The Garden Primer (Paperback)

Gardening is very simple, really. You just have to learn to think like a plant.

- Barbara Damrosch

Garden simply, beautifully, and well with The Garden Primer, a comprehensive gardening reference jam-packing with useful information, advice, tips, and quirky wisdom. Barbara Damrosch, an "old-fashioned dirt gardener," spent years refining her natural, common-sense approach to gardening and now guides you through all aspects of planning, planting, and upkeep.

Remarkably Complete

Each chapter is a book in itself.

Planning Your Property: landscape your yard into a series of "outdoor rooms"

What Plants Need: understand the basics and avoid complex rules and toxic chemicals

Garden Gear: what's essential and what's not

How to Buy Plants: a guide through the nursery jungle

Annuals: choose and combine for dependable summer color

Perennials: coordinate a flower garden to bloom each year

Vegetables: harvesting a bounty you'll really use

Herbs: making your herb garden as pretty as it is useful

Fruits: pick the best for your climate

Bulbs: plant them properly, display them imaginatively

Roses: raising roses without fear - they're really not "fussy"

Lawns and Ground Covers: how to have a better lawn, and what to use in places where you don't want grass

Vines: keeping them within bounds

Shrubs: find interesting shrubs and avoid common pruning mistakes

Trees: select new trees to enhance your property and make the most of the old

Wildflowers: what really works at home and what doesn't

Houseplants: keep your indoor garden in good health

With complete instructions for growing and tending approximately 300 plants, plus 365 illustrations, easy-to-read diagrams, and design plans for all types of gardens.