low maintenance. You won't end up with a degree in horticulture, but you will have a garden that delights and blooms!" Mark Hillsden, Jeremy Cook and Anna Marsden. Here are 52 blooming ideas to get your garden looking beautiful and how to keep on top of it all without breaking your hoe in two. The authors reveal: How to design without the despair; Why paying the nursery doesn't pay; How to slug it out; Easy lessons in pruning; How to improve that moss and clover infested area some call a lawn; The real way to deal with weeds - perhaps even live with them; Making a garden fun for kids.

Table of Contents

1. Did the earth move? Not knowing what sort of soil you have in your garden is like guessing between sugar and salt in the kitchen - a recipe for disaster. 2. Top seed Every seed is a gardening miracle, a small, dried out husk that a few months after planting bursts into flower and brings new life to the garden. 3. Doing yer nut A nut tree in your garden? You must admit it's an enticing proposition, but how do you got about wetting your walnuts and harvesting your hazels, without providing a free feast for Squirrel Nutkin and his chums? 4. Don't pay the nurseryman From dividing to layering, taking cuttings to swapping with friends - here's how to stock your garden for free. 5. Indian summer Why let your borders flop at the end of July when with a bit of TLC and a sharp pair of secateurs you could be enjoying a second show of colour 6. Design without the despair You don't need a degree in landscape architecture to give shape to your garden - just an O level in inspiration and a rudimentary knowledge of elbow grease. 7. Sweet smelling brown stuff A garden without a compost heap is like a car without an engine - it ain't going anywhere 8. Tools of the trade From the unusual to the indispensable, here's what you'll find in all the best garden sheds this year. 9. Grass roots There's a moment in Asterix in Britain in which a gent is seen tending his immaculate lawn one blade at a time. "Another two thousand years of loving care," he says, "and I think it'll make quite a decent bit of turf." 10. Support network Do your delphiniums droop as soon as look at them? Your lupins lean at the first breath of wind? Then you need support. 11. Gnome-free zone Not all garden ornaments need have pointed hats and fishing rods, especially if you take the time to design and make your own. 12. Slugging it out There's more than one way to defeat the gardener's number one foe 13. Growing under glass Whether you're pottering in a top of the range greenhouse or hunched over a cold frame, growing under glass can deliver miraculous results. 14. Your own little powerhouse Bulbs and corms are just packed with energy. Treat 'em right and you can enjoy years of colour. 15. Small but perfectly formed You don't have to own a plot the size of a football pitch to make vegetable gardening worthwhile. 16. Living with the enemy Some gardeners are obsessed with their destruction, others see them as an extra splash of colour. But whatever you think of weeds, you can't ignore them. 17. Oranges are not the only fruit Picking fruit from your own tree is one of the ultimate horticultural highs. But before you can enjoy the sweet taste of success, you need to digest the bread and butter of growing fruit. 18. Blow the raspberries Whatever your age, juicy, sweet berries are a summertime delight but which types and varieties suit which garden? And can you really grow a blackberry without prickles? 19. To prune or not to prune How often have you meaningfully strode out into the garden, secateurs in hand, intent on tidying up a headstrong hydrangea or mutinous mahonia. Yet when you get within a few paces, the doubts kick in. Where do I start? Is it the right time of year? Will I end up killing it? 20. Shrubs The backbone of the garden - but are they really that interesting? 21. And so to bed... Traditionally summer bedding was planted en masse but (thankfully) there are more subtle uses for these bright, vibrant and vigorous plants. 22. It's been a good year for the roses Roses have made something of a comeback over recent years, although arguments still rage over their care, their cultivation and even their classification. 23. If it's good enough for pandas From the wild jungles of China to the elegance and solitude of a classic Japanese garden, the versatility - and occasionally the roots - of bamboo knows no bounds. 24. Oh I do like to be beside the seaside Sand, salt and sea don't sound like a great combination when it comes to garden but you'll be amazed at what you can grow beside the seaside. 25. Red Alert - with a touch of orange, yellow, amber... It's not just the trees and shrubs that add autumn colour to the garden, there are plenty of perennials and bulbs that can bring some seasonal dazzle to the borders. 26. Cutting a dash Some long leggy blooms were just made for the vase but how do you get your supermodels to look their best before their time in the spotlight? 27. Hedging your bets Hedges are a long-term project but there's a lot to be gained from planting a wall of box or yew. 28. On the water front Whether you're using the latest in toughened membranes or an old washing up bowl, ponds add a whole new aspect and lease of life to the garden. 29. Danger - children at play Children and gardens don't always mix but there are ways of making a garden fun for kids without turning it into a council playground. 30. Winter wonderland Evergreens, dried seed heads, berries and coloured stems are the secret to year round interest. 31. The sweet smell of success Sit back in a deck chair surrounded by the heady fragrance of a well-positioned honeysuckle, or the calming scent of lavender, and suddenly all the hard work seems worthwhile. 32. Alright mate If you think the idea of plants ganging up on insects is more suited to a sci-fi plot than a vegetable plot, then you've not heard of companion planting. 33. From cabbages to kings You've grown the basics, mastered the intricacies of crop rotation and shocked family and friends with your ability to put new potatoes on the table at Christmas. Well, now for something completely different. 34. The good life Gardening organically is as much about common sense as it is about being chemical free. 35. Wildlife-friendly With intensive farming and the countryside fast disappearing under concrete and brick, our gardens have become a vital green oasis to many birds, insects and animals. 36. Let there be light From 500. watt security lights to a dozen or so strategically placed T-lights on the decking, lighting your garden can be an illuminating businesss. 37. The can-can All plants need water to survive, but how can we maximise its effect in the garden, while minimising waste? 38. Dear diary Why keeping a record of your garden, and what you do in it, makes sense. 39. Your own little powerhouse part II As well as bulbs and corms, there's a range of other bulbous plants that can bring life to your borders. Welcome to the world of tubers and rhizomes. 40. Structurally sound The familiar sound of splintering wood, the gentle crash of bricks, the air turning blue as you strike thumb, not nail. Oh the joys of DIY. 41. How to get the most from your containers Even the biggest gardens have pots and containers brightening up a terrace, bringing life to a plain brick wall, or even lurking in the borders, adding a bit of timely, seasonal colour. 42.The Herb Garden Why choose freeze dried when you could be picking fresh herbs every time you need them? 43. Small trees for small gardens Choosing the right tree for your garden is possibly the most important horticultural decision you can make. So it pays to pick the right one. 44. Whispering grass don't tell the trees. Add movement and sound to your garden with the waving and rustling of ornamental grasses. 45. The wow factor Big, bold and quite often just a little bit frightening. Are you brave enough to let architectural plants into your garden? 46. Up the garden path Paths provide your garden's arterial network, but think more winding B roads than motorways, with patios as the country pub. 47. Common diseases Determined diseases will breach the best laid defences if they put their mind's to it. Here's how to lessen the impact of some of the most virulent. 48. A place for everything, and everything in its place From sun worshippers to shade lovers, the key to a blooming garden is giving your plants the conditions they love. 49. Upwardly mobile Climbers bring a dynamic element to the gardens, eagerly taking up the challenge to scramble over natural and man-made structure you put in their way. 50. Frills and fronds There's a lot more to ferns than unpronounceable Latin names. 51. Pests Chemical free pest control has come a long way since the days of the fly swatter. 52. Currant thinking Add a tang to summer with easy-to-grow currants and gooseberries.

Author Biography

Mark Hillsden writes on environmental issues for Regeneration & Renewal; on general lifestyle for Maxim, JACK, Country Walking; and on gardening for The Times. Jeremy Cook and Anna Marsden had only previously been exposed to gardening through their keen and knowledgeable mothers. In 1986 they bought a partially converted barn on what might flatteringly be described as a building site. The only living element was a rather sorry looking silver birch. Over the succeeding 18 years they experienced first hand every conceivable aspect of gardening from initial design and construction to planting and development. Photographs of the garden have appeared in Garden Answers and their story, Starting from Scratch, is well told and illustrated in the magazine The Gardener. They open their garden for viewing once a year
Release date Australia
February 25th, 2005
Audience
  • General (US: Trade)
Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Illustrations
illustrations
Imprint
Infinite Ideas Limited
Pages
256
Publisher
Infinite Ideas Limited
ISBN-13
9781904902249
Product ID
2479405

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