Lazy-Ass Gardening

Lazy-Ass Gardening PDF Author: Robert Kourik
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780961584870
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this lively and inspiring book, veteran horticulturalist Robert Kourik (aka "Bob") unfolds his manifesto of "Inspired Laziness"--using efficiency and forethought to create gardens and landscapes with a lot less work and a lot more enjoyment. By following Kourik's relaxed and readable guidance, both beginning and accomplished gardeners will discover how to save time and money, enrich their soil, increase their yields, and reduce their effort, all while absorbing "Bob's" philosophy of kicking back and growing more good times. Drawing on over four decades of immersing himself in horticultural work (and writing about it), Robert shares his hard-won secrets for the easiest planning, planting, cultivating, landscaping, irrigating, de-pestifying, and finding enjoyment in settings ranging from window-box herbs to showy ornamental plantings to the now-classic "edible landscape." In Lazy-Ass Gardening, you'll learn how to: Ease into gardening, if you're a newbie. Figure out which edibles to raise, with a careful selection of the most care-free varieties and tips for easy growing. Lay out your garden to balance effective growing area with space for enjoyment, relaxation, and play. Cultivate creatively to grow your own nutrients and build healthy self-sustaining (no-till) soil for the future. Attract the best pollinating insects and deter hungry pests. Plan your "hardscape" (paths, patios, arbors, etc.), for an easy-care (and more fun) aspect of your yard or garden. Choose the right plants for your landscape, climate, soil, and water supply, not to mention your aesthetic and nutritional needs. Learn how to develop a personal garden that manifests your own eccentricities. Grow more, stress less.

Lazy-Ass Gardening

Lazy-Ass Gardening PDF Author: Robert Kourik
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780961584870
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this lively and inspiring book, veteran horticulturalist Robert Kourik (aka "Bob") unfolds his manifesto of "Inspired Laziness"--using efficiency and forethought to create gardens and landscapes with a lot less work and a lot more enjoyment. By following Kourik's relaxed and readable guidance, both beginning and accomplished gardeners will discover how to save time and money, enrich their soil, increase their yields, and reduce their effort, all while absorbing "Bob's" philosophy of kicking back and growing more good times. Drawing on over four decades of immersing himself in horticultural work (and writing about it), Robert shares his hard-won secrets for the easiest planning, planting, cultivating, landscaping, irrigating, de-pestifying, and finding enjoyment in settings ranging from window-box herbs to showy ornamental plantings to the now-classic "edible landscape." In Lazy-Ass Gardening, you'll learn how to: Ease into gardening, if you're a newbie. Figure out which edibles to raise, with a careful selection of the most care-free varieties and tips for easy growing. Lay out your garden to balance effective growing area with space for enjoyment, relaxation, and play. Cultivate creatively to grow your own nutrients and build healthy self-sustaining (no-till) soil for the future. Attract the best pollinating insects and deter hungry pests. Plan your "hardscape" (paths, patios, arbors, etc.), for an easy-care (and more fun) aspect of your yard or garden. Choose the right plants for your landscape, climate, soil, and water supply, not to mention your aesthetic and nutritional needs. Learn how to develop a personal garden that manifests your own eccentricities. Grow more, stress less.

Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally

Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally PDF Author: Robert Kourik
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603581154
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 143

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Book Description
First published in 1986, this classic is back in print by popular demand. It is the authoritative text on edible landscaping, featuring a step-by-step guide to designing a productive environment using vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs for a combination of ornamental and culinary purposes. It includes descriptions of plants for all temperate habitats, methods for improving soil, tree pruning styles, and gourmet recipes using low-maintenance plants. There are sections on attracting beneficial insects with companion plants and using planting to shelter your home from erosion, heat, wind, and cold.

Sustainable Food Gardens

Sustainable Food Gardens PDF Author: Robert Kourik
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780961584887
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
Dismantle your gardening myths. Grow a garden grounded in fact. Master gardener Robert Kourik deftly guides the reader through the mysteries of growing plants and designing landscapes in temperate climates and suburbs, and the use of all-natural, sustainable methods to grow and maintain a healthy variety of plants. Would you like to garden without digging, composting, buying fertilizers, spraying with pesticides, or lamenting low yields? If so, Sustainable Food Gardening is the book you've been waiting for, with over 450 pages, 13 chapters, 487 color photos, illustrations, charts, and graphs, and a 10-page index. Author Robert Kourik began his career in natural landscape design and maintenance in 1974, with one of the first sustainably oriented organic gardening businesses in the country. In Sustainable Food Gardening, you'll learn to: Design your own "edible landscapes." Use no-till techniques to preserve the integrity of your soil Adapt your growing space to fit into a wide range of USDA garden zones Review alternative ways to change "guilds' (well-intended clusters of trees and shrubs jumbled together) to more effective and labor-saving plantings. Grow new kinds of beautiful and productive Victory gardens Plant Native American "Three-Sisters" gardens that actually work Learn many myths about roots, and what to do to help them thrive Attract many beneficial insects to your garden with strategic flower plantings Here are some of the other topics covered in depth: Rainwater catchment/cisterns. Hügelkulturs (do you really need raised garden beds filled with rotten wood?). Options for better, faster ways to maximize and improve soil. "Dynamic accumulation"--a myth with some useful guidelines. Avoiding hours of tree-pruning and encouraging fruiting with a few dozen clothespins. Clever ways to install and simplify drip irrigation Using plants to lure good insects that prey upon pests. Promoting beneficial soil life. Adding food crops to a native-looking landscape. In Sustainable Food Gardening you'll learn how to achieve that Holy Grail of gardening--productivity, tasty food, and a beautiful, sustainable garden, yard, or landscape.

You Grow Girl

You Grow Girl PDF Author: Gayla Trail
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439103518
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
This is not your grandmother's gardening book. You Grow Girl is a hip, humorous how-to for crafty gals everywhere who are discovering a passion for gardening but lack the know-how to turn their dreams of homegrown tomatoes and fresh-cut flowers into a reality. Gayla Trail, creator of YouGrowGirl.com, provides guidance for both beginning and intermediate gardeners with engaging tips, projects, and recipes -- whether you have access to a small backyard or merely to a fire escape. You Grow Girl eliminates the intimidation factor and reveals how easy and enjoyable it can be to cultivate plants and flowers even when resources and space are limited. Divided into accessible sections like Plan, Plant, and Grow, You Grow Girl takes readers through the entire gardening experience: Preparing soil Nurturing seedlings Fending off critters Reaping the bounty Readying plants for winter Preparing for the seasons ahead Gayla also includes a wealth of ingenious and creative projects, such as: Transforming your garden's harvest into lush bath and beauty products Converting household junk into canny containers Growing and bagging herbal tea Concocting homemade pest repellents ...and much, much more. Witty, wise, and as practical as it is stylish, You Grow Girl is guaranteed to show you how to get your garden on. All you need is a windowsill and a dream!

Adobe Homes for All Climates

Adobe Homes for All Climates PDF Author: Lisa Schroder
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603582827
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
The lay-up of adobe bricks is an easy, forgiving way to achieve a solid masonry-wall system. Contrary to stereotypes, adobe is perfectly adaptable for use in cold, wet climates as well as hot and dry ones, and for areas prone to earthquakes. With its efficient use of energy, natural resources for construction, and minimal effort for long-term maintenance, it’s clear that the humble adobe brick is an ideal option for constructing eco-friendly structures throughout the world. The book is ideal both for first-time do-it-yourselfers and for experienced adobe builders seeking to improve their craft. Drawing on the experience of more than fifty major adobe projects since 1993, Adobe Homes for All Climates describes Adobe Building Systems’ patented reinforcement and scaffolding systems, showing readers how to construct adobe homes more easily and safely, and with superior strength, durability, structural integrity, and aesthetic appeal, as compared to earthen homes of the past. All aspects of adobe construction are covered, including making and laying adobe bricks, installing lintels and arches, conduits and pipes, doors and windows, top plates and bondbeams, ideal wall dimensions, adobe finishes, and other adobe construction components, such as the inexpensive use of scaffolding. These methods will produce a premium product that will meet and often exceed inspection standards. Equipped with this manual, you will be able to obtain a building permit, make adobe bricks swiftly, and confidently lay them up. You will be able to beautifully finish your adobe walls with earth plasters creating stunning colors and outstanding light effects and create a beautiful, energy-efficient home that will last for generations to come.

Understanding Roots

Understanding Roots PDF Author: Robert Kourik
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780961584863
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Understanding Roots uncovers one of the greatest mysteries underground—the secret lives and magical workings of the roots that move and grow invisibly beneath our feet. Roots, it seems, do more than just keep a plant from falling over: they gather water and nutrients, exude wondrous elixirs to create good soil, make friends with microbes and fungi, communicate with other roots, and adapt themselves to all manner of soils, winds, and climates, nourishing and sustaining our gardens, lawns, and woodlands. Understanding Roots contains over 115 enchanting and revealing root drawings that most people have never seen, from prairies, grasslands, and deserts, as well as drawings based on excavations of vegetable, fruit, nut, and ornamental tree roots. Every root system presented in this book was drawn by people literally working in the trenches, sketching the roots where they grew. The text provides a verydetailed review of all aspects of transplanting; describes how roots work their magic to improve soil nutrients; investigates the hidden life of soil microbes and their mysterious relationship to roots; explores the question of whether deep roots really gather more unique nutrients than shallow roots; shares the latest research about the mysteries of mycorrhizal (good fungal) association; shows you exactly where to put your fertilizer, compost, water, and mulch to help plants flourish; tells you why gray water increases crop yields more than fresh water; and, most importantly, reveals the science behind all the above (with citations for each scientific paper). This book contains at least eighty percent more new information, more results of the latest in-depth and up-to-date explorations, and even more helpful guidelines on roots than the author’s previous book (Roots Demystified: Change Your Garden Habits to Help Roots Thrive). This is not a revised edition—it’s a whole new stand-alone book.

The Organic Rose Garden

The Organic Rose Garden PDF Author: Liz Druitt
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
ISBN: 1461662125
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Offers the elements of garden design necessary for an organic program, as well as companion plant ideas, cultivation and troubleshooting, fun extras such as rose recipes, and a timely organic perspective.

Garden-craft Old and New

Garden-craft Old and New PDF Author: John Dando Sedding
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Gardens
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description


The Ecological Gardener

The Ecological Gardener PDF Author: Matt Rees-Warren
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1645020088
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Design a garden for the future—because what we grow matters. "Matt Rees-Warren explains why every square inch of Earth, including our gardens, has ecological significance... Excellent, timely, essential!" —Douglas W. Tallamy, author of Nature’s Best Hope Transform your garden into a self-sustaining haven for nature and wildlife. Ecological garden designer Matt Rees-Warren shares inspirational design ideas and practical projects to help you create a garden that is both beautiful today and sustainable tomorrow. The Ecological Gardener will give you the tools to create an abundant, healthy garden from the soil up—a garden that welcomes birds and bees and allows native planting and wild flowers to flourish, with minimal carbon impact or need for fresh water. This book can guide both novice and experienced gardeners alike in their journey to a more ecological approach, and is full of practical projects and information, including: Finding the right design for your space Creating a wildflower meadow Building rainwater catchments and other tips for water conservation Making compost from kitchen waste, leaf mold, compost tea and more Creating a space for wildlife such as hedgehogs, bees and other pollinators Finding beauty in your garden during the winter Matt will show you how to re-imagine how you garden, working with nature instead of controlling it, to create a space that promotes both wildlife and beauty.

Lasagna Gardening

Lasagna Gardening PDF Author: Patricia Lanza
Publisher: Rodale
ISBN: 9780875967950
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Explains how to use a system of layered mulch materials, including newspaper, leaves, and grass clippings, to provide a nutrient-rich base for healthy gardens and robust flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits