Gardening for Beginners

[dinahsmum]

If anyone wants a really nice, simple but comprehensive, reference book you could do a lot worse than The Readers Digest (yes I know :roll: ) New Gardening Year. £14.99 list price but under £9 at Amazon at the moment http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0276425693/qid=1144336565/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/202-0206734-4920658
It covers everything, from houseplants to water gardens, hedges, hanging baskets, vegetables etc etc.
Nice and simple, explanations of gardening terms and it sets out month by month what you could/should be doing.

[Donna]

That looks really helpful DM! Might have a further look later!!

[EmmaG]

DM have you got any suggestions for a good book on garden design, I am looking for designs for cottage style/formal gardens.

[CJK]

soubnds like jsut the sort of thing i'll need when I move house. Will ahve a nice big garden then, I hope. and can find lots to do

[dinahsmum]

DM have you got any suggestions for a good book on garden design, I am looking for designs for cottage style/formal gardens.
That's really difficult Emma. Unles you actually pick up a book which happens to have a garden plan for a plot the same size and same orientation as yours, I think books really only serve to give you ideas to work on yourself.
What I did before planning mine was look at as many half-decent books as I could find - library, cheap book shops, magazines - and then just meld in the ideas I liked to fit the space available.
Nice project! I can see a series of before, during and after pictures coming up! :)

[CJK]

i tried designing a garden for a uni project once, planned it on some squared paper, looked lovely on paper, now if i tried to Do it myself for real....another story me thinks

[EmmaG]

Hmmm I think a trip to the library is in order then!! lol

I am hoping to do the garden next year as we are currently saving for a new car and fencing for next year, as our garden is quite long the cost of the fencing alone is around £600 per side (we will erect it ourselves) THEN I can get my borders in.. ;)

[yola]

DM - I can vouch for that book, my Mum recently gave me her copy and it's brilliant. It tells you all the basics you need to know before you start planting. It's also good for plant disease diagnosis and has helped me identify problems with plants in the past.

Good recommendation.


Just diverging slightly, I can also recommend it's sister publication for cookery. Again, a bit 'old fashioned' if you're used to Jamie Oliver, but excellent for basics; it has some stonking recipes and it covers 'unspoken of' things like skinning rabbits and gutting fish!