Product Description

The Essential Garden Maintenance Workbook takes over where Rosemary Alexander's first book leaves off. With the newly designed garden in place how do you manage the work in a garden and keep it looking good year in and year out? How do you prune, look after your soil and keep spring bulb plantings looking good? Is it possible to move a plant and how do you cope with weeds, pests, and diseases? Which plants are top performers and which are best for particular functions like internal and external boundaries, focal points, disguising eyesores and providing year-round interest? With its hand-holding, workbook approach Essential Garden Maintenance Workbook is the next best thing to having a daily training session with expert gardener, Rosemary Alexander. It allows gardeners at all levels to confidently tackle garden maintenance jobs, develop new skills, and make a success of their gardens however stretched for time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149922 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Alexander continues where her previous volumes, on designing and creating gardens, left off. The topic here, her most ambitious yet, is matched by the broad scope of her approach, which covers the "many different skills" and "various fields of knowledge"—from architecture to horticulture, with a smattering of linguistics, carpentry, sociology and more along the way—a good gardener needs. Amply illustrated chapters address each step, from initial assessment and planning through rejuvenating and renovating an existing garden. Each concludes with worksheets for hands-on projects designed to help readers use what they've learned in their own gardens, plus captioned color plates that reinforce key concepts. The encyclopedic information flows naturally, providing a wealth of knowledge, insights, tips and techniques for beginners and seasoned experts alike. These pages are destined to become muddy. Long after they've read the lively, conversational text from beginning to end, gardeners will delve back into specific sections for reference. London-based Alexander sometimes addresses concerns more relevant to Great Britain than North America, but she has clearly taken pains to appeal to both audiences and includes plant hardiness zone maps for the U.S. and Canada. Helpful appendices also include "What to Do When in the Garden," a season-by-season guide, and a list of recommended reading organized according to topic. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The joy of creating a garden--whether with professional help or by one's own efforts--is followed by the realization that keeping those lovely plants healthy requires skills that are generally developed over time. But sound guidance from an expert cohort will shorten the learning curve, and Alexander's knowledge and forthright approach make her an excellent instructor. She teaches budding gardeners how to assess existing elements and decide if restoration or removal is required. Alexander discusses the why and how of cultivating good soil. Her suggestions for making a garden plan and keeping a log of one's observations are hallmarks of good gardening practice. Line drawings illustrate basic pruning methods and pleaching techniques, and in-depth coverage of plant care is provided, along with a season-by-season listing of necessary chores. Highly informative overall, Alexander's fortes are the direction she offers for creating new plantings and her recommendations for selecting woody and herbaceous specimens. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Straight to the point and easily understood by even the sometime gardener.John Bagnasco, Garden Compass, September/October 2006 (Garden Compass )

Will satisfy serious, detail-oriented home gardeners who seek to understand the gritty details of landscaping, from preparations to ongoing plant and hardscape care.Sue O'Brien, Library Journal, August 2006 (Library Journal )

Amply illustrated chapters address each step, from initial assessment and planning through rejuvenating and renovating an existing garden. Each concludes with work-sheets for hands-on projects designed to help readers use what they've learned in their own gardens, plus captioned color plates that reinforce key concepts.Publishers Weekly, June 19, 2006 (Publishers Weekly )