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Back to Basics: Traditional Garden Wisdom: Time-Tested Techniques for Creating a Natural, Sustainable Outdoor Space
"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.
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The All You Can Eat Gardening Handbook: Easy Organic Vegetables and More Money in Your Pocket
There's never been a better time to grow your own food as we face the converging challenges of the financial crisis, climate change, water shortages, peak oil, and 6.5 billion people worldwide competing for a limited amount of food. Many gardening books are so technical that they are intimidating to the beginning gardener. This book shows how easy gardening can be while providing tips and techniques to ensure success. Whether you live in the country, the city, or the suburbs, you'll learn: How to create lots of rich compost as the basis for vigorous growth Simple techniques to safely deal with pests The most effective techniques for irrigation, including harvesting your rainwater How to store your harvest using canning, freezing, and drying techniques How to build and stock a root cellar How to choose which vegetables to grow based on their nutritional value This book is a step-by-step guide to turning your lawn into a great source of personal satisfaction and economic independence. Having an organic produce department in your backyard creates your own "one hundred-foot diet" to reduce your carbon footprint and keep more money in your pocket. Cam Mather has been gardening organically and market gardening for thirty-five years. His entertaining and informative workshops and DVD have inspired thousands of people to get out and get their hands dirty. He publishes books about renewable energy and sustainability from his off-grid solar and wind-powered home office.
Year-Round Vegetable Production with Eliot Coleman (DVD)
This filmed workshop on year-round vegetable production offers farmers and gardeners the rare chance to sit in with Eliot Coleman, one of the pioneers of the organic farming movement and author of The New Organic Grower, Four-Season Harvest, and The Winter Harvest Handbook.During his careers as commercial market gardener, director of agricultural research projects, developer of tools for organic growers, and teacher and lecturer on organic gardening, Coleman has studied, practiced, and perfected his craft, and while you can bring Coleman's books with you into your garden, there's nothing like getting the advice straight from the man himself.Included in the DVDs:The history of season-extension farming in EuropeInformation on moveable greenhouses and using fabric coversGrowing tips in terms of nutrition and marketabilityRodent controlCuring and packing using sustainable materialsHow to work with restaurants and chefs (and create a demand)Information on tools, soil health, and vegetable varieties that survive well in the coldAdditional photos, diagrams, and climate mapsAnd more...Experience a workshop with bestselling author and expert in season extension, based on a filmed daylong workshop and extensive interview. Complete with a slide show, images from Coleman's own farm over the years, his travels to Europe, and detailed plans for his model of season extension, this film is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to sit down with a master.
The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
Choosing locally grown organic food is a sustainable living trend thatas taken hold throughout North America. Celebrated farming expert Eliot Coleman helped start this movement with "The New Organic Grower" published 20 years ago. He continues to lead the way, pushing the limits of the harvest season while working his world-renowned organic farm in Harborside, Maine.Now, with his long-awaited new book, "The Winter Harvest Handbook," anyone can have access to his hard-won experience. Gardeners and farmers can use the innovative, highly successful methods Coleman describes in this comprehensive handbook to raise crops throughout the coldest of winters.Building on the techniques that hundreds of thousands of farmers and gardeners adopted from "The New Organic Grower" and "Four-Season Harvest," this new book focuses on growing produce of unparalleled freshness and quality in customized unheated or, in some cases, minimally heated, movable plastic greenhouses.Coleman offers clear, concise details on greenhouse construction and maintenance, planting schedules, crop management, harvesting practices, and even marketing methods in this complete, meticulous, and illustrated guide. Readers have access to all the techniques that have proven to produce higher-quality crops on Colemanas own farm.His painstaking research and experimentation with more than 30 different crops will be valuable to small farmers, homesteaders, and experienced home gardeners who seek to expand their production seasons.A passionate advocate for the revival of small-scale sustainable farming, Coleman provides a practical model for supplying fresh, locally grown produce during the winter season, even in climates where conventional wisdom says it ajust canat be done.a
