Step-By-Step Garden Basics

It's been more than four years since my day lilies and irises have been thinned. They no longer bloom, so I steeled myself to thin them. The problem: how do I do it? I checked every gardening book in my collection but none alleviated my fear of destroying the poor little darlings. What was even worse is that they hadn't bloomed in so long, I couldn't remember which plants were day lilies, daffodils or irises. This book takes the reader by the hand and shows them, step by step, how to do a variety of basic gardening tasks. Each task is lavishly illustrated with color photographs. After perusing the section on dividing the perennials, I took my garden fork and spade and pulled up my daylilies and irises without fear. I even pointed out the characteristic root structures to my husband. Little did he know my expertise was only hours old.The book is divided by seasons, which also helps the beginner figure out which tasks to do when. The book is not afraid to be too basic. It even shows various garden tools and describes what to do with them. Also great for rank novices is the section on how to read a plant tag. Overall the tone is fun and informative. It combines topics like how to make a garlic braid with how and where to store the fall produce. It includes such whimsies as how to plant an edible flower garden. Its section on how to plant bare root plants would have saved me the cost of the book had I bought the book last year.Finally, the book can be used in many areas of the country. When I moved from the West to the Midwest, many of my books were useless. When I moved again to the South, I had another slew of problems adjusting for the assumptions in my gardening books. You won't have that problem with this book.

I love to garden and peruse gardening books but I haven't bought many over the years because the nicely illustrated ones are often pretty pricey. This one has the photographic quality of coffee table gardening books but is very affordable. I bought it because I need to separate day lillies and that was noted as a subject covered. It is along with a lot of other information, much of it about flowers. There is a very helpful section on designing different types of gardens and I know from past mistakes how important it is to have a definite design in mind before you put in the first plants. Also having had a failure with strawberries I appreciated the coverage given this topic. Lots of good examples of plant supports are shown. There are helpful check lists and clear cut illustrations of a variety of gardening procedures e.g. planting bare root roses, pruning etc. I wish the authors had addressed watering techniques. They recommend soaker hoses but say nothing further. The book is a little limited in scope but gardening is such a huge topic that you can't expect one book to cover everything and you almost can't have too many books on the basics. This one is well photographed, helpful, affordable and will inspire you to pick up your trowel.